keeping prices affordable so everyone can enjoy the benefit of massage.
- It:
- Improves oxygenation and nutrition to the basal layer of skin.
- Increases skin flexibility and elasticity and loosens scar tissue to maintain skin health and movement.
- Improves sebaceous secretion to lubricate the skin, improving its condition and texture.
- Relaxes the fascia on the scalp, decreasing tension and some forms of headache.
-
It:
- Helps to maintain muscles in the best possible state of nutrition, flexibility and vitality. This speeds up muscle recovery after activity or injury.
- Relieves muscle restrictions, tightness, stiffness and spasm which may limit full movement.
- Delays muscle wasting due to disuse, for example, after a stroke or during lengthy bed rest.
- Encourages better muscle activity through increased movement of nutrients and removal of waste products.
- Relaxes muscles and other soft tissues decreasing pain due to nerve
entrapment. For example:
- tight muscles can press on nerves causing pain
- nerves can also become trapped in connective tissue
- It:
- Increases local blood flow without putting additional strain on the heart.
- Mechanically propels blood towards the heart in sedentary people and those on long term bed-rest.
- Stimulates nerves which control blood vessels. Widening the blood vessels can increase blood circulation and lower blood pressure in some cases.
- Increases delivery of oxygen to muscle and other tissue cells and removal of waste products.
- Decreases accumulation of metabolic waste and by-products from tissue damage and inflammation thereby assisting healing.
- Decreases heart rate through decreased stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system ("relaxation response").
- It:
- May slow down the rate of respiration via reduced stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.
- May increase lung capacity and pulmonary function if these are decreased by tight primary and secondary muscles of respiration.
- It:
- Stimulates the lymphatics when the person is immobile due to pain or when injury interferes with lymphatic drainage.
- Reduces some forms of swelling (lymphoedema) by mechanically stimulating circulation.
- Decreases swelling after injury which encourages repair and faster return to activity.
- Increases presence of natural killer cells and their activity, suggesting that massage may strengthen the immune system.
- It:
- Provides a sedating and relaxing effect on the body by normalising nerve activity.
- Stimulates muscle activity through specific forms of massage.
- Promotes relaxation, decreasing insomnia and improving sleeping patterns by stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Decreases pain with release of pain-reducing neurochemicals. It can provide stimuli to modulate pain perception and decrease pain directly with some massage techniques.
- Decreases stress levels by activation of the relaxation response. The many physical stress-related problems of everyday life can be soothed away by slow rhythmic massage. Massage recipients show an increase in dopamine and serotonin levels which suggests a decrease in stress levels and depression.
- It:
- Increases movement of the large intestine, helping to relive colic and intestinal gas.
- Promotes activation of the parasympathetic nervous system which also stimulates digestion.
- Decreases constipation by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system and by direct movement of faecal material around the bowel. This will aid in elimination without drugs.
- It:
- Assists proper alignment of connective tissue fibres after injury.
- May increase movement at a joint by decreasing muscle tension and connective tissue thickening and rigidity.
Started 7 July 2005
