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Benefits of Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is relaxing, and it certainly feels good, but there are many benefits to massage of which you may not be aware. Massage increases blood supply, oxygen, and nutrition to muscles, tissue, joints, and the vital organs, and improves circulation throughout the body. This helps muscles to recover more quickly from exertion and fatigue (especially useful after a strenuous workout), and helps to relieve the pain and discomfort associated with muscle tension, fractures, sprains, sciatica, and stiff joints.
Massage therapy aids in the relief of muscle spasms and cramping and helps in the prevention of muscular atrophy. Massage therapy also helps break up scar tissue and is especially useful in the breakup of post surgical adhesions and edema. It promotes a greater range of motion in joints and keeps ligaments and tendons supple. It lowers blood pressure and heart rate and reduces stress, anxiety, and even depression. As massage helps reduce not only physical, but mental stress, it is often recommended as part of a regular program for stress management.
Migraine sufferers, elderly persons, and pregnant mothers, may find massage particularly beneficial. Headache pain is often caused by myofascial trigger points in the muscles of the neck. A massage therapist can press his or her fingers deeply into the knotted muscles on the neck of a client suffering from a headache in order to release the trigger points that are causing the pain and tension. As the senior population rises and people continue to live longer, massage offers a way for elderly persons to deal with some of the issues associated with old age, such as arthritis, tendonitis, and bursitis. Massage provides a natural means of joint lubrication through improved circulation and mobility and it causes the body to release endorphins that act as natural pain killers. Massage helps relieve many of the normal discomforts that a mother experiences during pregnancy, suck as back, neck, and leg pain, as well as the pain and discomfort brought about by swollen feet and ankles.
As the elderly suffer disproportionately from immobility issues, massage therapy may be the only source of exercise the receive.