A trip to your general physician about pain and stress related to an injury will typically result in a prescription for muscle relaxers, painkillers, or rest, but a lesser utilized and far more effective tool used to reduce pain and manage stress is massage therapy. More and more Americans are seeking complementary and alternative treatments for their medical issues; the most recent reports by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health estimate that more than 33% of adults use treatments like massage for healthcare management, and 3 out of 4 US medical schools offer elective or required courses in alternative medical approaches. Following are some incredible ways that massage therapy impacts the body.
Magic for Muscles
Pain in the body can have any number of causes, but in many cases, its tightness, weakness, or strain in the muscles and other soft tissues because of compensation for a misalignment, injury, or overuse. Muscles can actually start to develop new patterns of contraction or movement that will eventually contribute to pain instead of helping the body heal. Modalities like massage therapy can help disrupt these actions, returning mobility and function and reducing overall pain.
Help Lose the Lymph
As our bodies replace old cells, work to fight infection, or make repairs to injured areas, small amounts of waste called lymph is produced and is then stored in spaces under the skin and around muscles. Unfortunately, the lymphatic system doesn’t have its own “pump” system to circulate and remove the waste, so it’s only through muscle contraction or manipulation and increased blood flow to an area that this waste is removed. Massage therapy can reduce pain around sites of injury or strain by removing inflammatory waste from the area, and by improving blood flow that brings fresh nutrients and oxygen to the site for faster healing.
Find Some Parasympathy
Our body’s autonomic nervous system is divided into two branches, the sympathetic nervous system, which speeds up processes like breathing and heart rate in response to stress, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows the body to slow for repair processes like rest and digestion. Massage therapy is incredibly effective for helping to reduce stress because it helps us maintain a balance between these two and to “slow” ourselves down in a world that regularly triggers a stimulating, exhausting sympathetic nervous response. Massage stimulates the peripheral nerves in the skin, waking up the autonomic nervous system, and making it easier for us to remain calm and keep calm in the face of stressors including physical pain.
Proactive Healthcare
According to an American Massage Therapy Association report from 2014, 91% of massage professionals and patients consider massage to be beneficial for health and wellness. Feeling healthy isn’t just the absence of disease or infirmity in the body and mind; it’s a total experience of well-being. While massage is used as a treatment for everything from injury recovery and rehabilitation, mental health, and pain management, to helping those with chronic pain, degenerative conditions, addictions or even those in hospice, it can be used proactively to contribute to an overall state of wellness that can ultimately prevent the onset of disease.
Considering Massage Therapy Treatment in Naples?
At Synergy Health, our main focus is providing patients with compassionate, comprehensive care, and on providing innovative, non-surgical and non-opioid alternatives for pain relief and a return to wellness. Contact us today to learn more about our services, and to find a path to the strongest version of yourself.
