23 Dec What Can Massage Do For You? Beyond Pain Relief…
What Massage Can Do For You
Beyond Pain Relief, Massage is Valuable for Preventive Care
– Karrie Osborn
This article first appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of Body Sense. Whether it is an aching back, recovery from an injury, a case of carpal tunnel syndrome, or a host of other debilitating physiological conditions, there’s no doubt massage and bodywork works to relieve pain. But once your therapist has helped you tackle your pain, do you quit calling? When the pain is gone, are you gone, too? Massage therapy is highly effective for pain relief, but it is an amazing preventive therapy as well. Massage helps build and maintain a healthy body (and mind), it combats stress, and it works to keep the immune system strong. In short, massage can keep on working for you, even after the pain is gone.
MASSAGE FOR WELLNESS
If it’s been a while since you booked your last massage–because your pain is no longer an issue or your injury is fully rehabbed–you might want to consider massage for preventive care.
Massage can play an important role in a good health-care regimen. Just as you eat healthily, exercise regularly, and take your vitamins to ward off illness and maintain a fit body, you should consider making frequent massage a part of your wellness lifestyle. According to Benny Vaughn, a sports massage expert in Fort Worth, Texas, one of the benefits of consistent and regular massage therapy is better flexibility. “This happens because regular and structured touch stimulus enhances the nervous system’s sensory and spatial processing capacity,” he says. “That is, the person becomes more aware of her body’s movement in space and becomes more aware of tightness or pain long before it reaches a critical point of mechanical dysfunction.”(to read this entire article and more, please click here Winter-2017)