To the list of things no one escapes, right below death and
taxes, let us add muscle soreness.
Yes, even with Massage sedentary person is subject to
gravity and kinetic forces, the basic stressors everyone
experiences.
One might even build the case that a sedentary life invites
more inflexibility, more muscle soreness and spasm than is
introduced by an active lifestyle.
So even couch potatoes can benefit from the therapeutic
wonders of massage.
Yet it is the athlete and those of us who pursue physical
activities and workout programs that can best utilize
massage in keeping joints and muscles flexible, functioning
and optimally pain-free. Thus a massage therapist is to the
human body as the mechanic is to an automobile.
How Can Massage Benefit You?
Massage involves the manipulation of soft tissue, via the
therapist's hands, usually, to serve the physical,
functional and even psychological needs of the patient, or
client. Muscle tissue is typically the target, but the
therapist, or masseuse, can apply their touch to other
tissues as well, such as: tendons, ligaments, joints, skin,
connective tissue, lymphatic vessels and the organs of the
gastrointestinal system.
Types of Massage
Most of us have heard the term Swedish massage. If you
guessed this approach to bodywork was developed in Finland,
you'd be close. Per Henrik Ling's techniques were promoted
in the mid-1800s by two New York physicians, establishing
the form known for long, flowing strokes as perhaps the
best known. While the Swede forever linked his nation to
this technique, it was the French that found a way to name
two of the six basic strokes.
In addition to effleurage, 'to skim over,' and petrissage,
'to knead,' a massage therapist performing a Swedish
massage would employ friction, tapotement (hey, another
French word meaning to 'tap' or 'drum'), compression and
vibration strokes.
Lotion, cream or various oils are used to reduce friction
between the therapist's hands and the skin of the very
lucky individual, who might well fall asleep and wake up
with a reduction of pain, joint stiffness and the kind of
total body relaxation that might make them want to go back
to sleep.
Shiatsu sounds like a breed of small dog, but it actually
is a Japanese form of massage where you keep your clothes
on and lay on the floor as the massage therapist uses
thumb pressure to work energy meridians. The Shiatsu
masseuse will also incorporate stretching.
Deep Tissue Massage is thought to have originated in a
dungeon somewhere. Most likely it was developed by physical
therapists with very strong hands and fingers. The
approach, as the name suggests, allows the massage
practitioner to focus manual pressure to a specific joint,
muscle or muscle group for the purposes of accessing deeper
layers of soft tissue.
If pressure is applied too deeply or too quickly, the
muscle may guard, or tighten, to protect the area and the
client will yelp like a dalmation.
Myofacial Release is a manual massage approach that seeks
to stretch the fascia for the purposes of releasing bonds
between fascia, integument and muscles.
The goal of myofacial release is to eliminate pain,
increase range of motion and—get out your
dictionary—equilibrioception, which is textbook-speak
for 'sense of balance. Stone Massage employs—get
this—stones! Usually heated, smooth stones of basalt
or marble are used to massage the body to enable muscle
relaxation so that the massage therapist can work deeper
into the muscle.
Plucked from a hot water bath, the stones are dried and
given a coating of oil before being wielded directly in the
hands of the masseuse. Often, the hot stones are placed
under the back, along the sides of the spine and on top of
the torso to provide thermal stimulation to the chakra, or
meridian centers. In this application, the stones are not
oiled so as to inhibit gravity or movement from dislodging
the stones.
The Main Benefit Of Massage
There are many other approaches practiced by massage
therapists. The ones described above can all serve an
active person in their quest to stay injury and pain-free.
----------------------------------------------------
Zach Hunt is a massage expert, personal trainer and owner
of Physzique, a fitness coaching service in Spokane, WA. Go
here: http://www.spokanefitnesscoach.com/index.html
or you can go here for more massage tips:
http://www.spokanefitnesscoach.com/articles/spokane-massage-
in-spokane.html
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