A Caring Touch: Massage Therapy

Maybe you’re already familiar with massage therapy. Maybe you’ve had a massage at a spa or at the airport. But what do you really know about massage therapy? In this blog, we’ll explain the science behind it all and how massage therapy and an integrative approach to care can benefit a variety of patients.

What Is Massage Therapy?

According to Tina Brown, licensed massage therapist, massage therapy is “an effective and safe adjunctive treatment for preventative and rehabilitative care.” Basically, massage therapists manually manipulate the soft tissues and joints of the body to induce beneficial outcomes in their patients.

How Does Massage Therapy Work?

There are a handful of ways massage therapy works. First, the manipulation of soft tissues dilates underlying blood vessels which stimulates the flow of blood and lymph throughout the body. This increase in flow also allows nutrients to flow more easily, helps the body to repair damaged tissues, and helps with removal of toxins and cellular wastes. When toxins build up, it can lead to aches and pains. “Have you ever felt a knot in your shoulder?” Tina explains, “Those may be from toxins or wastes that built up with nowhere to go – either that or you’ve overused a muscle a little too much.”

Massage therapy also stimulates the body’s relaxation response. The calming effect of massage therapy is not only psychologically beneficial but physiologically, too. This relaxation response helps lower blood pressure and cortisol while it also decreases the rate of oxygen consumption, among many other health benefits.

Massage therapy also helps manage discomfort and pain through something called “Gate Control Theory”. In short, a painful stimulus can be mitigated by introducing a non-painful or neutral stimulus. Tina provides a helpful example: “Imagine you stood up from your chair too quickly and your knee bangs the desk. That’s the painful stimulus. What’s your first reaction? You rub the part that hurts. That’s the neutral stimulus.” Massage works in a similar way, altering the perception of pain.

Who Can Benefit from Massage Therapy?

According to Tina, pretty much anyone can benefit from massage therapy. “Massage can be safe for just about any condition if you go to a properly trained professional.” Like other integrative medicines, massage helps the body heal itself, and care is personalized from patient to patient, session to session.

Acute and chronic pain are some of the most common ailments treated by massage therapy. Other ailments that massage is beneficial for include stress, tension, headaches, muscle strain, anxiety, insomnia, nerve pain, sciatica, arthritis, cancer, chronic low back pain, and sports injury. It can also help facilitate quicker recovery for post-surgical care and is beneficial during and after pregnancy.

“Before every appointment I review the patient’s medical chart and the notes left by their physician. When the patient enters my room we have a short intake conversation.” This allows Tina to create a unique plan of care for every visit that’s tailored to the patient’s needs that day.

If you’re interested in massage therapy or other integrative care, call our office in Fishers at 317-957-9510 or in Westfield at 463-622-9850. Tina specializes in Swedish, deep tissue, prenatal, and lymphatic massage. Appointments are available in 30- and 60-minute increments.

Learn more about integrative medicine at Community at eCommunity.com/integrative.