5 Amazing Benefits of Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is amazing for the body! It involves the kneading, tapping, & rubbing of soft tissues in the body. There’s many therapeutic effects of massage therapy, including relieving pain and stress, allowing for greater mental relaxation, lowering blood pressure, and enhancing blood circulation.
Here are 5 key & amazing benefits of massage therapy:
1. Massage Therapy Counters the Damage Caused By a Sedentary Lifestyle
Many of us are living a more modern, sedentary lifestyle that involves sitting in a chair for the better part of the day. This takes quite a toll on your body! The postural stress that your body goes through in these seated positions causes misalignments and imbalances along the neck and shoulder area. You may even develop painful symptoms in the gluteal muscles or the lower back region, due to prolonged sitting. When you sit for too long, the muscles in your hamstrings become shorter & tighter, causing increased strain and pain in the lower back.
Massage therapy helps undo much of the damage that the body sustains due to this over-seated lifestyle through loosening overly tight and constricted areas, allowing for greater general range of motion, posture, and overall body alignment.
2. Massage Therapy Helps to Relieve Muscular Pain
Sore muscles are very common after periods of intense physical activity - be it in the gym, on the field, etc. This sore feeling is caused by damaged muscle tissue. Massage therapy will help your sore muscles by increasing the blood circulation and removing lactic acid in the damaged area. A study published in 2011 in the Archives of Internal Medicine backs this assertion and considers massage therapy as an equal alternative to other forms of treatment for chronic pain.
3. Massage Therapy Helps to Relieve Anxiety
Professionals recognize the significance of the human touch for its therapeutic and relaxing effects. A 2005 study in the International Journal of Neuroscience backs this assertion, with science showing that the “stress hormone”, cortisol, decreases in the body and both dopamine and serotonin were increased.
I think it’s fair to say that by decreasing cortisol and increasing both dopamine and serotonin in the body, massage therapy is great for relieving anxiety.
4. Massage Therapy Encourages Better Sleep
Massage therapy has been shown to encourage quality sleep in all types of people, whether people that already get normal levels of sleep each night to those with sleep disorders.
More relaxed and relieved muscles along with the chemical effects of massage therapy make for much greater sleep quality.
5. Massage Therapy Helps to Boost Your Immunity
Massage therapy has been shown to be quite effective when it comes to boosting a patient’s immunity. Backed by a 2010 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, we see that massage therapy increases immunity by increasing the white blood cell count in patients. White blood cells help to defend the body against a host of diseases and having more means better defenses from those diseases.
All in all, massage therapy is a fantastic, natural, drug-free, and simple alternative to prescribed medication and is a wonderful addition to any weekly or monthly health care routine.
If you would like to benefit from the therapeutic effects that massage therapy offers, feel free to contact us here or check out our massage page to learn more.
Dr. Tim Gooing is a master of the Chiropractic arts, practicing daily in Lake Forest, California at his clinic, Mission Hills Chiropractic. His mission is to help people get and stay out of pain with regular chiropractic adjustments.
Is he the best chiropractor in Lake Forest or the best chiropractor in Mission Viejo? What about the best chiropractor in Orange County? We can’t say for certain, but we can say yeah, probably.
If you’re looking for a chiropractor in Orange County, Mission Viejo or a chiropractor in Lake Forest, CA, Tim’s your man.