Evidence is showing that the more massage you can allow
yourself, the better you'll feel. Here's why:
Massage as a healing tool has been around for thousands of years
in many cultures. Touching is a natural human reaction to pain
and stress, and for conveying compassion and support. When you
bump your head or have a sore calf, the natural response is to
rub it to feel better. The same was true of our earliest
ancestors.
Experts estimate that 80 percent to 90 percent of disease is
stress-related. Massage and bodywork is there to combat that
frightening number by helping us remember what it means to
relax. The physical changes massage brings to your body can have
a positive effect in many areas of your life. Besides increasing
relaxation and decreasing anxiety, massage lowers blood
pressure, increases circulation, improves injury recovery,
encourages deep sleep, and increases concentration. It reduces
fatigue and gives you more energy to handle stressful
situations.
Massage is a perfect elixir for good health, but it can also
provide an integration of body and mind. By producing a
meditative state or heightened awareness of the present moment,
massage can provide emotional and spiritual balance, bringing
with it true relaxation and peace.
The following is a
brief list of the many known, research-based benefits of massage
and bodywork:
- Increases circulation, allowing the body to pump more oxygen
and nutrients into tissues and vital organs,
- Stimulates the flow of lymph, the body's natural defense
system, against toxic invaders.
- Relaxes and softens
injured and overused muscles,
- Reduces spasms and cramping,
- Increases joint flexibility,
- Reduces recovery time and helps prepare the body for strenuous
workouts, reducing subsequent muscle pain of athletes at any
level,
- Releases endorphins -- the body's natural painkiller -- and is
proving very beneficial in patients with chronic illness,
injury, and post-op pain,
- Reduces post-surgery adhesions and edema and can be used to
reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred,
- Improves range-of-motion and decreases discomfort for patients
with low back pain,
- Relieves pain for migraine sufferers and decreases the need
for medication,
- Provides exercise and stretching for atrophied muscles and
reduces shortening of the muscles for those with restricted
range of motion,
- Assists with shorter labor for expectant mothers, as well as
reduces the need for medication, eases postpartum depression and
anxiety, and contributes to a shorter hospital stay.
The benefits of massage are diverse. No matter how great it
feels, massage isn't just a luxury, it's a health necessity.
-excerpts from ABMP.com
