Massage Overview
This Section will give you some information on massage. The links above are the styles of massage that I can provide and gives you a brief summery of what each massage is like and how they may differ from each other.
Benefits of Massage
It is used for relaxation and preventative healthcare. Massage is excellent for stress reduction. It is said that 85% of all diseases are stress related. That means that the recipient of massage is that much ahead of the game.
Massage is used in the treatment of injury. Muscles that are in a spasm cause the body pain. The pain causes the muscle to spasm and so on. Massage is one of the best ways to stop this pain/spasm cycle. Massage can enhance medical treatment and may improve the rate at which the body recovers from injury and illness.
- Massage relaxes muscles and improves range of motion.
- Massage lowers blood pressure and increases circulation of blood and lymph. Headache and migraine management is another benefit of massage.
- Massage promotes sleep to help with insomnia and other sleep disorders.
- Massage can improve muscle and skin tone.
- Massage can improve self-esteem and self-image issues as well.
- Massage is healthy, clean, and non-sexual.
- Massage affects the body in many different ways that can enhance your health and give you peace of mind.
Healing can only really start to happen when you, the client, commit to help yourself. The practitioner can only take the healing process so far. It is up to the client to take the healing process to the next and most crucial step.
The client has to make an effort to meet the practitioner half way. This means that the client must be willing to do what the practitioner says to do when they get home. For example: if the practitioner says to do stretches, exercise, eat properly, rest, etc., it is important that these instructions are followed.
Here is why... When a person is injured, the body will hold in a certain position that will protect the injured area. This is good if it is for a short time. If the body remains in this held position for too long, then the body will lock in this position. The longer the body is held in this position the harder it will be to get the body back to the proper position. Even after treatment starts the body will want to go back to the held position. This is why it is so important for the client to either stretch or exercise as instructed by the practitioner. Otherwise the healing will only get half way there and the practitioner will run into a huge block and it will seem that the progress has stopped. At this point it is important to realize that the practitioner has taken the recovery as far as he/she could, but now it is time to meet them half way and carry the recovery the rest of the way together.
Now lets say that the injury is now a month old. This does not seem to be a long time to still be injured after, lets say, a car accident. During this month your body has been going through a lot of changes. Your body has been doing what it does instinctively, which is healing itself as best as it can. Along the way, the alignment of your body has basically gone out the window. By this time your posture, body mechanics, and natural movement have been disrupted. By this time of the healing process if you are not seeing some sort of practitioner, time is not on your side for a quick recovery. Even though it has only been a month your therapy may take as long as two to three months of treatment at two times a week in some cases. All of this is assuming that the injuries are muscular and not severe and/or immobilizing.
Natural healing is also very important. Seeing a practitioner that helps your body heal itself plays a very important role in your recovery.
Taking drugs after such a traumatic experience, in my opinion, only does the body more harm. Because now the body has been interfered with. If pain-killing drugs are prescribed, they are disabling the body's ability to produce its own pain killing endorphins. By using these drugs, your body learns to depend on them and forgets how to produce its own natural pain relievers.
Although the drugs are fast acting and take you out of pain in a matter of minutes, at times, your body at the same time is being polluted. Now your body has to both heal and clean the foreign substance out of its system.
Pain is one of your body's ways of communicating to you. If you cannot feel pain you could possibly hurt yourself even worse. Pain lets you know something is wrong; it lets you know that your body is still working properly. But if your body is used to receiving drugs soon after the pain is felt, then the body gets lazy and will not send out the endorphins that you need.
Immediately after your massage you should experience a sense of relaxation. Your mind should be clear and you should feel refreshed. This should last from 30min. to a couple of hours. Let your body accept the experience of inner peace. Throughout the remainder of the day be sure to drink plenty of water to help flush the toxins and lactic acid out of your body. This will reduce the chance of soreness the following day. Be sure to call me if the soreness is not tolerable and I will explain what is happening depending on what the treatment was the previous day for you. As a general rule the more intense the treatment the better chance of post treatment soreness. Also, stretching is a good idea. I will show you good stretches to do at home to help keep the treatment from lasting just a few days.
It is also advised to have a follow up visit to make sure everything is feeling all right and to make any final tune-ups. The first massage may not take care of all that is going on. ALLOW YOURSELF TIME TO HEAL!!! Your body will move at its own pace, but that is fine. Do not be discouraged by this. In most cases it took your body longer that an hour to get to where it is now and will take longer that an hour to get it back to where it needs to be. The main thing to remember is that you care enough about yourself and are doing something about your discomfort.
Since massage is performed with the client disrobed and underneath a sheet, I should clarify a few things for everyone.
First and foremost massage is not sexual in any way, shape, or form. Massage is, or can be, sensual which is often confused with the other.
Your therapist should step out of the room to wash his/her hands to prepare for the session while you are getting undressed and on the table.
During the massage you are properly draped (covered securely with the sheet leaving no gaps) only having the area being worked on to be uncovered. At anytime during the massage if you feel weird or funny say something and your therapist should change what he/she is doing or stop that part of the session all together.
The therapist should never massage any area that is covered that could be viewed as risky or a sexual area. There are certain techniques that require these areas to be treated, but your therapist should have the training and should have discussed with you where and why they are going there.
As a client there are things to say and not to say during your massage. Have open communication with your therapist. Ask questions, be open, joke around, but try not to cross any boundaries. Since everyone is different respect your therapist and their space and all should be fine.
Types Of Massage
Performed with client fully clothed. Sports massage is the fastest way to achieve pain reduction. Although you do not get to relax in this massage, you still receive the benefits that massage has to offer. This massage is a series of compressions used with specific stretches. These stretches are used in a repetitive and a rhythmic manner. This technique has a high success rate with people who have areas of chronic pain. Sports massage used with any sport can effectively improve your ability to compete. Also, this is great as a preventive measure to injury.
Sports massage can treat carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, whiplash, tendonitis, and many more.
Again, this massage does not feel or look like a massage, but the benefits are huge.
This massage is done at the office. It is performed fully clothed in a massage chair. This massage is used to give you a chance to recharge and clear your mind. Massage in the workplace can reduce stress and increase employee performance. This is the perfect reward for an employee who has gone the extra mile. Also this is a prefect introduction to massage. Massage therapy in the workplace can increase the productivity of an individual simply by giving him or her a break from the daily routine. Not only does massage give the individual a break from life but can be an energy booster for most people. If a person hits a mental block throughout the week, a massage may be just what he or she needs to clear the mind and come back to work with a refreshed outlook on his or her project.
Also, massage is preventative medicine. If the task at hand is a repetitive action, then the muscles used in that motion will continue to tighten. The end result, if not treated, can be Carpel Tunnel Syndrome or Tendonitis, or possibly even Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Repetitive stress or injury treatment massage can reduce the chance of these disorders from occurring. If the body can function free of limitations, proper health can be achieved.
These sessions last from ten to fifteen minutes. The company sometimes pays the full fee, but more often, the employee pays the entire amount.
Companies that offer massage therapy in the workplace range from law firms and hospitals to manufacturers and major corporations.
Other on-site massage venues include: airports, shopping malls, convention centers, fundraisers, baseball parks and sporting events.
Relaxation massage is the most popular type of massage. This is the one that feels so good. There are tons of techniques out there to accomplish this type and to get the end result.
You will be massaged all over your body. This is a very general type of massage. Not too much time and effort is put into any certain area of your body unless specified by you before hand.
Not all relaxation massages are stroke oriented. Some are energetic with very little or no contact at all such as Reiki and Crainio-sacral. Some are just concentrated on certain areas like your feet and hand such as reflexology.
Even though this is a very general massage, the benefits are great. Not only are you getting relaxed, but your: body rids itself of stress and/or toxins, muscles get a minor workout, metabolic waste is moved, lymph is moved and circulated, blood is circulated, blood pressure is lowered, mind is cleared, and on and on. Your body is not only relaxed physically but energetically, as well.
Massage does so much more than just feel good…
Treatment massage is very different from relaxation massage. With treatment massage, I concentrate on the injured area. I may not get to the entire body, but that is usual in treatment. The whole goal of this type of massage is to get you out of pain and your body back to optimum functioning. It tends to be more uncomfortable than relaxation massage, but it has to be expected since you're already in pain at the time of massage.
Treatment massage really concentrates on getting the injured area to relax so that the muscle fiber below can be reached. Techniques that are common in this style are: Cross fiber friction, Linier friction, Hydrotherapy, Trigger Point/ tender point, Soft Tissue Release, Deep tissue, Deep muscle releases, Myofascial release, etc…
Treatment massage can last from one to three months, sometimes longer. Healing can take time and should not be rushed.
I use this style with car accident victims and workers injury cases. These types of massages are required to have a doctor's prescription in order for the massage to be paid by your insurance carrier.
"The healing touch -- that's what we're after in a massage therapist, isn't it? Chad certainly has it. I've been fortunate over the years to have worked with a number of good therapists in Seattle. I haven't found anyone more attuned to my body than Chad, nor anyone that has done me more good. That's why I keep returning."
James