“Massage” refers to any technique that involves rubbing, kneading, or delivering pressure or pulses to muscular tissue.
Anyone can massage oneself with their hands or a tool, but for best results you should hire a masseur or masseuse to do a professional deep tissue massage, using learned techniques with their hands.
When you apply pressure to a muscle, it compresses inward and softly stretches—this aids in releasing muscle tension and improving muscle mobility. Fresh blood is pulled into the area when compression is relaxed, and your body then goes to work cleaning out toxins and repairing tissue with oxygen and nutrients. Inflammation and discomfort decrease as the body heals.
This entire process happens in a flash, which is why you can feel pain alleviation almost instantly after a massage. There is potentially a long-term effect which may cause muscle stiffness the next day. This is the slower healing phase, but you can speed it up by drinking more water and stretching your muscles more frequently.
A massage not only feels lovely, but it also has physical and emotional health benefits that go beyond what you might imagine. Here are 11 benefits that have been proven:
1. Relieves anxiety and stress
Kneading removes both physical and mental tension. A good massage relaxes the body, produces feel-good hormones and lowers stress hormone levels. As a result, your stress and anxiety levels will be reduced, allowing you to improve your mental health organically.
In one trial, regular massage therapy improved symptoms for everyone among 68 patients with anxiety, due to the relaxation response elicited.
2. Endocrinological improvement
As before, massage can help with depression and anxiety; this is achieved by releasing endorphins and raising serotonin levels. Anyone who has had panic attacks knows how important it is to relax your body and your thoughts. Massage treatment works similarly to bring your body back to a serene condition, allowing your mind to rebalance.
3. Hormones are balanced
Massage boosts brain performance and wellness in practically every system of your body by promoting hormonal equilibrium.
Massage improves balance by increasing the release of hormones that make you feel good and decreasing the amount of “fight or flight” stress hormones in your body, particularly cortisol. This is why, following a massage, you’ll sense a shift, resulting in relaxation and an improved mood.
4. Assists with insomnia
Massage therapy has been shown to help patients sleep better whether they have natural causes of insomnia, such as menopause-related insomnia, jet lag, or stress. This is most likely accomplished by lowering cortisol and stress levels.
5. Assists in the removal of toxins
Deep tissue massage pushes stagnant blood, toxins, and water out of soft tissue, allowing new, fresh blood to flow with oxygen and nutrients.
6. Aids in circulation
Massage therapy draws blood into the area by applying pressure and kneading to muscle tissue, promoting mending and cleaning away impurities. In research on healthy people, massage demonstrated enhanced localized circulation and minimized muscle weariness in the treated area.
7. Increases the amount of energy in the body
Keeping tension in your body depletes your energy. Massage can help you regain your energy by enhancing your mood, balancing your hormones, releasing stress and allowing your muscles to rest. It also promotes energy by enhancing sleep quality, allowing you to wake up feeling well-rested.
8. Strengthens the immune system
A good massage will strengthen your immune system by reducing cortisol levels, a stress hormone linked to immunological suppression. Your lymphatic system is the drainage system which your immune system uses to collect infections and flush them out of your body.
The lymphatic system, unlike the heart and blood vessels, does not have a pump. Massage stimulates the lymph nodes which aid in removing pollutants and the rejuvenation of your natural defence system.
9. Helps to relieve pain
Massage therapy is currently considered beneficial as adjuvant therapy for pain management by the medical community. While it may not fix 100 percent of your pain issues, it is safe, and in almost every circumstance, doing it is preferable to not doing it.
You can benefit from massages to your upper body (particularly your upper back, neck, shoulders, the base of your skull and scalp), if you suffer from TMJ pain or frequent headaches. Tension and slowed blood flow in specific regions can cause dull headaches that continue all day.
10. Improves mobility
Massage can help a muscle’s range of motion by reducing inflammation and allowing swollen tissue to move out of the way. A good massage may relubricate a muscle and help it tone up, allowing it to function at its best.
Deep tissue massage helps lengthen your muscles and warm them up for action by offering a gentle stretch.
11. Increases muscle recovery
Massage treatment relieves muscle tightness and pain caused by strength training or sports participation. It accelerates muscle regeneration and healing by emptying lactic acid and boosting circulation, ensuring that muscles receive the oxygen and nutrients they require to recover.
Need a massage in the Langley area? Your friendly experts at Fraser Life would be glad to work with you. Visit us online at https://fraserlifephysio.ca/ or call (778) 278-4755 today.
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