Therapeutic Massage is a form of bodywork that manipulates the soft tissues of your body, including your muscles, ligaments, tendons and fascia. This helps to reduce pain, improve flexibility and promote relaxation.
During a massage, your heart rate decreases and the release of stress hormones is reduced. Massage may also stimulate sensory receptors and increase the parasympathetic nervous response. Visit flowstate918.com/ to learn more.
Whether it’s that feeling of heavy, lead-like feet or the prickly pins and needles sensation in the legs, poor circulation is uncomfortable and a sign of underlying health issues. Fortunately, regular massage can help improve circulation through targeted techniques that stimulate blood flow and promote healing throughout the body, supporting a more active lifestyle and enhancing overall well-being.
As a manual therapy, massage encourages your muscles to stretch and release, but it also stimulates your circulatory system – the body’s highway for transporting nutrients and oxygen. Increased blood flow improves your body’s efficiency in delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells, supporting muscle recovery and alleviating pain, stiffness and fatigue.
This is because the pressure exerted during massage encourages your vessels to widen, which improves the pathway for blood and oxygen to travel. The squeezing and pulling movements of massage also stimulate the lymphatic system, the cleanup crew that helps eliminate waste products and toxins from your body.
Massage can even boost circulation in expectant mothers, which can improve the health of the mother and fetus. Enhanced circulation helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to the fetus, which can aid in the development of healthy tissues and bones in both the mother and child.
In addition to increased blood flow, massage can also reduce the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles, which is associated with delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Research has shown that regular massage can significantly improve circulation in the lumbar area, which may have an impact on muscle fatigue and recovery.
There are many ways to improve your circulation, including regular exercise, eating a nutritious diet, avoiding salt and sugar, and drinking plenty of water. However, massage can be one of the most effective natural treatments to keep your blood flowing. In addition to getting regular massages, try incorporating self-massage into your daily routine with DIY techniques such as circular motions or cross-fiber friction. You can find a variety of self-massage guides and tutorials online, allowing you to address specific areas of concern with simple yet powerful techniques.
Relieves pain
A massage is a great way to relieve pain. It can be used to help treat a wide variety of conditions, including chronic back pain, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and migraines. It can also be beneficial for people with cancer, as it can help reduce stress and fatigue.
The reasons that massage can help relieve pain include increasing blood flow to the area, releasing feel good hormones, and causing an increase in the range of motion in a joint or muscle. In addition, massage can help to break the cycle of stress and pain by reducing the levels of cortisol in the body.
Pain is a complex sensation that involves many parts of the body, including nerves, brain cells, and muscle fibers. It can occur for a variety of reasons, including injury, illness, overuse, or stress. Pain is detected by receptors in the skin, which send a signal to the brain. When a painful stimulus occurs, the brain sends signals to muscles and other tissues to tighten up. A massage stimulates pressure receptors and may interrupt the transmission of painful signals to and from the brain.
Another way that massage can relieve pain is by promoting the release of feel good hormones, such as endorphins and serotonin, which can act as natural painkillers. These hormones can cause a euphoric feeling that provides relief from physical pain and mental stress.
A third way that massage can alleviate pain is by helping to improve circulation. As the massage therapist moves their hands over the muscles, they create friction that increases the temperature of the muscle tissue. This in turn helps to increase the elasticity of the muscles, which can help reduce chronic pain.
Massage can have a number of other benefits, such as improving self-esteem and boosting the immune system. It can also be psychologically therapeutic. It is thought that this is because massage can make patients feel cared for, and as a result, they can be more ready to discuss difficult psychological issues with their health care providers. It is also believed that the sense of touch itself can be healing, since it is an instinctive way of comforting or reassuring someone.
Reduces stress
Stress is a part of life but can have negative consequences on both physical and mental health. Many of these effects can be caused by a build up of tension in the muscles which restrict movement and increase pain. Massage aims to reduce the tension through friction created between the skin and fingers, increasing blood flow to the area. The increased tissue elasticity allows muscle to move more freely and decreases pain. In addition, psychologically the release of positive hormones such as endorphins, serotonin and dopamine promote relaxation and a feeling of well-being reducing stress.
Studies have shown that massage has the ability to significantly reduce the heart rate and blood pressure which are heightened by the body’s natural response to stress. This is a result of adrenaline and cortisol being released to prepare the body for fight or flight, an ancient instinct that allows us to deal with short bursts of stress but can become harmful over time.
Massage has also been found to decrease the levels of the hormone cortisol in the body. This is an important hormone as it helps to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, thus decreasing stress.
The calming effect of massage has also been demonstrated by studies which show that it activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system which controls bodily functions such as digestion, heart rate and blood pressure. The activation of the parasympathetic nervous system can alleviate many of the symptoms associated with stress, such as high blood pressure and headaches.
The calming effect of massage has also been observed in many studies that have looked at the effects of different types of massage on blood pressure and heart rate. The results of these studies have been consistent and show that moderate massage pressure, such as that used in many spas, has a relaxing effect on the body. These calming effects may be due to stimulating the pressure receptors in the skin, which transmit pain-reducing signals to the brain. This may explain why many people experience relief from back pain and other musculoskeletal conditions when they have regular massages.
Enhances sleep
Many people who regularly receive massage report that they have a better night’s sleep. A good night’s rest is essential to good health and may help prevent disease, improve mood and reduce fatigue. Sleep-deprived individuals have trouble concentrating and are at an increased risk of automobile accidents and workplace injuries.
Research has found that massage relieves pain, reduces stress and enhances sleep. The reason behind this is simple: The human touch and the manipulation of soft tissue releases hormones and neurotransmitters that calm the body, including serotonin and dopamine. These chemicals are necessary for the brain to produce melatonin, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
A good massage also helps to relax the muscles and calms the mind, which leads to a deeper, more restful sleep. In addition, a massage can reduce cortisol levels. Too much cortisol is associated with a host of health problems, including weight gain, blood sugar problems and low energy.
The types of massage that are most beneficial for sleep are ones in which the massage therapist gently strokes, or kneads, or manipulates the soft tissues of the body. These forms of massage include effleurage, petrissage, percussion and trigger point therapy. A study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine reports that a Swedish massage, which involves gentle pressure applied to the skin, can reduce stress and anxiety and increase sleep efficiency in cancer patients.
Therapeutic massages have also been shown to improve the quality of sleep in postmenopausal women with fibromyalgia and chronic back pain. In fact, one randomized clinical trial found that a full-body massage reduced rapid eye movement (REM) latency and increased the time spent in sleep stages 3 and 4, which are key for a good night’s rest.
Anyone who struggles with poor sleep habits can benefit from massage, especially if they are looking for a natural alternative to over-the-counter and prescription drugs that often have unpleasant side effects. Aim to schedule a massage in the evening so that it can set your body and mind on the right track for a restful night’s sleep.
