30 Mar Helping Veterans, Energy Boosts, Prevention
IN THIS ISSUE: * Helping Veterans and Wounded Warriors * Healthy Energy Boosters: Tips to Staying Energized and Alert * Don’t Get Sick! Prevention is Key
Helping Veterans and Wounded Warriors –
This nation’s military veterans and wounded warriors continue to fight, long after they come off the battlefields. They fight to be whole again and to reclaim their physical and psychological health. Many forms of massage and bodywork can help them do just that.
Therapeutic Massage
With its ability to meld body and mind, massage is an excellent way for veterans to reintegrate. Not only can this kind of therapeutic touch address the physical wounds, it can help bring a sense of normalcy back into daily life. “Gratifying physical experiences, such as massages … may be experiences that patients build up that are not contaminated by trauma, and which may serve as a core of new gratifying experiences,” writes Bessel van der Kolk, author of Traumatic Stress.
Research on massage and veterans, funded by the National Institutes of Health, has shown considerable promise for this hands-on therapy. An initial 2014 study found that veterans reported significant reductions in physical pain, physical tension, irritability, anxiety/worry, and depression after massage. As a result, researchers are hoping to show in Phase 2 of their study that massage could diminish our veterans’ needs for opiods for pain management, a significant concern for the US Department of Defense and the veterans themselves.
Many of our military personnel returning from battle zones come home less than whole. In cases of amputation, massage can help control edema, deal with neuromas, improve skin health, and loosen scar tissue. For more on this topic, read “David’s Heroes” in the November/December 2014 issue of…Do you wish to read more on the subject? Click here to read full publication Spring 2015 Newsletter