Massage Therapy

The need for human touch

Massage therapy has been in use for more than 3000 years. It is believed that massage therapy not only relieved muscle soreness but also healed the spirit. It is eminent that greater the advancement in technology, greater the need of human touch, as advancement in technology contributed stress. Human touch is as important as air, water and food

What is Massage therapy?

• A relaxation technique; the manipulation of skin, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue for the purpose of releasing muscle tension and increasing physical comfort of musculature and surrounding joints.

What does research say about massage therapy?

• McKechnie and his colleagues studied about massage therapy and found out that massage therapy helped in reducing resting heart rate, muscle tension and skin resistance

• Weinberg et al (1988) conducted a research to find out the combined effects of massage therapy and exercise on college students. The results indicated that college student who exercised and received massage therapy maintained high levels of energy and had reduced muscle tension, fatigue, anxiety, depression and ange

What are the most popular types of massage?

• Shiatsu,

• Swedish,

• Rolfing,

• Myofascial release

• sports massage.

POPULAR TYPES

What are the benefits?

• Increased blood and lymph flow

• General sense of well being

• Emotional well being (emotional well being is closely tied to physical health)

• Increased flexibility

• Decreased muscle tension

What is the science behind it?

• The most notable effect after massage therapy is overall relaxation. The application of touch at the site of tense muscles increases neural reflex activity which in turn dilates the blood vessels and increases blood flow. This increase in blood supply apparently decreases neural drive through the afferent neural mechanism.

• In effect, this desensitizes the nerve ending receiving messages from the brain, thus decreasing muscle tension. Massage cleans the metabolic wastes through gentle pumping of the circulatory and lymphatic systems.

• The effects of massage therapy on musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems are widely accepted such as increased flexibility and decreased muscle tension.

Calm…soothe…Hydrate..

At Maya Physical therapy (serving Davie, Cooper city and Hollywood), our massage therapist are trained in sport massage, Swedish massage, reflexology, deep tissue massage, hot stone massage, and ayurvedic oil massage and truly enjoys helping others to relaxing mind and body.