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Massage

Everyone knows what a massage is, and in this frantic lifestyle, everybody needs a good one. A massage is one of the oldest form of healing of ancient civilizations dating back to 3,000 years ago. Ancient China, Hindus, Persians and Egyptians enjoy the benefits of this practice and even Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote papers recommending the use of it. Although at that time, it was extensively called ‘rubbing and friction for joint and circulatory problems’. In our time, a massage or massage therapy is an all encompassing word for hands-on manipulation of the soft tissues of the body including the muscles, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments and joints. It is considered by authorities to be an alternative health option that alleviates the soft tissue discomfort associated with everyday stresses, muscular overuse and chronic pain syndromes.

To date, there are already more than 200 variations to massage, including somatic therapies and bodywork which can be non-forceful passive or active movements or techniques intended to affect the energetic systems of the body. To ease the massage, the use of oils, lotions, and powders help to reduce friction on the skin.

Practitioners can utilize multiple techniques simultaneously and application of these techniques may include tapping, kneading, compression, rocking, stroking, vibration, friction, and pressure to the muscular structure or soft tissues. Among the popular and common variations of massage include the Craniosacral Therapy which is a gentle manipulative technique that encourages one’s own natural mechanisms to improve the functioning of one’s brain and spinal cord. It send goal is to dissipate the negative effects of stress, promote good health, and enhance resistance to disease. In the same manner, the Deep Tissue Massage is also widely used to release chronic muscle tension although its strokes are slower and more direct to put pressure or friction across the grain of the muscles. A Shiatsu is the more traditional hands-on healing therapy, Japanese style.  It is proven to help in a wide range of conditions. The more contemporary Swedish massage is designed to principally relax muscles by applying pressure to them against deeper muscles and bones. This is performed by rubbing in the same direction as the flow of blood to the heart. On the other hand, an Esalen Massage is not so much on the strokes but on meditation. It focuses more on a philosophical and spiritual approach to relax the mind along with the body. On the extreme end too, an Erotic massage is more of a sexual foreplay technique rather than a form of massage because it focuses primarily on skin.

There had already been a lot of massage forms popularized as more and more people can attest to the benefits of a good Massage. One of these benefits is to provide relief to people of all ages and walks of life since it addresses health conditions including the most prevalent of which is stress-related tension. Because of its drug-free, non-invasive and humanistic approach based on the body’s natural ability to heal itself, a massage therapy also has been proven beneficial in treating a lot like the following:

• cancer-related fatigue,
• diabetes,
• sleep disorders,
• high blood pressure,
• spinal cord injury,
• low back pain,
• immunity suppression,
• post-operative surgery,
• age-related disorders,
• depression,
• eating disorders,
• and infertility

Massage therapy even has physiological effects too such as an increasing circulation, a stimulating the lymph system, a relaxing and softening of injured and overused muscles and a minimizing of cramping and spasms. It can also induce reducing of the recovery time for strenuous workouts, releasing endorphins as the body’s natural painkiller, reducing post-surgery adhesions and edema and realigning scar tissue and improving the range of motion and reducing discomfort for patients with low back pain. Furthermore, it can be good also for alleviating pain for migraine, offering exercise and stretching for atrophied muscles, decreasing shortening of the muscles and the more common reason of providing therapeutic rejuvenation time and time again.

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