Who doesn’t like massages? I guess everyone likes massages. In fact there are thousands of people who spend a lot to get a good massage. Massage involves acting and manipulating the patient’s body with pressure (structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving), tension, motion, or vibration done manually or with mechanical aids. Target tissues may include muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as, lymphatic vessels, and/or organs of the gastrointestinal system. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm, and feet, as far as there are over 80 different types of massage. The most cited reasons for introducing massage was patient demand and clinical effectiveness. There are many beneficial effects of massage, including pain relief, stress reduction but also relief of many diseases. Theories behind what massage might do include blocking pain signals to the brain (gate control theory), activating the parasympathetic nervous system, stimulating the release of endorphins and serotonin, preventing fibrosis or scar tissue, increasing the flow of lymph, and improving sleep.
The reasons people cite that they use massage are to relieve pain from musculoskeletal injuries and other causes of pain. Massage diminishes pain in fibromyalgia patients It also reduces chronic back pain more effectively than some other complementary therapies and easing post-operative pain . Cancer patients tends to self-report symptomatic relief of pain Massage can also relieve tension headaches. Acupressure or pressure point massage may be more beneficial than classic Swedish massage in relieving back pain. When combined with education and exercises massage might help sub-acute, chronic, non-specific low back pain. Massage increases health in several diseases and conditions.
Massage increases pulmonary function in asthmatics , decreases glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus and increases natural killer cells in HIV and cancer patients . Massage therapy also reduces blood pressure in stroke patients and alcohol detoxification symptoms. It also relieves temporomandibular joint dysfunction, Massage can help with spastic diplegia resulting from Cerebral palsy. Massage has been used in an effort to improve symptoms, disease progression, and quality of life in HIV patients.
Massage therapists work in hospitals as allied health professioners, in nursing homes, sports and fitness facilities, spas, beauty salons, cruise ships, private offices, and travel to private residences or businesses.
For massage, many different types of oils can be used including fractionated coconut oil, grape seed oil, macadamia oil, sesame oil, pecan oil, and mustard oil. Arnica, from the flowers or leaves of the Arnica montana. Often uses olive oil as a base when used medicinally, or almond oil when used as a massage oil. Aromatherapy oils such as neroli oil and pine oil can also be mixed with carrier oils.