Massage and Pain Relief When you are in pain there are many avenues for you to explore to find
pain relief. I hope that you will try massage as one of those avenues to
transition to a pain free state.
Research by the
Touch
Research Institute has shown that massage can help in with the following
conditions:
Arthritis
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Fibromyalgia
Labor Pain
Migraine Headaches
PMS Symptoms
Back Pain
Please visit their website to see the other conditions that massage has been
proven to help.
The reasons why massage can help with pain may be due to:
Nerves may be entrapped by tense muscles and so releasing the muscles
releases the nerve
A contraction that is held within the muscle, holding metabolic waste
and causing ischemia (a restriction in the blood supply) which leads to
dysfunction within the muscle tissue itself, creating pain.
Trigger points within the muscle causing pain which may be in a
different part of the body.
Tightness in the muscle causing inflammation of tendon or connective
tissue around the bone (e.g. the periosteum with shin splints due to tight
calf muscles).
Massage has been proven a decrease in stress hormones and an increase in
the body's own pain relievers, endorphins.
Massage can help break the pain cycle by overriding the pain signals
sent to the brain, in the same way that ice application can help pain
relief.
Americans use massage as an effective form of pain
relief:
A survey carried out in 2006 suggests that more Americans are turning to
massage Therapy as an effective form of pain relief. Read
this article for more information.
Recommended Reading
Having gone through a period
of serious back problems, I have read a number of books on the area and these
are the ones that I recommend:
