Massage Therapy is a beautiful form of bodywork, with documented evidence of its healing power
And here’s the beauty of bodywork: its benefits are multiplied when massage is used as a frequent therapy. The more massage you get, the more it does for you.
The medical community is actively embracing massage therapy, and massage is becoming an integral part of hospice care and neonatal intensive care units. Many hospitals are also incorporating on-site massage to treat postsurgical or pain patients as part of the recovery process.
Budgeting time and money for bodywork at consistent intervals is truly an investment in your health. While you are enjoying a massage, remember it can also help:
• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion. Improve joint flexibility.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow-the body’s natural defense system.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Help athletes at any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
• Lessen depression and anxiety. Relieve migraine pain.
• Promote tissue regeneration, thereby reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
Massage affects everyone in many different ways. When we allow ourselves to relax and let go, the body can begin the healing process where it is needed. But, you shouldn’t just take my word for it. Just look at what others have said about how regular massage has helped them.
“Getting massage has been part of my life since I was in my 20s-I’m now in my 50s”, says chef Gisele P. She finds that solutions to life’s problems arise spontaneously in her thoughts while she is on the table. “I think it maintains my emotional balance,” she says.
Author Tricia G. set a goal to have weekly massage and has followed through with it for four years. “I don’t spend a lot of money on myself in general, but massage is vital to my emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being,” she says. “When I’m through with a massage, I feel like everything is fine, everything will work out, and the spinning world does not rest on my shoulders.”
Research shows the cost of a massage has remained fairly steady in recent years, even as other popular pastimes have become more expensive. “Affording it is a matter of priorities,” or at least that’s the way 22-year old Elizabeth B. sees it. She calls her public radio station salary “practically a sneeze,” yet she manages to get a monthly massage. “My first massage was only 30 minutes, but I fell in love. It’s worth it because it makes me happy.”
Unfortunately, Michelle W. did things in reverse order. She had pain in the upper part of her left buttock, which became unmanageable and prevented her from sleeping and working. After seeking the help of 10 different doctors, acupuncture, MRIs, pain pills, physical therapy, and surgery, a friend suggested she try massage. “It was honestly an act of God,” she says. “When I left the session, I had no pain at all.” Despite the impact of her medical treatments on her finances, she is committed to the pain relief afforded by massage.
Former ballet dancer L. Perez, has been getting massage twice-weekly for 20 years. He works in health and fitness, putting his money where his mouth is. He states, “I have given myself permission to make myself a priority. Sometimes I use the time to think and reflect and other times I simply ‘check out’ and allow my battery to recharge. I believe strongly that massage is an integral part of who I am and where I am today.”
Author and teacher, Charlie A., states, “Massage is disease prevention for me. It seems wrong to me to wait until you get sick to go to a doctor.”
Frankie P. first found massage after a motorcycle accident, spent five and a half months in the hospital with many broken bones. She was in the middle of a divorce and other life issues when the accident happened. A nurse ordered massage three times each week and it reduced her need for prescription drugs by half. “I think everyone can benefit from massage,” she says.
Many people make massage a priority, and you may well be one of them. Know that you have chosen something with real value that benefits your health – both in body and mind.