The accumulation of everyday stress
Working long hours at the computer can result in stress, muscle tension, injury or pain which can drain you physically, mentally or emotionally. This can impact negatively on your social life as well as on your work. As the most important benefit of massage is the reduction of stress, general health can be improved and maintained by massage therapy and the negative effects of stress can be alleviated or prevented. On an ongoing basis it can reduce pain, prevent injuries and maintain health. It is an important part of staying healthy physically and mentally as it relieves stress which is responsible for 90% of illness and pain.
Due to reflex effects through the autonomic 출장 nervous system, massage affects internal organs and areas removed from the area being treated. It promotes relaxation, reduces pain, boosts mood and mental clarity. Massage can be used for relaxation or stimulation and may be applied to rehabilitation after surgery, injury or poor health. It improves blood and lymph circulation, increases natural killer cells and lymphocytes which destroy cancer cells, boosts mood by increasing serotonin and dopamine and relieves pain by increasing pain killing endorphins. Massage can relax the body, decrease blood pressure and heart rate and reduce stress and depression. It may also provide symptomatic relief for acute and chronic conditions such as headache, facial pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis. It realigns and rejuvenates, restoring balance to body and being, so you can take in your stride whatever life throws your way. It promotes digestion, joint mobility, muscle relaxation, relief of spasms and cramps.
Bodywork as a medical treatment
Massage therapy is becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective as it moves into new areas such as medical massage which is the fastest growing modality of massage today. Training in massage therapy was an integral part of medical massage and nursing care up to the mid 1950s when it dropped to almost nothing due to the rapid development and almost exclusive use of technology in the twentieth century. Manual therapy was no longer seen as necessary for standard hospital care. Today, however, it is realized that massage in the hospital is necessary to provide a sense of wholeness and care which is absent in the increasing fragmentation of hospitalization due to the growing emphasis on specialization. Medical massage uses the traditional strokes of massage which are then specifically adapted to treat, for instance, cancer patients, hospital patients and pregnant women. Medical massage may be given in the hospital setting, an outpatient clinic or as a mobile therapy where the therapist travels to the patient’s home to give the patient a personally tailored treatment protocol.
In massage therapy for the cancer patient, the therapist pays close attention to the side effects of the curative medical treatment to devise an appropriate protocol. Here the therapy is designed around the particular side effects the patient is experiencing such as pain, lymph-oedema, scarring, nausea, stress, tension, insomnia, fatigue, anger, depression and anxiety.
Thus cancer massage is a uniquely designed therapy which complements the curative medical treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Hence, it requires more extensive knowledge of medical procedures, pathology and side effects than ordinary therapy. Failure to understand this will result in harm to the patient as the therapist will not be able to adapt the therapy to design a competent treatment protocol.
In pregnancy massage the therapist must take into account mainly musculoskeletal issues caused by the weight of the growing uterus altering the centre of gravity of the woman’s body. Treatment in this case will focus especially on upper and lower back pain, sacroiliac dysfunction as well as pubic symphysis and lower abdominal pain. The therapist must also be alert to and able to detect acute medical problems such as deep vein thrombosis and preeclampsia which are both potentially fatal if not medically treated.