Would you drive your car without a tune-up for very long? Your body, like your car, is essentially a machine and also deserves special attention.
A Massage Therapist can help you heal from acute injuries, increase your range of motion, and even better, keep you in optimal conditions to help prevent injuries. Our precious bodies experience overuse in one way or another. If you are anything like me, your self-care routine is slim. It is time to make “you” a priority. We can eat well and do yoga and stretch, but adding bodywork can attend to deeper issues developed along the way. We don’t even realize how our bodies start to compensate for imbalances and slight injuries we thought had healed. In reality, our bodies find a way around it. Incorporating a Massage Therapist into your routine can cut these compensational imbalances off at the pass.
The American Medical Association recommends a healthy adult to receive a massage at least once a month. Depending on your athletic endeavors, past injuries and health, more sessions could be beneficial, if not necessary.
Adding massage therapy to your self-care can initiate a chemical response in the brain, which reduces stress hormone levels and releases Oxytocin. Oxytocin is rightly dubbed “the love hormone.” It’s responsible for feelings of euphoria. When you get up off the massage table, you should feel relaxed and groovy –what I like to refer to as “the massage high.” I find this to be true even when participating in corrective bodywork. The sheer act of sensing touch can release this response in the brain. This benefits the recipient as well as the people in their lives. When you are happy, your friends and family feed off that vibe you are giving off. Need more reasons?
Massage can:
- Provide us insomniacs with some much-needed ZZZZZZs (studies show that sleep is more attainable and deeper post massage.)
- Boost your immunity by helping the circulation of lymph fluid.
- Increase your blood circulation, which in turn has been proven to lower blood pressure without medication!
- Provide the biggest organ of the body, your skin, with moisture and exfoliation to help it replenish and repair.
- Repair and restore proper contractibility of fascia and muscle tissues. As I said before, maintaining healthy contractions will help prevent compensational injuries.
- Increase circulation of oxygen and blood flow to your soft tissue, which can increase performance in the gym (for all you gym rats), but is also a healthy flush for the body’s tissues in general.
- Speed up recovery time by flushing out lactic acid and other “muscle gunk” left behind by any over exertion; think spinning, Crossfit, tennis, running and yoga. However, there is no need to be an athlete to reap the benefits. We create buildup just by doing everyday activities –laundry, chauffeuring kids, cleaning the house and worst of all…sitting at a computer.
- Offers pain management WITHOUT drugs!
- Gives relief from chronic conditions like headaches, migraines and fibromyalgia (just to name a few).
- I could go on, but the real proof is how you feel after you have a session (feels so good.)
So when are you scheduling your next “tune-up”?
Alexandra Ciasulli is a master level Reiki practitioner and Massage Therapist with advanced certifications in Neuromuscular Therapy.If you have questions or would like to schedule a massage with a Vision of Dawn Therapist, email Alexandra Ciasulli LCNMT, at visionofdawnmassage@gmail.com.
