Tag: Soft Tissues

Massage therapy can help you get better sleep

Modern times give people instant everything. It gives them instant convenience, instant solutions and instant results among so many others. But, amidst all the advantages it gives to people, it also brings a lot of stress that hinders them to get better sleep.

Studies show that the most common cause of todays health problems lack of sleep that can be caused by too much stress. Aside from improper diet, and unhealthy life style, prolonged periods of stress subconsciously affect many systems of the human body, lack of sleep may lead to possible health problems such as gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, memory loss, and decreased immune function.

One of the most popular stress-reduction techniques being practice nowadays is massage therapy apart from using stress-relieving tablets and capsules. By definition, massage therapy is a hands-on manipulation of the soft tissues that include muscle, skin, tendons, and associated fascia, ligaments. Massage therapy also concentrates in treating joint capsules in the body. Apart from decreasing muscular tension and increasing the removal of metabolic waste, massage therapy also promotes nutrient delivery to healing tissue caused by extended periods of stress and will eventually help a person to get better sleep.

The wonders of massage therapy

Indeed, massage therapy has become a significant part of general health care for many people living in todays stressful world. Numerous professionals and even traditional healthcare systems throughout the world recognizes that massage therapy can play an important role in treating chronic ailments can and contribute to a higher sense of general well-being since it greatly helps people get better sleep.

Considered as the modern antidote for stress, massage therapy helps combat stress by trying to reduce the tension build up in the muscles. Aside from boosting the bodys immune system, massage therapy prevents the decrease in circulation and nutrient delivery to tissues. Known as one of the ultimate stress reducers, more professionals are advising their patients to include massage therapy in their health care treatment plans.

People, especially those who live by the rule of stress and dont have enough sleep, find massage therapy very helpful in so many ways. Among the extensive benefits of massage therapy, most people consider the therapeutic affect of the treatment on their bodies. Since massage therapy causes diverse physiological effects due to the therapists hands moving over the body, its therapeutic affect is proven to improve health by acting directly on the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems.

Aside from aiming to develop, maintain, rehabilitate, or augment physical function, massage therapy also relieves or prevents physical dysfunction and pain. Massage therapy also relaxes tight and tense muscles while improve circulation, recovery time, and immune system function, which reduce overall stress. And with the continuing research on the beneficial effects of massage therapy, its effectivity was also discovered in controlling chronic or acute pain.

Concentrated in creating different movements that can physically stretch muscles, ligaments, tendons, and fascia, massage therapy also encourages the circulation through the tissue, inhibit muscular spasms, and be either sedating or stimulating to the nervous system.

But, far from the common conception, elementary knowledge of massage therapy is not enough for ordinary individuals to practice it. Being a regulated health profession, massage therapy requires professionals who have completed hours of education at accredited schools and have extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology, assessment, bodywork techniques, and pathology to know when massage therapy is or is not suitable.

With the array benefits massage therapy offers to peoplespecially in stress reduction and in helping them get better sleepit is no wonder that a wide patronage of it will increase energy and will improve peoples outlook on life.

MASSSAGE THERAPY

Massage Therapy is just one persuasion from a wide array of other very effective and closely related persuasions such as Acupressure, Body Work, Manipulative Therapy, Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Structural Integration, Alternative Medical Systems, Mind-Body Intervention, Biologically Based Therapy, Energy Therapy, Shiatsu and Tui Na. And all these as a group come under the wide umbrella of alternative medicine and body-based methods. Massage Therapy is a procedure in which various methods are utilized to manipulate soft tissues of the subjects body such as the muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, connective tissues as well as the lymphatic vessels and organs of the gastrointestinal system.

The primary goal of Massage Therapy is to affect physical, psychological and functional curative changes by performing manipulative functions which involve moving or stationery pressure, structured or unstructured force to strategic points, vibration, stroking, kneading, and so on. On occasion, mechanical devices are used as tools of the trade, but for the most part, Massage Therapy is applied manually with the therapists hands, fingers, elbows, forearms and feet as the subject is fully clothed in a massage chair or partially to totally naked but covered with a towel on a massage table or on a mat on the floor.

Ancient scriptures have attested to the fact that massage therapy dates back into antiquity and it has been a fundamental practice in many different cultures such as the Roman, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indian. Even Biblical writings from c. 493 BC speak of daily massage with olive oil and myrrh being applied to the wives of Xerxes (Esther, 2:9-12) as part of their daily beauty routine. Hippocrates of Cos, a Greek physician of the fourth century BC who is also considered the father of medicine and after whose teachings the famous Hippocratic Oath was named, wrote that The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing.

Advancing to more modern times, Massage Therapy gained its popularity in the United States when it was presented by two physicians from New York in the 1800s. Their techniques were an adaptation from the Per Henrik Ling Massage Therapy which was developed in Sweden. With the introduction of new and exciting innovations in medicine during the 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of Massage Therapy waned but was revived again by the athletic community in the 1960s and 1970s. Massage Therapy was provided as a central medical service for the first time in the United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Etymologically speaking, the word massage in English comes from a long line of derivatives as follows: the French word massage which means the friction of kneading, which comes from the Arabic word massa which means to touch, feel or handle, which comes from the Latin word massa which means mass or dough. The Greek word for massage is anatripsis and the Latin word is firctio. However, the oldest known origin of the English word massage comes from the Biblical Hebrew word me-sakj which means to anoint with oil.

What we refer to as Massage Therapy today has in the past been merely referred to as Massage. However, the therapy portion of the Massage Therapy came into being only when the illegal prostitution and sexual services in the United States began advertising themselves and their wares as massage. Wanting to distinguish itself, the legitimate massage became Massage Therapy while the illicit continued to be called massage.

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MASSAGE THERAPY AS COMPLIMENTARY ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Massage therapy is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of procedures and methods of pressing, rubbing and manipulating muscles and other soft body tissues such as tendons, ligaments, skin and connective tissues. The main objective of massage therapy is to relax the soft tissues while promoting an increased delivery of blood and oxygen to the areas being massages and, therefore, to decrease tightness and pain. Massage therapy is most often accomplished by utilizing the massage therapists fingers, hands, arms, elbows and/or feet. Occasionally, however, mechanical and electronic devices may be also used.

As a matter of fact, there are more than eighty official types of massage therapy treatments but some of the most widely known are the following:

* The Deep Tissue Massage. This technique uses a combination of strokes and deep finger pressure applied way down under the skin and into the muscles at the painful sites in order to breakup knots and loosen tightness.

* The Trigger Point Massage. This procedure is also known as the Pressure Point Massage and it is more focused on specific myofascial trigger points with a stronger force than the Deep Tissue Massage. The goal here is to dissolve the painful knots that were formed in the muscles as well as to relieve additional symptoms in more remote areas of the body.

* The Swedish Massage. This system utilizes oblong smooth strokes, kneading and friction of the muscles as well as movement of the joints to increase their range of motion and flexibility.

* The Shiatsu Massage. Using altering rhythmic pressure, tapping, squeezing and rubbing along the meridian and on various other parts of the body, the main objective of this Eastern massage therapy is to enhance the flow of a fundamentally important energy called gi. And this energy, in the ancient Chinese medicine is believed to be the life force that regulates a persons spiritual, emotional, mental and physical wellness that is easily affected when subjected to the rival forces of yin and yang.

Whether the four most often practiced massage therapies I mentioned above are used as complimentary alternative medicine (also known as CAM) or any one of the other recognized eighty which are available to a lesser or greater extent, there are important points to be considered:

* No massage therapy should ever be used in place of regular or ongoing medical care.

* Massage therapy should not be the cause or the excuse to postpone visiting a medical professional for existing medical issues.

* The massage therapists schooling and credentials must be verified as well as his or her experience with specific health and medical conditions.
* Any additional complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) such as herbs, supplements, special diets or other treatments which are suggested by the massage therapist must first be reviewed with a medical professional.

* Although the subject of massage therapy (how it works and why) has been studied for many years and continues to be studies, much of it still remains within the realm of a mystery.

* If and when massage therapy is performed by a well training and experienced professional, few risks are involved and the worst of them may be temporary pain or discomfort, bruising, swelling or an allergic reaction to the massage oils. The small number of serious injuries which have been reported were triggered by untrained hands that were not aware that certain medical conditions should not be massaged. It is, therefore, essential to consult a medical professional before undergoing massage therapy, particularly under the following circumstances:

* Deep vein thrombosis
* A bleeding disorder or when taking blood thinners
* Damaged blood vessels
* Weakened bones from osteoporosis, a recent fracture or cancer
* The presence of high body temperature
* Open or healing wounds, tumors, damaged nerves, an infection, a severe inflammation or fragile skin
* Pregnancy
* Heart problems
* Dermatomyositis or any other skin disease
* History of physical abuse

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DYSFUNCTIONS RESPONDING TO CLINICAL MASSAGE

Occasionally referred to as an orthopedic massage, Clinical massage is an entire array of manipulation techniques designed to assess and then to minister to soft tissue injuries and these may include but are not limited to: massage therapy, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, muscle-energy techniques, craniosacral therapy, deep tissue massage and so on. The Clinical massage therapy is usually based on a physicians prescription and directives as a series of treatment sessions to be performed over a set period of time and at specified frequency as related only to a specific need. In that regard, this therapy is most often performed with a particular and purposeful outcome in mind, and its first and foremost objectives are to relieve pain, to increase the range of motion and to help repair and restore soft tissues such as muscles, tendons and ligaments to their normal and healthy functions.

The first of the doctor-prescribed set of sessions is predominantly devoted to assessment or diagnostics of the clients true condition and with all the data collected an action plan can be formulated:

* By using various levels of palpation or touching of the ailing body part, the massage therapist will pinpoint the exact location as well as determine the levels of pain.

* The range of motion and the strength of the muscles is tested through a sequence of movements such as a passive movement which involves the massage therapist moving the relevant muscle groups while the client is inert; an active movement which involves the clients own movement of the muscles in questions; and the resisted movement which involves the clients movement against a resisting force.

* If clinical data related to previous soft tissue injuries and massage therapy is available, it will be reviewed for comparison to the current situation and the phase of healing will be determined.

* The findings are closely reviewed along with the doctors orders and a customized Clinical massage therapy is drawn up.

Most every condition of the soft tissues can benefit from Clinical massage to some extent, but the following list displays dysfunctions which respond most advantageously to its application:

Myofascial Pain. Pain and physiological dysfunctions are known to begin at specific points within muscles and their connective tissues which are also known as fascia. These are appropriately referred to as trigger points because they tend to set off or trigger reactions at remote locations.

Scientists and researchers have successful recorded comprehensive map systems of myofascial trigger points and they have been able to identify dozens of dysfunctions relating to them. The most common of these are: carpal tunnel syndrome, TMJ dysfunction, PMS, headache, diarrhea, dizziness, cardiac arrhythmia, indigestion, tennis elbow, urinary frequency, sinusitis, deafness and blurred vision.

Fascial Plane Dysfunction. Fascia covers nearly the entire body in large endlessly connected sheets which can be distorted and bound to themselves and nearby tissues when inflicted with injury, misalignment or a chemical imbalance. To promote optimal health, the fascial sheets and the blood vessels and nerves which follow them must be in good conditions.

Neuromuscular Dysfunction. Even the simplest and the tiniest of movements of the body requires armies of nerve impulses to be sent to the muscle which is directly involved, as well as to the adjoining and opposing muscles. And it must all be accomplished with precision of timing and proportions. When the mechanics of any part of these functions break down, muscle fibers or entire muscles lock.

Tonus System Dysfunction. Overused muscles become hypertonic or lose their ability to relax. Consequently, they tighten and cause stress on opposing muscles and on the joints they cross.

Dermatomic Dysfunction. When nerves are pinched anywhere along their path, pain will be delivered to the area they serve.

Spondylogenic Dysfunction. When joints of the spine are impaired or compressed, pain will occur in that specific area.

Stated more simply, people suffering from muscle or joint pains or tightness, muscle fatigue or tension, shooting or spreading pains, allergies or asthma, anxiety or depression, irregularity of the digestive system, arthritis or circulatory problems, sleep disorders, headaches, immune function disorders or stress, they can be helped as their symptoms can be relieved through Clinical massage.

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