Massage Therapy
Aleksey Khomenko, LMT
Massage produces benefits far beyond feeling great during and immediately after a session. While this is certainly an excellent reason to have massage, the real strength of massage is in preventing illness and conditions before they develop.
The greatest physiological change produced by massage therapy is the stimulation of the nervous system. Consequently, there are several benefits from this stimulation:
- Massage helps to increases endorphin secretion (natural pain killers) and helps reduce stress.
- Massage also stimulates the proprioceptive, touch, and pressure receptors of the skin and underlying tissues.People with the following conditions have reported that massage therapy has lessened or relieved many of their symptoms:
- Massage can also help decrease nerve entrapment and reduce nerve root compression caused by muscle tension and therefore can be quite effective in treating and reducing pain.
- Massage is also known to reduce anxiety and depression due to the calming of the nervous system and can even help in treating restlessness and insomnia.
People with the following conditions have reported that massage therapy has lessened or relieved many of their symptoms:
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Back pain
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Chronic and acute pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Headaches
- Immune system disorders
- Insomnia
- Joint strains and sprains
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Myofascial pain
- Pregnancy associated problems
- Repetitive strain injuries
- Slow growth of premature infants
- Some circulatory problems
- Sports injuries
- Stress
- Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction and other jaw problems.