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What is “Massage Therapy?”
Massage therapy is one of the oldest methods of healing around. Massage Therapy can be put into two categories, Therapeutic and Relaxation.
Therapeutic massage is most often a deep soft tissue massage focusing on addressing muscle tissue that has shortened (tightened), developed adhesions, or formed scar tissue due to an injury, poor posture, or immobility. Therapeutic massage can be used to help rehabilitate almost any form of musculo-skeletal dysfunctions, for example – low back pain, sciatica, neck pain, tension headaches, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia, upper back pain, chronic pain, arthritis, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, tennis elbow, strains, sprains, muscle tightness, shin splints, and muscle spasms. Therapeutic massage can be referred to as being “deep and painful”, but it all depends on the depth of the muscle tissue being targeted and the pain tolerance of the patient. The main target of therapeutic massage is to relieve pain and restore mobility and function. Therapeutic massage is also used as a preventative measure to assure that adhesions do not develop and that muscle fiber’s stay aligned as to maintain proper mobility.
Relaxation Massage is a focus on the body as a whole. Along with its soothing strokes it has a variety of other techniques used to relax the body and relieve tension and stress, which could lead to headaches or other dysfunctions, therefore often used as a maintenance program. Relaxation massage has been proven to reduce stress, increase blood flow, and eliminate toxins from muscle tissue and therefore providing a healthy environment for the body to maintain homeostasis.
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