In our previous entry we described myofascial release, how it compares to structural integration, and the need to be highly trained in the modality in order to know how to manipulate fascia in the correct way so it creates an optimal pattern, allowing for natural, effortless movement. This week we’ll look at some of the unique properties of myofascial release. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘tension’
Exploring Massage Therapy: Myofascial Release (Part II)
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011Exploring Massage Therapy: Myofascial Release (Part I)
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011On the more therapeutic side of massage therapy, many modalities exist that focus on specific health benefits. We have written before, for example, about acupressure, structural integration, and the effectiveness of massage therapy as a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatment. The modality we’re looking at this week, myofascial release, is another massage therapy technique designed for a specific health benefit. In this way it is much more a therapeutic modality than one designed for relaxation. (more…)
Exploring Massage Therapy: Acupressure (Part II)
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010Last 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, 2010Acupressure 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…)
Exploring Massage Therapy: Lomi Lomi Massage
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010This summer’s issue of the Massage Therapy Journal includes a detailed look at Lomi Lomi massage, a modality that originated in Hawaii and has since been “westernized”, gaining recognition among massage therapists in America. The specifics of the modality are pretty interesting as there are many differences, and some similarities, between Lomi Lomi massage and a traditional Swedish massage. (more…)
Therapeutic Massage Therapy in More Ways than One
Friday, April 30th, 2010Every couple of months we try and pull together a list of the many benefits of massage therapy (click here or here). We do this because, while writing individually about different benefits of massage therapy week in and week out, it is easy to forget the impressive collection of benefits that massage therapy provides.
Fortunately for this week’s report, another writer has pulled together a pretty thorough list of massage therapy benefits for us. (more…)
Massage Therapy is an Unequivocal Stress Buster
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Continuing on with our blog’s often-explored theme of the benefits of massage therapy for mankind, today’s blog focuses on an element that affects nearly all humans and that massage therapy has a great track record of treating effectively. That element is: stress.
To start off, check out this article from The Massage Advancer, which obviously is a little biased in favor of massage therapy. (more…)
Aromatherapy and Massage, an Easy Combination
Friday, December 18th, 2009We already wrote about the medicinal benefits of aromatherapy, coupled with massage therapy, over a year ago (see post). As it says in that entry, aromatherapy and massage can be used (and has been clinically proven) to reduce stress levels and help the immune system.
But in that entry, we glossed over the fact that making massage oils and aromatherapy oils can be a very easy task. Follow the directions below, and start adding aromatherapy to your chair and table massage sessions. It is a great addition to the many benefits that massage therapy already offers. (more…)
Understanding Trigger Points (Part III)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009In my last two entries about trigger points, I’ve discussed how they have been studied, some ways they are described clinically, and the type of pain they cause for the people who suffer from them. I’ve done this all while maintaining that there is still a lot unknown about trigger points, how they are defined, and the symptoms that they cause. However, that has not stopped massage therapists and others from attempting to discover and treat them, a noble cause considering the incredible amount of pain trigger points can cause (see previous entries as well as the ending paragraph of this entry). (more…)
Understanding Trigger Points (Part I)
Thursday, October 1st, 2009Massage therapy has been demonstrated to help relieve chronic pain, stress, and anxiety, all in a non-invasive way. For this, it deserves praise as a profession. But there are, of course, limits to what massage can do. Often pain and discomfort is caused by something (such as an internal injury, certain chemical imbalances, etc.) that needs a more invasive approach, and in these cases massage therapy can be used as a supplementary treatment. However, there is also a lot of pain that goes unexplained in the medical world, and this might be due by an element that is difficult to define: trigger points.