Massage Therapy is a proven and effective means of relaxation and stress relief. Therapeutic massage is increasingly being recommended by doctors and other health care professionals to complement traditional medicine as research proves its healing effects.
Clinical researches done in the past few decades have demonstrated massage therapy as a potent and one of the safest treatment methods for a wide variety of ailments as well as for wellness maintenance.
Massage stimulates the touch, pressure and proprioceptive receptors of the skin and underlying tissue. Massage can have a sedative, stimulating or even exhausting effect on the nervous system depending on the type and length of treatment given.
Massage relaxes the muscles and helps to reestablish proper tonus through its effect on the neuromuscular reflex pathways. Known to affect the neurotransmitters of the brain and increase endorphin secretion in particular. One of the possible explanations for these findings is the increase of serotonin levels noted following massage therapy. Massage increases tissue fluid and lymphatic circulation thus reducing swelling and enhancing the immune and filtering activities of this system.
Massage increases the excretion via the kidneys of fluids and waste products of protein metabolism, inorganic phosphorous and salt in normal individuals.
