What Are the Benefits of Massage and Bodywork?

Massage and bodywork can help release chronic muscular tension and pain, improve circulation-lymph, increase joint flexibility, ease medication dependence, reduce mental and physical fatigue and stress, promote faster healing of injured muscular tissue, assist with shorter and easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays, improve posture, improving immunne system functioning, increase of energy, speeding recovery from exercise, promoting well nourished healthy skin the" body's largest -organ", promote tissue regeneration, creates body awareness, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks, reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling, reduces spasms and cramping, reduce blood pressure , release endorphins, relieve migraine pain and headaces. Massage and bodywork is also known to promote better sleep, improve concentration, reduce anxiety and create an overall sense of well-being.

Getting a massage can do you a world of good, and getting massage frequently can do even more. This is the beauty of bodywork. Taking part in this form of regularly scheduled self-care can play a huge part in how healthy you’ll be and how youthful you’ll remain with each passing year. Budgeting time and money for bodywork at consistent intervals is truly an investment in your health. And remember: just because massage feels like a pampering treat doesn’t mean it is any less therapeutic. Consider massage appointments a necessary piece of your health and wellness plan, and work with your practitioner to establish a treatment schedule that best meets your needs.

Studies have found that massage relieves chronic back pain more effectively than other treatments (including alternative and conventional medical care) and, in many cases, costs less than other treatments for this common health problem. In addition, mothers and newborns also can also benefit from massage.

"Often times people are stressed in our culture. Stress-related disorders make up between 80-and-90 percent of the ailments that bring people to family-practice physicians. What they require is someone to listen, someone to touch them, someone to care. That does not exist in modern medicine. One of the complaints heard frequently is that physicians don't touch their patients any more. Touch just isn't there. Years ago massage was a big part of nursing. There was so much care, so much touch, so much goodness conveyed through massage. Now nurses for the most part are as busy as physicians. They're writing charts, dealing with insurance notes, they're doing procedures and often there is no room for massage any more. I believe massage therapy is absolutely key in the healing process not only in the hospital environment but because it relieves stress, it is obviously foundational in the healing process any time and anywhere." —Joan Borysenko - Massage Journal Interview, Fall 1999

Click here for a comprehensive list of the Physical Benefits Of Massage Therapy.