Sunday, February 1, 2009

Massage, Experience the Benefits

By Ann Chester

Massage has been used to treat all kinds of medical conditions and disorders. Massage can be used to treat stress, it can help you relax and it generally promotes a feeling of well being. Massage therapy works to help all aspects of the physical system - the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems.

From the time we are born we crave intimate physical contact with other human beings, this brings us great psychological benefits, and by being in contact with another by way of massage we end up with the feel-good factor from physical contact.

The first thing that someone usually does after experiencing his or her first full body massage is book another full body massage! The second is to tell anyone who will listen how fantastic it was to be completely relaxed, something that very few of us ever achieve. A full body massage has to be the ultimate form of stress relief, just imagine what it is like to be so relaxed that all tension is gone from all of those knotted muscles.

A full body massage is an excellent massage to start with, but it is not the only type of massage there is. Some of the different types that are popular are, Swedish massage, Indian Head massage, Neck and Shoulder massage, another one that is very very popular is Reflexology, this is a very specialized type of foot massage

Massage therapy has been in the alternative medical field for a ling time, but as scientists proved the efficacy massage as a treatment therapy has gradually over time been accepted into conventional medicine. Some estimations put a figure of 70% of USA hospitals that now use massage as part of their treatment protocols.

There are quite a few hospitals that now use massage therapy as part of their treatment protocols. Massage is used for a wide range of conditions, and is often used for more chronic illnesses, especially if there is any pain.

The latest research has shown that a regular massage helps to manage pain, lower blood pressure and boost the immune system.

There are other more unusual problems that massage is effective for, it has been used as an aid for those who are receiving treatment for drug and alcohol withdrawl. The effectiveness of this may be down to the complete relaxation that is possible when having a massage, especially a full body massage. But massage works very well alongside other treatments such as accupressure, accupuncture, reiki and herbal medicine to name but a few.

By moving into the convential medical field massage therapy is now available to far more people, and as mainstream medicine has endorsed massage as a treatment for a range of conditions more and more research is carried out. - 16004

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