Came across this great article in Women’s Health recently, that’s certainly worth a read. The piece surveyed a group of registered massage therapists on how to get the most of a session with an RMT and elaborates with some tips on getting your money’s worth and maximizing the benefits of the therapy. While this is a great series of tips before you go and see an RMT, you’d be surprised how many people aren’t aware of the multiple benefits of getting a professional massage…so we thought we’d get into some detail why it’s a great decision when it comes to your overall wellness and health.
In an age where we’re overly prescribed prescription medication, natural therapies are often overlooked as effective treatments, especially when it comes to pain relief and the management of stress. For many of us, we’re spending the majority of our working day sitting at a desk. More advanced forms of postural stress show up as pain or weakness in the low back and gluteals caused by prolonged periods of sitting. Massage therapy – when done by a professional, can counteract the imbalance of sitting at a desk all day, when done with frequency. As a matter of fact – The Annals of Internal Medicine (American College of Physicians) published a report back in 2011 that indicated massage therapy is as effective as other methods of treatment for chronic back pain. Check out the video below of Dr. Brent Bauer of the Mayo Clinic. He talks about how massage is effective as means to counter stress, boost immune function, and how it even helps patients post open heart surgery with back pain.
Massage also reduces anxiety and depression according to the Mayo Clinic. We touched on this on a previous post related to pre and post natal massage. Anxiety amplifies physical ailments that people suffer from, and can be the root cause of a variety of health issues people deal with.Tiffany Field, Ph.D., formally established The Touch Research Institute (TRI) at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine in 1992. Under Field’s guidance, TRI has published landmark studies on touch therapy’s reduction of anxiety. These include a study published in 1992 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, TRI researchers found that a 30-minute back massage given daily for five days reduced anxiety of hospitalized, depressed and adjustment disorder children and adolescents. It also includes a study published in 1996 in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, TRI researchers found that significant reductions in anxiety levels were found in employees receiving on-site chair massage.
Do you suffer from headaches? Professional massage can decrease the intensity and frequency of tension headaches and migraines. Researchers at Granada University in Spain found that a single session of massage therapy has an immediate effect on perceived pain in patients with chronic tension headaches.
Interested in trying massage therapy? Book an appointment or contact us.
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