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The Essentials of Massage Therapy
By Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D.
Massage therapy, the most familiar type of body work, is a favorite of stressed-out office workers, weekend athletes, and people who have
bad backs. But there are more than 100 other, lesser-known types of body work that can enhance your health and well-being. More doctors are
referring patients to body work practitioners, and some insurance companies have even begun to pay for body work in hope of preventing costly
hospital stays or surgery.
Body work techniques range from the gentleness of massage to reflexology and the rigors of rolfing. The science of Body work is based partly
on the therapeutic power of human touch and can also include manipulation, realignment, and posture correction. Body work can be as vigorous
as deep tissue manipulation or as simple and minimal as light posture corrections.
Body work includes a variety of things you can do to nurture your body and improve overall health. There's many other treatments that are
beneficial. If it works for you - go for it!
Benefits of Massage
Research in massage therapy has been ongoing for more than 120 years.
Here are some reported benefits of massage:
- Medical school students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School who were massaged before an exam showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates, as well as a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity, suggesting a benefit to the immune system.
- Preliminary results suggested cancer patients had less pain and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage at the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
- Women who had experienced the recent death of a child were less depressed after receiving therapeutic massage, according to preliminary results of a study at the University of South Carolina.
Studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found massage beneficial in improving weight gain in HIV-exposed infants and facilitating recovery in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. At the University of Miami School of Medicine's Touch Research Institute, researchers have found that massage is helpful in decreasing blood pressure in people with hypertension, alleviating pain in migraine sufferers and improving alertness and performance in office workers.
An increasing number of research studies show massage reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and increases endorphins (enhancing medical treatment). Although therapeutic massage does not increase muscle strength, it can stimulate weak, inactive muscles and, thus, partially compensate for the lack of exercise and inactivity resulting from illness or injury. It also can hasten and lead to a more complete recovery from exercise or injury.
About the Author
Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and author specializing in the treatment of mental health using integrative medicine and natural therapies.
She works with individuals, couples, and families at her office in San Jose, California and is the founder of All Things Well, a certified provider of
The Listening Program.
Dr. Fredricks' publications
include the landmark book
Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health.
No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of
Dr. Randi Fredricks as articles often present the published results of the research of other professionals. Copyright © 2012.
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