Massage Therapy

We all understand and appreciate the benefits of massage and pampering.  As we age, therapies like massage will become a favorite gift to give our loved ones, family and friends, as well as others, for birthdays, Christmas, and other special occasions.  Even employers are now giving massage therapy sessions, onsite and offsite, for both bonuses and as a part of benefits packages and perks, as they begin to understand the full benefits of the release of stress through massage.

These days, massage isn't just for feeling good anymore.  It is a holistic therapy - it has effect on both body and mind - that reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymphatic flow, relaxes muscles, improves range-of-motion, and increases endorphins - the body's natural painkillers.

Therapeutic massage therapy enhances medical treatment and helps people feel less anxiety and stress, feel relaxed, yet more alert!

Worldwide, massage therapy has quickly gained its place as a part of conventional medicine, but it has been a therapy practiced in complementary and alternative medicine from the beginning.

Be certain to tell all of your health-care providers about any massage therapy you are considering or using.  This helps to ensure safe and coordinated care.  The XYZ-Wellbeing Massage Therapists will coordinate with your practitioner and apply the XYZ-Wellbeing System's principles.

In Massage Therapy, the relaxation point of the client must be undisturbed to gain the full benefit of the techniques chosen by the Massage Therapist.  Therefore, XYZ-Wellbeing's clients appreciate our quiet, relaxed environment for the best possible massage experience.  XYZ-Wellbeing clients enjoy and experience the special massage supplies of natural, non-allergenic oils, gels, lotions and fragrances; and the professional Massage Therapists use our state-of-the-art equipment that enhances the services and better support your special needs - including sound therapy.

These little things can make a huge difference in how the body responds to the therapy.  XYZ-Wellbeing only utilizes locally trained and caring professional licensed Massage Therapists.

In a 2002 national survey on Americans' use of Massage Therapy (published in 2004), the results found that:

• 5% of the 31,000 participants had used massage therapy in the preceding 12 months;
• 9.3% had ever used it;
• People use massage for a wide variety of health-related intents:  for example, pain relief  (often from musculoskeletal conditions, but from other conditions as well);
• People have used it on an increasing basis to rehabilitate sports injuries;
• Most have used it to reduce stress, increase relaxation, and address feelings of anxiety and depression;
• 60% believed that massage combined with conventional medicine would help;
• 44% thought massage would be interesting to try;
• 34% believed that conventional medical treatment would not help;
• 33% received a suggestion by a conventional medical professional to receive massage therapy;
• 13% thought that conventional medicine was too expensive; and
• To aid general health and wellbeing.

Cancer and Massage Therapy

Here at XYZ-Wellbeing we are very aware of the special needs of cancer patients and recovering cancer patients - as a result, we provide the very best there is to offer for these special individuals.  All cancer patients should first consult with your healthcare provider and your XYZ-Wellbeing Practitioner prior to receiving any massage therapy.  However, some interesting things that any client should note from a study published in the journal Cancer, which studied 4,139 cancer survivors about their use of complementary and alternative medicine²:

• 11.2% of cancer patients use massage as a complementary alternative therapy;
• 16.6% of female cancer patients and 3.9% of male cancer patients use massage; and
• Massage was found to be an especially popular complementary alternative therapy with breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients.

Fueled by the popularity of alternative medicine, consumers are using more and more services of licensed Massage Therapists³:

• Patients spend $2-$4 billion a year on visits to massage therapists;
• Current research shows that people are getting more massages and that therapeutic massage is becoming more mainstream, appealing to everyone from young adults to seniors;
• People are experiencing the therapeutic benefits of massage.  They are getting massages mostly for relaxation, relief of aches, pain reduction, and assistance in reducing stress;
• A national survey conducted by the State University of New York at Syracuse found that 54% of primary care physicians and family practitioners said they would encourage their patients to pursue massage therapy as a treatment, and a third of those said they are willing to refer patients to a massage therapist;
• More employers are offering massage during break times to their employees as they have found that massage therapy actually increases employee productivity, morale and alertness; and
• There are few risks to massage therapy if it is used appropriately and provided by a trained professioanl Massage Therapist.

 Various research in Massage Therapy has reported that⁴:

• Medical School students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - New Jersey Medical School, who were massaged before an exam showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates, as well as a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity, suggesting a benefit to the immune system;
• Preliminary results suggested cancer patients had less pain and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage at the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, OH;
• Women who had experienced the recent death of a child were less depressed after receiving therapeutic massage, according to preliminary results of a study at the University of South Carolina;
• Studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found massage beneficial in improving weight gain in HIV-exposed infants and facilitating recovery in patients who underwent abdominal surgery;
• At the University of Miami School of Medicine's Touch Research Institute, researchers have found that massage is helpful in decreasing blood pressure in people with hypertension, alleviating pain in migraine sufferers, and improving alertness and performance in office workers;
• An increasing number of research studies show massage reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymphatic flow, relaxes muscles, improves range-of-motion, and increases endorphins (enhancing medical treatment);
• Although therapeutic massage does not increase muscle strength, it can stimulate weak, inactive muscles, and thus, partially compensate for the lack of exercise and inactivity resulting from illness or injury - it also can hasten and lead to a more complete recovery from an exercise injury;
• Office workers massaged regularly were more alert, performed better, and were less stressed than those who weren't massaged;
• Massage therapy decreased the effects of anxiety, tension, depression, pain, and itching in burn patients;
• Abdominal surgery patients recovered more quickly after massage therapy;
• Premature infants who were massaged gained more weight and fared better than those who weren't; and
• Autistic children showed less erratic behavior after massage therapy.

 

Methodology

XYZ-Wellbeing's Massage Therapists provide their services at the XYZ-Wellbeing ReTreat Facility, also at the XYZ-Wellbeing Franchise Centers, in an environment that is calm and soothing, with dimmed lighting, sound therapy, and aromatherapy massage products.

Massage therapy treatments usually last for 30-60 minutes; less often, they are as short as 15 minutes or as long as 1.5 to 2 hours.  For some conditions (especially chronic ones), they often advise a series of appointments, and our therapists work hand-in-hand with your XYZ-Wellbeing Practitioner and other of your healthcare providers.

At the first appointment, a massage therapist will discuss your symptoms, medical history, the results you (and your practitioner, if applicable) desire, and possibly other factors such as your work and levels of stress.  Then the Massage Therapist will likely perform evaluations through touch.  If the therapist finds nothing that would make a massage inadvisable, then the therapist will proceed with the massage.  At any time, you can bring up questions or concerns you may have.

Although massage therapy appears to have few serious risks if appropriate cautions are followed, a very small number of serious injuries have been reported, and they appear to have occurred mostly because precautions for contraindications were not followed.

Informing your Massage Therapist and XYZ-Practitioner about any health concerns, injuries, or other problems is VERY important due to the need to look for any conditions which may have contraindications.

It is recommended that patients do NOT have massage therapy if one or more of the following conditions exist:

• Deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a deep vein, usually in the legs);
• A bleeding disorder or taking blood-thinning drugs, such as Warfarin;
• Damaged blood vessels;
• Weakened bones from osteoporosis, a recent fracture, or cancer;
• A fever
• Any of the following in and area that would otherwise be massaged:
  • An open or healing wound
  • A tumor
  • Damaged nerves
  • An infection or acute inflammation
  • Inflammation from radiation treatment

If you have one or more of the following conditions, be sure to consult with your XYZ-Wellbeing Practitioner before having a massage:

• Pregnancy
• Cancer
• Fragile skin, as from diabetes or a healing scar
• Heart problems
• Dermatomyositis (a disease of the connective tissues)
• A history of physical abuse

A few side effects of massage therapy include:

• Temporary pain or discomfort
• Bruising
• Swelling
• A sensitivity or allergy to massage oils

During treatment, you will lie on a special padded table or sit on a stool or chair which has been draped with sheeting or a towel.  You might be fully clothed (for example, for a "chair massage") or partially or fully undressed (in which case you will be covered by a sheet or towel - only the parts of your body that the therapist is currently massaging are exposed).  Oils or lotions help reduce friction on the skin.  The massage therapist may use other aids as well, such as ice, heat, fragrances or machines.  The massage therapist may also provide recommendations for self-care, such as drinking fluids, learning better movement, and developing an awareness of your body.

 

Application

Scientists are studying massage to understand what effects massage therapy has on patients, how it has those effects, and why.  Some aspects of this are better understood than others; however, some of the proposed theories are that massage may⁵:

• Promote change in the muscles when certain forces are applied to the muscles;
• Enhance relaxation and reduce stress.  Stress makes many diseases and conditions worse, and is the originator of many diseases;
• Provide stimulation that helps block pain signals sent to the brain (the "gate control theory" of pain reduction);
• Shift the nervous system away from the sympathetic and toward the parasympathetic.  The sympathetic nervous sytem helps to mobilize the body for action.  When a person is under stress, the sympathetic nervous system produces the fight-or-flight response (the heart and breathing rates increase, the blood vessels narrow, and muscles tighten).  The parasympathetic nervous sytem creates what some call the "rest and digest" response (the heart and breathing rates decrease, the blood vessels dilate, and activity increases in many parts of the digestive tract);
• Stimulate the release of certain chemicals in the body, such as serotonin and endorphins;
• Cause beneficial mechanical changes in the body - i.e., by preventing  fibrosis (the formation of scar-like tissue) or increasing the flow of lymph (a fluid that travels throuh the body's lymphatic system and carries cells that help fight disease);
• Improve sleep, which has a role in pain reduction and healing; and
• Provide some health benefit from the human interaction between the massage therapist and the patient.

Here at XYZ-Wellbeing, we provide a comprehensive massage therapy system, by looking closely at your health history, possible benefits for the therapy, types of massage you may safely use, and much more.  We believe that you will be well pleased with our massage therapy services as a part of our holistic therapies program!

 

 

 

Sources:

1. Alexander Technique International:  The Worldwide Professional Organization for the F.M. Alexander Technique.  www.ati-net.com.
2. American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (AOBTA).  www.aobta.org.
3. Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP):  About Massage, Bodywork and Somatic Therapies.  www.abmp.com.
4. Complementary and Alternative Methods:  Types of Bodywork.  Available at www.cancer.org.
5. Consumer's Guide to Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.  National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB).  www.ncbtmb.com.
6. European College of Bowen Studies.  www.thebowentechnique.com.
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8. National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Alternative Medicine:  Expanding Medical Horizons:  A Report to the National Institutes of Health on Alternative Medical Systems and Practices in the United States.  NIH Publication No. 94-066.  1994.
9. Nurse Healers Professional Associates International.  The Official Organization of Therapeutic Touch.  www.therapeutic-touch.org.
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14. Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, Jennifer Jacobs, MD, MPH, Consultant, Editor.
15. American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA); amtamassage.org.  As accessed and published July 7, 2009.
16. Selecting a CAM Practitioner, NCCAM Clearinghouse, June 10, 2005.
17. NCCAM Clearninghouse.  Conference on the Biology of Manual Therapies, June 9-10, 2005:  Conference Recommendations.
18. Medicine.Net; as accessed and published June 20, 2009.
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