Benefits of massage

Massage has lots of benefits for your body and your mind: scientific evidence continues to show that mellowing out on the massage table is definitely a productive use of your time!

1. Improves recovery

When we have an injury, our body uses collagen fibres to repair the area – a healing process which also creates scar tissue. Sometimes the tissues around the injury begin to stick together rather than glide smoothly over each other. This can prevent healthy regrowth of the tissue, lack of elasticity and painful and/or restricted movement. Remedial massage helps to soften and mobilise the collagen fibres, which relieves tightness and pain. 

2. Relieves pain

Massage works by affecting your nervous system directly and dampening your pain. Your skin is richly innervated with around one million nerve fibres, which can make the touch of a massage therapist a rich sensory experience that helps to relieve pain. Cutaneous receptors are stimulated during each moment of your massage sending sensations of touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, and pain to your brain. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your heart rate and breath, calming your mind, and encouraging your digestion.

3. Reduces depression and anxiety

Evidence has shown that even a single session of massage therapy can significantly reduce anxiety, decreasing emotions such as apprehension, worry, and tension in both adults and children. Anxiety and depression can lead to other more serious health problems, making massage therapy highly beneficial for your health and wellbeing.

4. Promotes relaxation and calm

Massage can create a relaxing state that lowers blood pressure, increases blood flow to major muscles, improves digestion, balances blood sugar levels, and dampens chronic pain.

5. Improves joint mobility

Remedial massage can create more mobility in a joint by using joint mobilisation techniques which can help to reduce stiffness, pain, and a quicker recovery from injury.

6. Improves heart rate regulation

Remedial massage can include gentle stretching, which for people with low flexibility, has shown to improve the balance between their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (vagal modulation and sympathovagal balance), and resulted in better heart rate regulation.

Remember: Regular massage helps to keep up the benefits and maintain your health and wellbeing.

References

Australian Natural Therapists Association

The Peripheral Nervous System, Edited by John I. Hubbard