Benefits of Massage
By Kathy Gruver - LMT, RM, NHC, MS in Natural Health &
Doctorate in Traditional Naturopathy

Massage has existed for centuries.  Historians believe that hieroglyphics portraying massage were discovered in ancient Egypt in 2500 BC.  Reflexology, a therapeutic technique that stimulates points on the feet has existed in China since at least 107 AD.  What did these ancient people know?  Massage feels good!!!  But what else does it actually do?  I have clients all the time that want to know what I’m doing and how is it working. 

Other than just plain relaxing you, here are some things that massage is doing and some things that it definitely doesn’t do.

Lymph - Research has shown that massage lowers blood pressure and heart rate, can lower and stabilize blood sugar, and moves lymph throughout your body. 
Okay, well, what’s lymph?

Lymph is the cleansing system of the body.  It runs through vessels similar to your circulatory system, but doesn’t have a pump to move it (like the heart).  So lymph is moved through your body from movement, breathing, muscle contraction and massage. The more the lymph moves through, the better your immune system, as the lymph carries away the “bad stuff”. 

When don’t you want massage moving lymph?  When there is cancer.  The last thing you want, are cancer cells getting spread throughout the body.  If you have cancer or have been treated for cancer, tell your massage therapist so they can make a determination if massage is right for you.

Circulation - Massage helps with circulation, which is why it is so good for elderly people or those that are inactive due to injury.  Massage helps move the blood and fluid around which is extraordinarily beneficial in healing.  People with swollen legs and ankles such as pregnant women or those with lymph edema can find relief with massage.  The other benefit for the elderly is they often don’t experience touch and having a weekly massage can keep their bodies and their minds healthy!

Muscles - When we think of massage we think of muscles, and that is the main part of the body that massage addresses.  After a hard workout, our muscles produce toxins like lactic acid.  We want to move those out of the body to avoid muscle tiredness or pain. Massage flushes those toxins, smoothes the muscle fibers and helps relax them.  Massage techniques like deep tissue and trigger point massage actually help stretch out the muscles.  If you take a rubber band and pull it taught between your hands, it’s stretched out right?  If you have another person take one finger and push down on the middle, it stretches even more.  That’s essentially what massage is doing for that tissue.  Massage helps with muscle injuries by bringing healing blood to the area, but make sure that you are not having deep tissue done on a muscle tear, that can cause more problems!

Scar Tissue - Massage is also used on scar tissue. When we use our muscles we get little micro-tears in the tissue. That is actually how we are building bulk.  When scar tissue lays down it doesn’t lay flat like smooth muscle fiber.  It lays cross-ways like fiberglass. Massage can help smooth out that tissue, keeping it healthier and suppler.

Myofascial Release - A technique called myofascial release can help those muscles even more by loosening up the fascia.  Okay, another weird word - what is fascia?  When you take the skin off a raw chicken breast and there is the shiny film that lies over the meat - that is the fascia.  It is between the muscle and skin and helps support our movements. Sometimes the fascia gets bound to muscle and restricts our range of motion.  Myofascial release works on unbinding that fascia to allow us less restricted movement and freedom.

Where massage used to be seen just as a luxury, more and more research is being done on the health effects.  And more therapists, such as me, are doing medical massage.  Some of the current research is showing that massage reduces nausea in cancer patients, decreases pain after surgery, reduces hospital stays, reduces anxiety and depression and helps colicky infants relax and sleep better.  If you wonder if massage might be good for a condition you are faced with, contact a local massage practitioner or use your favorite search engine to search the web.

We’ve discussed what massage does do, but what DOESN’T it do?

Cellulite - It does not get rid of cellulite.  Sorry, it just doesn’t.  It may push of the fluid out of the tissue, but it will come right back.  There are some “massage” techniques that use rollers and a machine to decrease it, but my understanding is that it is destined to return. Keep drinking water and exercising!

The Flu - It doesn’t give you the flu.  I’ve had clients say that the last time they had a massage, they got the flu.  I’m not saying they didn’t get the flu, I’m saying the massage didn’t give it to them.  What probably happened was a “healing crisis”.  This can happen when a lot of toxins are released at one time.  Typical symptoms are headache, muscle ache, joint pain, a feeling of lethargy and all around blah.  Now, as much as we don’t want to feel that way, it’s not a bad thing.  This means that things that we don’t want in the body are trying to move out.  To avoid the healing crisis, drink plenty of water after your massage, stretch, take a hot bath and some people do find it beneficial to take an Ibuprofen or something similar. (Wouldn’t be my first choice, but sometimes is necessary).

Weak - Massage doesn’t make you less of a man.  Seriously, I’ve had men that say they don’t wan to have to rely on massage to make them feel good.  Most of these men are workout fiends or extreme athletes.  Pro football players get massage, pro cyclists and runners get massage, massage does not make you weak nor does needing or liking massage make you some how inferior.  If it benefits you, get it.  If you like it, enjoy it. Get out of your ego and get a good rub down!

As you can see the benefits of massage clearly make it an easy option to help keep you healthier.  I hope your massages are frequent and enjoyable!  Yours in health!