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The Health Benefits of Regular Massage

I am an addict. I am addicted to massage therapy. I received my first professional massage at the prompting of my girlfriend five years ago. Back then I thought of massage as a luxury, a special way that a person could treat themselves to a taste of the good life, but my girlfriend knew better, she was making regular appointments not as a treat, but to maintain and improve her basic health. What she knew then, and what I have learned since then, is that regular massage can be an essential tool to support and enhance every aspect of our quality of life.

When you experience high levels of stress your immune system becomes weaker and your body has difficulty voiding toxins. The body defends itself under stress by being ready for action. When you are stressed your body is ready with what is called the “fight or flight” response, you tense for combat or for escape (even if neither are called for). If you are constantly under stress you can begin to hold your body in tense positions, to literally freeze into that reactive stance. Many forms of chronic muscle pain have this kind of tension at their heart. People who aren’t relaxed are more susceptible to disease and injury; their immune systems are often compromised by being overloaded with more toxins then they can handle, and people distracted by stressors are more likely to harm themselves or others through easily avoidable accidents.

Regular massage therapy is a cure-all for all these ills and can restore your physical mental and emotional health through detoxification, relaxation, stress reduction, greater mental clarity, improvement of immunity, circulation, flexibility, mobility, and overall health. Going back for more frequent massage can address long standing issues of structural alignment and can be a first line of defense for any changes to your body such as the early visible stages of skin cancer. Beneath the surface, regular massage can provide relief from chronic pain, the freeing of adhesions in your muscle tissue, the healing of scar tissue and can release patterns created through trauma, chronic tension and habitual holding. How are you holding up? Maybe it’s time to make another massage appointment. Call The Healing Arts Center at 314-647-8080 to make an appointment with one of our student or professional Massage Therapists or call your therapist today!