As the world realizes the potential detriments of contemporary medicine and seeks alternative treatment methods, many popular healing practices have come forward. Homeopathy and Chinese acupuncture are some of the well-known examples. However, many such ways resort to making bold claims, and their medical merit is yet to be proven scientifically. So is therapeutic Massage one of these? Or is it the wonder treatment that might change the way you look at the term “treatment” for the remainder of your days? Let’s find out!

What is “Therapeutic Massage”?

According to Britannica Encyclopedia, the term “therapeutics” refers to the treatment and care for both preventing and combating disease or alleviating pain or injury. The word comes from the Greek therapeutikos, which means “inclined to serve.”

Therapeutic Massage, therefore, involves massage with an intention to cure. It refers to the mobilization of the human body’s soft tissues (like fascia, body fluids, and muscles) to restore normal systemic and biomechanical/functional use.

It may be used to relieve the patient of pain generally experienced in a specific part of the body. It is also put to work in order to treat specific physical ailments. Moreover, its application for rehabilitation of the body is also widespread; for instance, a person who has experienced trauma resulting from an unfortunate past incident might profit from it. It is often the go-to treatment procedure for musculoskeletal disorders. In short, it has a wide range of practical applications ranging from preventing, treating, and improving.

How does it work – And does it?

To start with, a lot of the famous types of massages around the world, such as “sports massage,” “deep tissue massage,” “rehabilitation massage,” “Anti-Stress massage,” all fall under the umbrella of Therapeutic Massage. The good specifications of each of these may differ, but they are all streams of the same river.

Once the patient is taken into confidence, a registered practitioner takes over. The practitioner has a detailed knowledge of the soft tissues of the human body. As he/she gives them a rub using different oils/ointments, the pressure is carefully applied to the other regions of the body as per the treatment requirements—therapeutic Massage results in improved circulatory, lymphatic and neurological functioning. A standard appointment lasts for an average of one to two hours. The full effects of Therapeutic Massage Therapy usually begin to show up after a few sessions. However, many patients tend to report a considerable pain cessation or stress relief after the first engagement.

What Conclusions has Research about Therapeutic Massages Arrived To?

Therapeutic Massages and their effects on the body have been researched extensively after promising marvels to the suffering masses. In 1991 the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, United States of America, shifted the scope of Therapeutic Massage Therapy into contemporary medical treatments after conducting several qualitative studies on the beneficial effects of Therapeutic Massage Therapy.

Some of the findings of the research are as follows:

• In the April 2001 issue of “The Journal of Internal Medicine,” it came to light that Therapeutic Massage could provide long-lasting relief from chronic low back pain suffered by patients, typically those who are middle-aged. These uncoverings found themselves backed by an article by Hernandez-Reif, Krasnegor, and Theakston in the International Journal of Neuroscience, 106, 131-145.

• Recent research has concluded that Therapeutic Massage can be an effective agent in the fight against chronic pain.

• It has been affirmed that therapeutic Massage can help the children who suffer from the infamous “Attention Deficit Disorder.” The study above showed that after a month of weekly massage sessions, they could focus for more extended periods on a specific task losing their hyperactivity tendencies dramatically.

Benefits of Therapeutic Massage:

• Helps to Keep You In Shape: Massage Therapy helps promote the general health of tissues. Many studies have concluded that regular sessions of the same help people to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
• Stress Relief: Since it relieves the strain around the muscles, it causes a general relaxation throughout the body, which has been shown to improve productivity. Moreover, it induces the release of endorphins, which help a person fight his/her way out of depression or other psychological disorders.
• Alleviates Chronic Pain: It helps your body get itself out of the cycle of pain spasms as it reduces the stiffness around the muscles.
• Helps To Make You Recover Quickly: It speeds up your recovery process after an operation as it soon eliminates the need for anesthetics and associated drugs. The muscles are stimulated, and so you are saved from the harmful effects of being on the bed for too long.
• A Boon for People Fighting Any Terminal Illness: As the fight against a severe disease continues, therapeutic Massage helps such people to weather its blows by cutting out the pain to a large extent and helping to prevent associated conditions such as bedsores so that the flame of hope for such people doesn’t die out.
• A Must-Have for Sportsmen: As it reduces the chances of injury and, if such a fate does befall, makes sure that the process of rehabilitation is quick, it has become impossible for athletes to do without it.

Conclusion:

Therapeutic Massage is quickly becoming the inevitable part of professional therapeutics around the world, as a solo practice and assisting contemporary medicine in achieving the medical well-being of patients around the globe. It is steadily gaining significance and recognition around the medical circle and has been proven on many occasions to be the best method to tackle a medical issue. It is open for everyone and anyone to try out.

Author Kelpa Hernandez Licensed Massages Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant Offering 14 years experiences Medical Massages. Highly skilled in Deep tissue massages, Scar tissue Massages, Swedish Massages, Sport Massages, Myofascial Release, Pain release related with Skeletomuscular an Neuromuscular system, Trigger point release, Certified in Manual and Mechanical Lymphatic drainage in medicine, Neuromuscular Repatterning for Optimal Health, Kinesiology Taping, Anatomical and Physiological Stretching and Reflexology.