If you have not yet embraced the concept of getting Massage Therapy on a regular basis, you might want to think about it!
Massage Therapy Benefits
The benefits of Massage Therapy and Manual Therapy have been proven in many research studies. To name one benefit (and in my opinion one of the most important ones): Massage Therapy reduces stress. The Number One Health Risk in western societies is stress.
Here is an interesting video from Emory University which talks about studies showing sustained, cumulative beneficial effects of repeated massage therapy. The effects persist for several days to a week, and differ depending on the frequency of sessions.
The Biological Benefits of Frequent Massage
One of the leading researchers in this field of touch has been Dr. Tiffany Field, who began her research about the beneficial effects of healthy touch in 1982. In 1992, Dr Tiffany Fields formally established the Touch Research Institutes (TRI) at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She became especially well known through her groundbreaking research in infant massage. With her research studies, she was able to establish the fact that by utilizing massage therapy, prematurely born babies increase their healthy weight gain which allows them to be discharged much earlier than infants who did not receive nurturing touch through the use of massage therapy. Researchers from such distinguished organizations such as Duke, Harvard, Maryland, and other universities, strive til today to better define touch as it promotes health and contributes to the treatment of disease.
The key component of the many benefits of massage therapy (for babies as well as for adults) include the decrease in cortisol and increase of dopamine and serotonin which is affected measurably by massage. We often don’t give value to things which have something to do with the human touch, however it might be the most important one after all.
Many people don’t give massage the importance that it truly deserves. Undeniably, it makes one feel good…., but the next time you think of massage therapy, also think about the many physiological changes that occur within your body, which create the many positive health effects, such as reducing stress… to mention such one.
Massage Therapy might be contraindicated in certain instances (for example having a fever is one of them). This fact alone, shows us, how powerful it is. Ask your licensed Massage Therapist for more information and try it out: Get a massage, reduce your stress and feel great… and have a much higher threshold for your next challenging situation!
Check out these sources to find out more:
Massage Therapy Resources
American Massage Therapy Organization
Please let us know, what you think and leave a reply!