Massage therapy is relaxing and the benefits are proven beneficial for many types of ailments such as surgical pain, to relieve headaches and for relaxation.
Massage Therapy for Relief of Surgical Pain
Often after surgery, you still have ongoing pain issues. If you find yourself needing help to alleviate post-surgical pain, the massage therapist can use special techniques to soothe sore muscles and help your condition improve quickly.
What Are the Benefits of Massage Therapy?
The benefits of massage therapy are well documented. Throughout history, massage therapy has been known to fight a large number of conditions including arthritis, auto accident injuries, back pain, carpal tunnel, headaches, Sciatica, shoulder pain, sports injuries and many more. Some of the benefits of this therapy include:
- Relieves joint and muscle pain
- Increases blood circulation
- Reduces stress and depression
- Detoxification to remove waste from body
- Improves your sleep routine
- Speeds up healing and recovery time
- Increases delivery of oxygen and nutrients
- Increases flexibility
- Reduces muscle spasms
- Reduces sports injuries
Types of Massage Therapy
A massage therapist can offer several types of massage therapy that will work together with your chiropractic care to help alleviate your pain symptoms. Several types of massage therapy are available to speed up the healing process for patients after surgery including Swedish massage, deep muscle massage, and pregnancy massage therapies.
Swedish Massage Therapy
A Swedish massage is a massage technique that uses long strokes, accompanied by kneading, tapping, and shaking movements. This type of massage is both relaxing and invigorating. Your muscles will be completely relaxed and you will experience a general overall well-being.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep Tissue Massage works on the deep layers of muscle tissue within the body. This method uses slow strokes with deep finger pressure across muscle fibers and tendons. This therapy can help loosen muscle tissues or break-up scar tissue. It is an excellent means of ridding the body of toxins that build up within the body because of poor circulation.
Pregnancy Massage
Any woman who has given birth can tell you about the muscle aches and joint pain associated with pregnancy. Swedish massage is often used for pregnant women to alleviate the symptoms associated with pregnancy discomfort. One area of interest that pregnancy massage focuses on is the sciatic nerve. Sciatic nerve pain affects many women during the last trimester of pregnancy. Massage therapy can help relieve tension of the nearby muscles and relieve pain.
A certified massage therapist will work closely with you to develop a treatment plan that will reduce your post-surgical pain and restore your overall health. There are many ways that massage therapy can improve any on-going post-surgical pain issues.
Massage Therapy for Relief of Headaches
Headache pain can occur for many reasons. While some headaches are only minor, others can cause severe pain, leaving the sufferer unable to function and perform their normal daily activities. If you are suffering from chronic headaches, massage therapy may be able to help. Many types of headaches can be helped through massage therapy including tension headaches, migraine headaches, and cluster headaches.
Tension Headaches
Of all the headache types, tension headaches are one of the most common. Daily stresses from work, home, and other factors can cause muscles to tighten and cause mild to moderate pain. These headaches can occur daily and sometimes last for more than four hours at a time. Typically, a tension headache will cause pain on both sides of the head. This pain feels like pressure or tightening and is not normally worsened by physical activity. Massage therapies than can drastically reduce the frequency and intensity of tension headaches.
Migraine Headaches
Migraine headaches are very severe in nature and can cause debilitating pain to the sufferer. A migraine headache may affect only one side of the head and cause a severe pulsating pain. There can also be visual disturbances and these headaches are normally made worse by physical activity. Some of the most troubling symptoms of a migraine are the nausea and vomiting, along with the sensitivity to light. Many sufferers of migraine headaches have reported relief through massage therapy.
Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches can affect suffers in cycles or “clusters” and this is where this type of headache gets its name. These types of headaches have been known to awake suffers in the middle of the night with intense pain on one side of the head or around the eye. They can occur frequently for several months in a row, and then stop without any explanation.
Lying down may increase the pain with a cluster headache. Many believe cluster headaches are caused by hypothalamus abnormalities. Returning the spine to proper alignment may help relieve some body abnormalities and thereby relieve these headaches.
Over-the-counter medications only dull or hide the pain of headaches, but do not treat the underlying cause. There are also several unwanted side effects from pain medications. Massage therapy can sometimes relieve pain from these common types of headaches.
Massage Therapy for Relaxation
With all the hustle and bustle of modern life, people never take enough time for relaxation. Taking some time to relax and get away from stresses can help you improve your physical well-being and mental outlook. Massage therapy is a treat that you should afford yourself any time you feel like being pampered. After a long week of work, taking care of the household, errands, and running children back and forth; you need the relaxation and comfort of a massage treatment.