Massage Treatments For Helping Your Health And Wellbeing

Massage therapy is the practice of manipulating the soft tissues and muscles. Its goal is to provide the receiver with physical and psychological benefits. By manipulating the soft tissue and muscles with a series of orchestrated movements, massage is thought to result in relaxation and pain relief. Massage has been practiced in most cultures and since the beginning of recorded time.
The literal meaning of massage is friction of kneading. Kneading is one of the more famous movements. It is performed by making a side to side squeezing action. This is similar to the kneading action for making bread dough.
It is interesting to find that massage therapy can be traced back to most of the oldest known civilizations. Whether it is ancient China, the Romans or the Egyptians, each developed specific techniques to help the body recover and maintain its vitality.
One of the more fascinating insights about massage therapy is its prevalence throughout the world. Each culture developed different and distinct theories of the application of massage and its benefits. This has created and astounding variety of effective treatments available today.
Some of the more famous techniques are Swedish massage, shiatsu, reflexology, acupressure and many more. Many of these techniques can now easily be found being offered in most spots around the world. They are also being integrated into massage chairs.
The theory of massage therapy is to use movements and pressure to relieve tension, stiffness and discomfort in the body. Different parts of the body require different types of techniques or movements. Also, different techniques integrated complementary treatments to provide additional benefits.
A new study was published in September 2004 that used a need for analysis of peer reviewed scientific journals using massage therapy and the adult population. The conclusion of the study is that massage therapy provides a wide range of physical and psychological benefits.
This study monitored the blood pressure, heart rate, negative mood, anxiety state and the immediate assessment of pain levels. The patients were given a single massage treatment once a week. According to the research, the average participant experienced a reduction and anxiety was greater than 64% over the control group.
More studies are needed to better determine the benefits of massage therapy. Studies to date can to use small groups and target a specific area of the body for the massage. For those who have had a massage, the benefits seem fairly intuitive. However, Western medical science has yet to study the precise correlations in detail.
Probably the most important statistic is the amazing growth rate of massage therapy. Many people understand that the frequent release of stress and tension from the body is beneficial to their health. Taking the time to relax a few times a week helps to recharge the batteries. This is even more important in economic times of stress.
So far, there have been very few studies the benefits of massage. The main problem with connecting clinical studies is the cost involved. Most companies have little incentive to fund massage therapy studies as there is no way to control the methods in order to profit. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle to getting thorough studies conducted. Unfortunately, most clinical studies are driven by the profit motive. These procedures need to be protected by intellectual property or there is little incentive to fund them.