Importance of regular massage therapy

Massage therapy is often recommended as a post-trauma method of recovery—as we’ve previously covered. Consequently, it is overlooked as a preventative regimen. There are, however, pockets of individuals—such as athletes—who understand the tremendous benefits of regular massage therapy as a form of preventative healthcare. The benefits are not exclusive to high-performing, physically active folks, but are numerous to every single person. In fact, if you’re not as active throughout the day as you’d like to be, you would be considered more at-risk for health-related complications than the athlete or average gym-goer. Think about a typical sedentary lifestyle where you sit for upwards of eight hours per day; this is a recipe for tight hips, back, and neck. Still, the issues are commonly found for average gym-goers, too, who strain themselves through repetitive motions but neglect the importance of muscle health and mobility.

It’s commonly accepted that massage therapy can relieve chronic complications, such as joint immobility, pain, and tension—but it goes beyond that. Physical health is nearly synonymous with physical exercise, but there are more dimensions it which it should be observed. The most obvious is what is apparent to the eye; assessing physical health through physical appearance. Then there are underlying determinants of physical health that aren’t immediately observable to the common eye—such as what we previously mentioned: joint and ligament health. Then it goes deeper: blood circulation in and around our muscles. We can continue to zoom in on the human anatomy to see the sophistication of physical health, and these are just the elements that go on in our body. We haven’t even scratched the surface with what we put in our body from the outside environment yet: nutrients, or lack thereof. The point is: physical health is a multi-faceted term that isn’t limited to its constituents, but is interrelated to emotional and mental health.

Regular massage therapy should not be viewed as a band-aid solution to newly arisen problems, though it’s very good at addressing such issues. A massage should be viewed as a measure of preventative healthcare. One of the most apparent benefits of massage therapy is that it counteracts the prolonged periods of sitting that the average person now experiences. Postural stress is especially prevalent among office workers, and other professions who may not necessarily be sitting, but are confined to a relatively fixed position throughout the day (slouching, leaning, or repetitive motions.) Muscle pain, generally speaking, is a condition from blood-flow complications. Deep tissue massage is an excellent method to penetrate those deep-rooted issues in our muscle tissues. A healthy flow of blood is also responsible for organ health, and nearly every other facet of our anatomy. Because there are several methods of massage, from sports to relaxation, ailments such as involuntary wakefulness can be remediated through a relaxation massage that eases stresses and tensions that burden us throughout the day. Now when you take, for example, person who experiences the above complications, you can easily see how this erodes the individual’s overall health beyond his or her “physical health” or what is immediately apparent. A body with limited ranges of motions, combined with less-than-optimal blood-flow and compounding stresses inevitability suffers an emotional and mental toll.

Massage therapists who specialize in the range of specializations (relaxation, sports and therapeutic, hot stone, post-surgery, etc) can help alleviate and prevent the aforementioned issues; therefore, massage therapy should not be only looked at as a post-trauma method of healing. Massage therapy, if incorporated as a regular method of healthcare maintenance, promotes an overall healthier body—physically, emotionally, and mentally. In the same manner that you should continually brush and floss your teeth every day, massage therapy should be framed as a preventative method of healthcare. It would be similar to only starting to brush your teeth when you start experiencing tooth decay, cavities, or oral diseases. Don’t wait until an issue arises to get a massage. Information in this article is not to be taken as a diagnosis or fact for what you may be experiencing. If you’re unsure whether massage therapy will help your specific issue, it’s best to consult your physician or to call our office and speak to one of our therapists. Our massage physicians would be happy to chat to you about your specific post-surgery concerns. Please call, email or visit our office for more information.