Someone suffering with lower back pain, joint inflexability, depression, anxiety, migraines, spasms or cramping may want to consider massage therapy. Athletes, expectant mothers, burn victims and people recovering from surgery can also benefit from massage therapy.
What do Massage Therapists do?
Massage therapists press, rub, pull and manipulate the muscles. Massage therapy involves massaging muscles and soft to help with relaxation, relieve stress, tension and pain. A massage therapist uses their skills to help people with sports injuries and they can provide relief to people with long-term health conditions.
A typical full-body massage session would normally last for around one hour, many massage therapists will offer shorter sessions that treat specific problem areas such as the back, shoulders and neck or any other specific areas which are giving discomfort, aches and pains.
At the initial consultation potential massage therapy clients are asked a number of questions concerning their general well-being, existing injuries and any medical conditions that the therapist should know about. The therapist asks these question to determine if there are any contra-indications (physical conditions that could prohibit or limit a massage treatment).
Treatment
The client undresses to their level of comfort/modesty, they then position themselves comfortably on the treatment table under a sheet or large towel. During the session, the therapist may move the sheet to expose only the parts of the body to which treatment is being applied. No body part or area will be massaged without the client’s permission.
Massage oils, lotions, creams and talc may be used during the session; oil is the most common. A good massage oil will nourish the skin and allow free-flowing movement as it allows the hands to glide over the area. The therapist will sense responses but will also ask the client about the strength of their touch. There may be some discomfort during the session. If in they are in discomfort or hurting, the client should feel free to ask the therapist to adjust their treatment technique.
The massage therapy environment is important, therapists will design it so the client is able to feel relaxed. The therapy room should be warm and peaceful with low-level lighting, soft music and maybe some incense to create a pleasing aroma and add to the relaxing effect.
Improved Posture
Poor posture looks bad and can force muscles to over work, supporting ones that aren’t. Regular massage sessions can help to improve posture by loosening and stretching over worked muscles, it can also help to relieve stress on joints.
Stress Relief
Massage therapy can help to relieve stress, stress is a major cause of illness and ageing. The stress relief massage therapy provides can improve sleep, concentration, increase energy, reduce fatigue and improve overall health.
Other uses
Massage therapy can cause physiological and chemical changes within the body, these bodily changes can help relieve Arthritis, Asthma, high blood pressure, PMT even people suffering from burn injuries can utilise massage therapy to reduce pain and itching.
Massage therapy is gaining tremendous respect from conventional medicine and becoming an integral part of hospice care. Many hospitals are incorporating on-site massage therapy practitioners, the therapy is also used in neonatal intensive care units it has been shown to help preterm infants increase their weight.
This post was supplied by Mark Stubbles. Mark writes for a healing touch, massage therapy in Crawley.
Comments are closed.