What is Massage Therapy?

Massage therapy is a healing art that helps to reduce stress, as well as aches and pains within the body.

All types of massage therapy are geared towards providing the patient with an enhancement of their general well being. This is accomplished through the manual manipulation of certain tissues in the body, mostly soft body tissues such as ligaments, tendons and muscle.

This therapy provides a wealth of benefits, both to a persons bodily health and as a means of reducing anxiety and stress. Massage therapy can range anywhere from relaxation massage to rehabilitative massage. The latter of these provides the most health benefits, as the therapy further involves the massaging of deeper tissues which helps even more to relieve tension and pain.

Primary Benefits of Massage Therapy

Lower back pain can be dramatically reduced, which also helps in the improvement of your range of motion. Migraine pain can be relieved, as can depression and anxiety. Athletes typically look towards massage therapy to recover from strenuous workouts.

Massage therapy will aid in the release of endorphins. This chemical is a pain reliever for the body and will ease any pain that you’re suffering from. As a person continues to use certain muscles over and over again, they eventually become tired and slightly injured. Massage therapy relaxes the muscles and softens them up. Additional benefits include:

• Improved sleep quality
• A reduction in fatigue
• Management of chronic pain and stiffness
• Increase of flexibility
• Increase ability to concentrate and focus
• Assists in the recovery from surgery or injuries
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Massage therapy is also designed to improve a persons mental and emotional well-being. It has long been known that the effects of physical and mental stress are closely linked. When the body is comfortable and relaxed, the mind will usually follow. Relaxation massage can have a dramatic effect on some stress-related mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.

When someone experiences pain, they also tend to go through such emotions as anxiety, depression, anger and a bad mood. This is because when the body is healthy, the mind is also healthy due to the connection between the two. As such, when your body is comfortable and feeling great, all of those negative emotions disappear and are instead replaced by positive ones.

Additional benefits in the emotional level include:

• Greater mental connection with the physical body
• A sense of emotional clarity
• Improved emotional outlook
• Improved sense of self and general sense of well-being