Here’s the beauty of bodywork: its benefits multiply when massage is a frequent therapy. The more massage you get, the more it does for you.

The medical community is actively embracing massage therapy, and massage is becoming an integral part of hospice care and neonatal intensive care units. Many hospitals are also incorporating on-site massage to treat post-surgical or pain patients as part of the recovery process.

Budgeting time and money for bodywork at consistent intervals is truly an investment in your health. While you are enjoying a massage, remember it can also help:

• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
• Relieve migraine pain.
• Increase joint flexibility.
• Promote tissue regeneration, thereby reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
• Lessen depression and anxiety.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow – the body’s natural defense system.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
• Help athletes at any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.

Many people make massage a priority, and you may well be one of them. Know that you have chosen something with real value that benefits your health – both in body and mind.

See you on the table!

Reference:
Body Sense, Autumn/Winter 2010