Gift of Relaxation

What better gift to give than one that improves your health and make you feel wonderful?

-MASSAGE-

Research studies are increasingly confirming the many health benefits of massage. Doctors and scientists are now advocating massage for the treatment of many types of diseases, as well as for disease prevention and recovery. Some experts estimate that 80-90 percent of all diseases are stress-related.  Because stress is being identified as a key cause of so many health problems, massage is becoming a necessity to maintaining good health and not just a luxury.

Are you also aware that massage can:

DECREASE PAIN & STRESS
It may sound so simple but massage helps to decrease pain, especially back and neck pain. Researchers at the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle found that massage worked better than chiropractic care and acupuncture. There are several studies that show massage reduces levels of stress hormone cortisol while boosting the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. These changes slow your heart rate, blood pressure, and help to block your nervous system’s pain receptors. Massage also increases the blood flow to the soft tissue allowing any muscle injuries to heal quicker. Massage eases the pain and distress from labor pain, migraines, Fibromyalgia and cancer says Tiffany Field PhD, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine.  Some hospitals are now offering massage to cancer patients and anxious patients preparing for surgery.     

REDUCES POST-SURGERY SCAR TISSUE
Massage can reduce post-surgery adhesions & scar tissue after healing has occurred.

RELIEVES MIGRAINES
Reduce your dependence on medication.

REDUCES MUSCLE CRAMPING AND SPASMS
Helps with atrophied muscles and reduces shortening of the muscles for those with restricted range of motion.

IMPROVES RANGE OF MOTION
Have shoulder or knee stiffness? Massage allows the release of muscle tension for optimal flexibility!

IMPROVES ATHLETE PERFORMANCE
Reduce the chance of injury, improve muscle flexibility, shortens recovery time between workouts, enhances elimination of metabolic by-products of exercise.

DECREASE PMS
A study of 24 women with severe PMS found that massage reduced symptoms such as pain, water retention, and mood swings.

IMPROVES SLEEP
Massage increases delta waves, which are the brain waves that are linked with deep sleep. That is why it is easy to fall asleep while on the massage table.

BRAIN POWER
The Touch Research Institute study found that a 15 minute chair massage boosted alertness. “Subjects reported that it felt like a runner’s high,” Field says. Tests also show that brain-wave activity stimulated by massage is linked to improved attention.

BOOST IMMUNITY
Massage helps ward off colds by boosting your “natural killer cells” the immune system’s first line of defense against invading illness. Massage decreases cortisol levels which destroy the natural killer cells, thus giving your immune system a boost.

Having your partner rub your back is nice, but it does not compete with the hands of a professional massage therapist, and it usually does not last a full hour!  The benefits of massage are increased when a person has them on a regular basis, with minimal frequency recommendations of 1-2 times per month.

By Jodi Goldman

Physical Therapist

Owner of BREAKTHRU Physical Therapy  & Fitness