Fun Facts about Massage!
Here are some fun facts about massage:
Massage can help you sleep better. (Even if you don't nap during the actual massage.) Many clients say they have a great sleep after they have had a massage. Massage promotes relaxation of the muscles and reduces tension. If you are in pain or have tension it can prevent sleep. Creating more relaxation within your muscles and body enhances your chances of getting better sleep. Please click the link for more information about better sleep.
Reduction of stress. Massage can help to decrease cortisol (a stress hormone) and increase levels of serotonin and dopamine, which promotes feelings of happiness and relaxation.
Injury Resilience. Rehabilitating any injury can be a tiring and frustrating process. While the main goal of physical rehabilitation is to increase strength and flexibility, it often ends before the area has been returned to its full pre-injury state.
Massage plays an important role as a supplement to standard injury rehabilitation procedures. By encouraging circulatory movement and relaxing muscles, it helps the body pump more oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs. This allows the rehabilitating injured area(s) to become more flexible and heal at an accelerated rate.
Just because you are in pain in a particular area doesn’t mean that’s the only area that needs to be addressed. For example when your back hurts, that might not be the only area that needs massage. As Remedial Massage Therapists we look at the body as a whole, what other contributing factors may be affecting your back pain. Back pain may come from the hip, legs or even the abdomen. Don’t always think that just because your feeling pain in one area that area needs to be massaged, other areas of the body can affect it. Likewise, sometimes hand and arm pain is caused by dysfunction in the neck and shoulder.
Massage can help your mood. It's been shown to be helpful in treating both anxiety and depression. We have witnessed clients walk into a massage treatment in one mood and walk out in a total different mood (a happier one of course). Please click the links for more information about anxiety and depression.
Massage is safe in the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy (unless there are unusual health issues). Some practitioners choose to not do it, but that's their choice. Please click the link for more information about massage during pregnancy.
Deep tissue massage, or any massage, doesn't need to be painful to be effective. Yes you may feel some discomfort when your therapist is working on a trigger point but if it is too much please speak UP! Its can be slightly uncomfortable but not to the point you want to jump off the table or you are pulling away from the therapist. We are happy for you to tell us if the pressure is too much or not enough.
Your massage therapist loves feedback. We like to know if you hate having your feet touched, if you want more pressure or less pressure. A massage is your experience and we just want to make it an enjoyable one for you.
Silence or a chatter box… We are totally fine if you want to talk all the way through your treatment or if you want complete silence. We gauge by the client. We will not get offended if you don’t talk, its your massage.
Improved posture.. Everyone has caught themselves slouching over their desk or slumping in a chair at some point. This poor posture can cause a lot of tension in the back and neck which is no good for our body. Proper body alignment can help improve things like digestion and even breathing capacity. Regular massage though can help improve your posture. The massage itself will loosen the muscles and alleviate any pain caused by your bad posture. This will enable your body to position itself in its natural-and pain-free-posture. With ongoing massage the body will begin to naturally position itself in a healthy posture, steering clear of the bad posture that was previously second-nature
Massage helps support your immune system.. People with high levels of stress are more likely to get sick more often. This stress often leads to a myriad of other negative side effects such as lack of sleep, a bad diet and a weakened immune system. Regular massage sessions help alleviate stress and, as a result, have been proven to naturally increase the immune system's cytotoxic capacity - aka its ability to fight off bacteria and infection.
