What Are the Benefits of a Therapeutic Massage?
There are plenty of benefits, both physical and emotional, to getting this type of massage. When you get a massage, it can reduce inflammation throughout the body because it boosts the immune system.
It also gets rid of pain. Like a regular massage, a therapeutic massage can alleviate muscle pain that’s caused by stress – especially stress that’s caused because of having to deal with a long term situation.
It can also be used to address specific injuries that can be the result of exercising or from playing sports. When you have an injury to a muscle, the natural tendency is for people to want to baby the muscle.
They don’t want to use it, so they try to protect that muscle, thinking that if they just give it a few days off, they’ll be good as new. But what therapeutic massage can do – besides stopping the muscle pain – is ease the tightness in the muscle.
When a muscle is injured, it will tighten up – and this tightness contributes to the pain that you feel. Depending on how long you go without using that muscle, it can affect the muscle tone.
People who’ve experienced a trauma to the muscle can benefit from therapeutic massage because it helps give back the muscle tone. It also makes the muscle more flexible, which helps prevent further damage.
The massage can help improve the range of motion that you have – even if you’ve experienced a muscle or joint injury in that area. When you get a therapeutic massage, it can even help you get rid of nausea that can be a side effect of some medications or a result of disease.
This type of massage can help your immune system work better, too. One of the biggest complaints among patients that doctors often hear concerns back pain. There can be any number of reasons for back pain, but one of the number one causes is muscle strain.
For people who are prone to back pain, a therapeutic massage can help people be better able to deal with – or in some cases even eliminate – the pain. People who undergo this type of massage often report that their energy levels increase after a series of sessions.
There are emotional benefits to getting a therapeutic massage. In studies, it’s been shown that having a therapeutic massage can help people deal with emotions like anger, anxiety disorders and depression.
The reason that the massage helps with emotions is because it affects the chemical processes in the brain. The massage causes the cortisol levels go to down, which is linked to high blood pressure and higher levels of stress.
People who deal with emotional upheaval, whether it’s long or short term, often end up with physical illness because the stress triggered by the rising cortisol can weaken the body’s response to illness.
When you get a massage, the brain releases a boost of mood leveling neurotransmitters. There are even some beauty benefits to getting a massage. When your body is massaged, whichever area is being worked on will experience a boost in blood flow. This helps improve skin tone!