Posts Tagged ‘benefits of massage therapy’

Massage Therapy - Hydro Massage Therapy

Friday, September 4th, 2009

What is Hydro Massage Therapy? Although it is all the rage in spas across the world, the truth is that hydro massage therapy is an ancient form of therapy. It was widely used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. To put it simply, hydro massage therapy is a form of therapy that uses the beneficial properties of warm water to provide a soothing massage to the body.

How does it work? There are many different kinds of hydro massage therapy. The most popular kinds include:

  • High-pressure water massage
  • Underwater manual massage
  • Jet massage in the air

Depending on the kind of hydro massage therapy that you opt for, you will either have to enter a pool of water in your swimming trunks or put a waterproof sheet over your clothes. With new improvements in technology, you can even experience the benefits of hydro massage therapy in the comfort of your own bathroom.

What is common to all forms of hydro massage therapy is that the water is heated to a certain temperature and is applied in the form of forceful jets. The warm water soothes the muscles, relieves stress, increases the circulation of blood, and facilitates the removal of toxins from the body. The gentle pressure of water massages aching muscles and stimulates the various organs of the body.

Benefits of hydro massage therapy: Hydro massage therapy offers a number of significant benefits. These include:

  • Hydro massage therapy is especially recommended for those suffering from injuries to their muscles or soft tissue.
  • It also provides an excellent means of recovering from post-operative stress and sports injuries.
  • Hydro massage therapy has been proven to be beneficial in the treatment of arthritis.
  • It may also be used by pregnant women to alleviate some of the discomfort and pain during pregnancy.
  • It is especially useful in treating back and neck pain.
  • Patients suffering from diseases such as spondylosis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, tendinitis, and lupus can also benefit from hydro massage therapy.
  • The therapy is especially useful in relieving stress and in the treatment of stress related ailments.

Hydro massage therapy may also be combined with aromatherapy to provide added relief from aches, pains, and stress. While hydro massage therapy works mostly on a physiological level to provide relief, aromatherapy works on both physiological and psychological levels to hasten the process of

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Sports Massage Therapy - Types and Benefits

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

What is Sports Massage Therapy?
Sports and athletics put tremendous strain on the body, much more than normal and often more than what is safe for the human body. Not only that, but competitive sports put a lot of emotional stress on the mind. Repetitive training may injure joints, ligaments tendons and even muscles. Fatigue and injure may also pull an athlete down.

Sports massage has been in use for aeons, although it was known by different names. Massage is an integral part of one of the most ancient martial arts in the world, the Indian Kalaripayat. Japanese and European wrestlers have also benefited from massage. Today, though, sports massage has assumed very significant dimensions. It is normally given before, during and after athletic events. Depending on when it is given, its aim is to prepare or relax the athlete, and to rejuvenate the nerves and muscles. A good sports massage therapist can keep away fatigue and injuries. It can only be administered by a trained professional, with knowledge of how the muscular and skeletal systems work for athletes.

The massage itself eliminates toxins that are lodged deep in muscles, loosen them, minimise scar tissue buildup. It also lengthens muscles, which counteracts the ill-effects of strength training. Sports massage improves circulation, which in turn, improves recovery time.

Sports massage essentially borrows from the most applicable of Swedish massage and Shiatsu. Since different sports have different needs, various techniques may be used. These include basic, deep Swedish strokes, pressure point work, joint mobilisation and cross-fiber friction.

Types of Sports Massage
The different types of sports massage depend on when they are given.

  • Pre-Event: This massage helps loosen the muscles and warms them up. It fills the muscles with blood and nutrients. It makes an athlete psychologically ready. Normally, it’s given a couple of days before competition.
  • Post-Event: This massage relieves soreness from the anaerobic strain on the muscles. It also reduces emotional and mental stress. It reduces swelling, keeps the muscles supple, and dissolves lactic acid build-up. It also helps the body to heal faster.
  • Prevention: When a massage is given regularly, it helps repair small tears in the muscle. It also keeps the muscles loose, and helps muscle length to be maintained as they grow.
  • Rehabilitation: It is also given as part of a rehabilitation program, where it helps muscles regain their original strength and minimizes scar tissue build-up. Sports massage is also used as a last resort in the event of injury.

Techniques
The main techniques used are effleurage, petrissage and frictions. In sports massage, most techniques try to direct pressure towards the heart to increase blood flow. They also try to ensure that no damage is caused to the blood vessels.

Sports Massage Therapy Benefits :
A good sportsman must be strong physically, physiologically and psychologically, and a good massage must aim to boost all three. Some of the benefits of sports massage are:

  • Removes build- up of lactic acid.
  • Oxygenates the muscles, helping them to grow.
  • Breaks down scar tissue, which affects performance.
  • Helps lengthen muscles and increases flexibility.
  • Helps reduce pain.
  • Reduces stress and anxiety.

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Massage Therapy Benefits

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Massage therapy is great in relieving sore and tense muscles and helpful in improving blood circulation. That is however not all; massage therapy’s benefits go well beyond just these. A massage session can be luxurious for your skin too.  Viewing all the benefits that just one massage session can give you, you might think that massage therapy is the best way to keep healthy and have a glowing skin. However, that is not the case. Massage is no substitute for medical care, no matter how many benefits it might have. Just because massage therapy relieves you and makes you feel better does not mean that you should give up seeing a doctor about your problems.

Massage therapy has been of interest to many doctors and scientists over the last few years. Numerous studies have been done to find out the various benefits of massage therapy. What scientists are also interested in knowing is how massage has the effects that it does.

In these studies, it has been found out that the force applied on the muscles during a massage therapy forces the muscles to change shape or lose their stress. This is one of the major reasons that massage therapy is relaxing and makes the stress disappear. Since stress can cause many ailments, regular massage therapies can help ward off many stress-related ailments.

Following are some of the common benefits of massage therapy:

  • Massage stimulates the muscles and the nerve bundles so that the pain signals sent to the brain are blocked and therefore pain is reduced or completely eliminated.
  • Massage causes the body to react subtly to stress. Whereas, in normal circumstances, stress causes the muscles to tighten and the nerves to contract, a person who receives regular massage does not experience this.
  • The blood vessels dilate and the activity in the digestive tract tends to increase due to regular massaging.
  • Massage also helps release endorphins and serotonins in the body which are both chemicals that are beneficial for the body.
  • Massage has also been associated with the prevention of formation of scar tissues called fibrosis.
  • Massage also stimulates the flow of lymph that carries the disease fighting cells.

There are certain things that you should keep in mind when you go for massage therapy. Always have a prior discussion with the therapist about all your ailments so that they can give you a customized therapy that works on your ailm

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