Archive for the ‘Stress Reduction’ Category

Massage Can Help Those Suffering From PTSD

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Over the past two weeks we’ve been looking at the increasing popularity of attending massage therapy school, and earlier this year we wrote an entry about massage therapy being named one of the top careers out there. The U.S. News & World Report wrote that massage therapy was a top career as the education required to become a massage professional was relatively inexpensive when compared to the amount of money a therapist earns, on average.

However, for people considering massage therapy as a career, financial considerations shouldn’t be the only factor. Massage therapists do a lot of good in the world, one example of this being their ability to help those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (more…)

Office Massage Therapy Can Reduce Stress, Pain and Costs

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Last week we wrote about how office massage therapy can help reverse postural problems and the pain associated with them. While there is research that has been done showing that massage therapy can help in many different areas (relieving stress, reducing pain, etc.) it’s always nice to read up on studies that show effective massage therapy in action.

MassageMag has published two such articles demonstrating the effectiveness of office massage in improving employee health. (more…)

Office Massage Therapy Can Help Employee Posture and Well-Being

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

One thing that we promote strongly is office massage, as it can be extremely beneficial to employees. We have discussed how workplace massage can be unobtrusive to the general set-up of an office, and how it can help diffuse stressful work environments (see our post here). But office massage is even more important today than before, given the nature of modern office work and its effect on a critical physical feature: posture. (more…)

Exploring Massage Therapy: Acupressure (Part III)

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Writing about acupressure the past couple of weeks got me curious about acupoints – pressure points on the body where therapeutic results can be realized through the application of appropriate amounts of pressure. Basically, acupoints are the points on the body where acupressure (or acupuncture) should be performed. (more…)

Exploring Massage Therapy: Acupressure (Part II)

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Last week I wrote about acupressure, defining the modality and describing its benefits generally. This week I want to examine the specific benefits acupressure provides, as detailed in recent scientific research.

The first study comes from a 2010 issue of the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which demonstrated acupressure’s ability to decrease pain levels in patients suffering from chronic neck pain. (more…)

Exploring Massage Therapy: Acupressure (Part I)

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Acupressure is an intriguing modality of massage therapy as its methods and potential benefits are extremely expansive. It’s also hard to get a precise definition of what acupressure actually is, which is what we will try to do in today’s blog post.

Simply put, acupressure is the placement of pressure on pressure points of the body. (more…)

Massage Therapy Decreases Stress and Increases Well-Being, Reports The New York Times

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

This just in from The New York Times: Massage therapy has been shown to decrease levels of hormones that cause stress and increase levels of hormones that cause contentment and well-being.

While we’ve written about the proven stress-busting abilities of massage therapy, as well as its ability to improve mood, it’s always nice when the leading source of information in the world backs you up. (more…)

Massage Therapy: A Healthy Alternative

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Pain is something that we all experience, and it is also something that massage therapy has been shown to counter and prevent (click here). In fact, surveys have shown that people choose massage therapy in part because it helps reduce pain and generally increases their wellbeing (click here). The fact that massage therapy is an effective, non-invasive way to deal with pain and stress while improving one’s wellbeing makes the following trends in America, described below, all the more troubling. (more…)

Massage Therapy as a Complementary Treatment for Stroke Patients

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Last week we finished up a series of articles on medical massage therapy, and I can think of no better transition than to go from medical massage therapy to a medical condition that massage therapy has been demonstrated to help.

Strokes are a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and world, and usually strike suddenly with dramatic consequences. Fortunately, massage therapy has been shown to ease stroke patients’ levels of pain and stress while improving their quality of life. (more…)

Autism, Asthma, Children, and Massage (Part II)

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Last week I wrote specifically about two studies that demonstrated massage therapy’s marked ability to improve the symptoms of autism and asthma. These bring up the perspective of massage therapy as a holistic therapy in the overall conclusions that they make. (more…)