You’ve got a crick in your neck, your left elbow is throbbing and the pain in your lower back is making its way down your left buttock. It’s time for a massage! 
hink of massage as an opportunity to get back a bit of what daily stresses
and strains take out of you, slowing a busy, overworked mind and inducing a
feeling of calm. Even for those in tip-top health, regular massage therapy acts
as a form of body maintenance essential to good health.
Whether it's your kids rubbing your neck and shoulders at the end of a long
day or a regular professional massage, a massage is a necessity—not a luxury—and
there are very real health benefits, psychological as well as physiological.
Benefits of massage
According to the Canadian
Massage Therapists Association, massage stimulates blood circulation, lowering
heart rate and blood pressure, reducing swelling and promoting faster healing
through better delivery of nutrition to cells as well as removal of cellular
waste products.
Since massage improves lymphatic fluid circulation, it also stimulates the
immune system and improves the delivery of nutrition to, and the removal of
debris from all organs.
Massage lengthens muscles and increases lubrication between muscle fibres,
making them softer and more flexible, easing stiffness and pain.
It also helps rid the body of chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline, which
are released during times of stress and are responsible for the "fight or flight"
response. Over time, constant release of stress hormones can be harmful to health.
Similarly, the stress-busting aspect of massage can be highly effective in
reducing emotional stress. Gentle massage can soothe a racing mind, increase
a sense of well-being and even boost self-esteem.
A 'mini-vacation'
Coleen Quinn, a registered massage therapist who has busy practices in both
Toronto and Vancouver, says massage is an opportunity to be nurtured. "When
a client comes to me, he or she is usually exhausted. When clients leave, they
look energized, refreshed and rested."
Quinn has observed that massage acts as a kind of 'mini-vacation' that can
transform a person's sense of well-being quickly and dramatically.
Quinn calls what she does "restorative muscle therapy". By lengthening
short, tight muscles, she makes it possible for tension to be released from
the body, freeing up energy. "It requires a lot of energy to hold onto
the tension in tight muscles", notes Quinn, who had her first massage when
she was on Canada's national volleyball team. "If I can relax and lengthen
that muscle, it requires less energy to do all the things you need to do."
And since the soothing and healing effects of massage are cumulative, regular
massage brings the most benefits. Even if you can only make a commitment to
have a massage once a season (or four times a year), it's going to improve the
way you move and feel, says Quinn.
Different types of massage
Here is a sampling of some of the many types of therapeutic massage:
- Swedish massage—developed in the 1700's by Swedish physician Pir Henrik
Ling to relax muscles by rubbing them in the same direction as the flow of
blood returning to the heart.
- Shiatsu—an ancient form of Japanese massage in which the practitioner uses
thumbs and palms to apply to pressure to some 600 acupressure points.
- Sports
massage—performed either before or after exercise to stimulate muscles
and increase flexibility.
- Reflexology—a
Chinese form of acupressure massage that uses thumb pressure on certain points
of the feet.
- Aromatherapy—massage using essential oils, including rosemary, lavender
and eucalyptus, to stimulate or relax.
Find a massage therapist near you!
Visit the Canadian
Massage Therapists Association for a listing of provincial massage therapy
associations and accredited massage therapists.
|
Kristin Jenkins is a writer and editor specializing in health and medicine.
