The importance of taking regular massage has heightened in recent times as more people recognise how beneficial it is as a way to counteract the effects of sitting in front of a computer screen daily. Corporations are beginning to realise these benefits for staff wellbeing and as a way to increase productivity. By offering mobile massage therapy as a part of employee benefits in the workplace it could go a long way to help reduce staff stress levels, which in turn will make for a more cooperative relaxed work environment, and then aid productivity.
More obviously if employers spend on massage for their staff they might reduce the cost of lost labour through sick days. Work related stress is a serious problem in society leading to poor health, disease, and death. This situation might be helped if employers take the opportunity to enlist the services of a professional Massage Therapist who will educate about the benefits of relaxation and massage.
Many people wait until they are already in pain or suffering spinal injuries before turning to massage, but why let it get that bad? It is a good idea to take regular massage as a preventative measure so that such injuries do not occur. Regular massage maintenance will increase your overall sense of wellbeing for optimum physical and mental health, helping you to achieve your goals.
Massage is defined as the systematic manipulation of the soft tissues of the body for a curative effect. Soft tissues are made more pliable through massage to promote circulation and blood flow and bring about healing effects: physical and psychological changes for general wellbeing.
What does it involve?
The system of massage treatment involves the therapist using their hands to apply pressure on your body. Therapists use various techniques to work on the body: stroking and gliding (effleurage), kneading the soft tissues (petrissage), or what is termed ‘percussion’ (tapotement).
What are the ‘real’ benefits?
Massage therapy is extremely beneficial to people leading busy lifestyles suffering from what is now commonly encountered work related stress. Massage will not only aid with mental relaxation but will work on physical symptoms of back and neck pain that comes from sitting for an extended period of time at a desk or from physical labour.
The importance of taking regular massage has heightened in recent times as more people recognise how beneficial it is as a way to counteract the effects of sitting in front of a computer screen daily. Corporations are beginning to realise these benefits for staff wellbeing and as a way to increase productivity. By offering mobile massage therapy as a part of employee benefits in the workplace it could go a long way to help reduce staff stress levels, which in turn will make for a more cooperative relaxed work environment, and then aid productivity. More obviously if employers spend on massage for their staff they might reduce the cost of lost labour through sick days. Work related stress is a serious problem in society leading to poor health, disease, and death. This situation might be helped if employers take the opportunity to enlist the services of a professional Massage Therapist who will educate about the benefits of relaxation and massage.
Many people wait until they are already in pain or suffering spinal injuries before turning to massage, but why let it get that bad? It is a good idea to take regular massage as a preventative measure so that such injuries do not occur. Regular massage maintenance will increase your overall sense of wellbeing for optimum physical and mental health, helping you to achieve your goals.
1. This massage is ideal for menstrual pain . Start by stroking clockwise around your abdomen with one hand following the other in a circle, using the whole surface of your hands.
2. Knead all over your abdomen with your fingers and thumbs. Then roll onto your side to knead your hips and bottom. Turn onto your back and stroke around your abdomen again.
3. To wake yourself up after a massage, pummel your hips and bottom vigorously. Stand up and with loosely clenched fists, pummel the area very quickly. Flick your hands away as soon as you strike the skin.
1. Stroke the back of your hand, pushing firmly up toward the wrist and gliding back gently. Then squeeze the hand all over, pressing it between your palm and your fingers.
2. Squeeze each finger and make circular pressures over the joints with your thumb. Then hold the finger at its base and pull it gently to stretch it, sliding your grip up the finger and off the tip.
3. Stroke between the tendons on the back of the hand with your thumb. Stroke in the furrow to the wrists, doing four strokes in each furrow.
4. Turn your hand over and support the back with your fingers. Do firm circular and static pressures with your thumb, working all over the palm and around the wrist.
5. Finish the massage by stroking the palm of your hand from the fingers to the wrist. Push into it with the heel of your other hand, then glide gently back and repeat.
1. Put one hand on the top of your foot and the other under the sole. Stroke smoothly from your toes to your ankles. Glide your hands back to your toes and repeat.
2. Support your foot with one hand and work on each toe individually. Squeeze each toe firmly, and gently stretch with a gentle pull.
3. With one thumb on top of the other, do a line of firm pressures down the center of the sole and lines on either side. Then, with one thumb, do circular pressures on the arch and ball.
4. Support your foot with one hand and make the other into a loose fist. Do knuckling movements all over the sole by rippling your fingers around in small circular movements.
5. Still holding your foot with one hand, hack the sole with your other hand. Flick your hand away the moment you touch the foot, so that the effect is light and springy.
6. Stroke around the ankle with your fingertips, as you stroke up toward the leg and gently as you glide back. Finish by stroking the foot as you did at the beginning.
You can easily learn to massage yourself. Use self-massage to energize yourself before school or work in the morning, or to unwind in the evening. You do not need to undress, but you must be comfortable. Use massage oil if you are massaging on bare skin. Sit in a massage chair or on the floor, or lie down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.
How to Self Massage Shoulders
1. Stroke your right shoulder with your left hand. Starting at the base of your skull, stroke down the side of your neck, over your shoulder and down your arm to the elbow. Glide back to your neck and repeat at least three times. Then do the other side.
2. Make circular pressures with your fingertips on either side of the spine. Work up the neck and around the base of the skull. Then squeeze and release the flesh on each shoulder and at the top of your arms.
3. Loosely clench your left hand into a fist and gently pound your right shoulder. Keep your wrist flexible. This can be very invigorating if you are tired. Repeat on the other side.
4. Finish by stroking smoothly with both hands. Start with your hands on the side of your face and glide them gently down under your chin. Slide your hands past each other at the front of the neck, so that each hand is on the opposite shoulder. Stroke gently over your shoulders, down your arms and off at the fingertips. Repeat as often as you like. This hypnotic stroke can relieve headaches and tension.
Massage is one of the easiest ways to attain and maintain good health and well-being. Tension headaches , insomnia , aches and pains, tension and stress can all be easily alleviated with our hands.
Massage has amazing effects on the health of the person being massaged. It improves circulation, relaxes muscles, aids digestion and speeds up the elimination of waste products. These direct benefits, combined with the psychological benefits, quickly produce a feeling of well-being.
According to the American Massage Therapy Association , research shows that massage therapy provides several important health benefits, including:
• Improved blood circulation
• Muscle relaxation and improved range of motion
• Increased endorphin levels (the chemicals in your body that make you feel good)
Acupressure is an ancient healing art that uses the fingers to press key points on the surface of the skin to stimulate the body’s natural self-curative abilities. When these points are pressed, they release muscular tension and promote the circulation of blood and the body’s life force (sometimes known as qi or chi) to aid healing. Acupuncture and acupressure use the same points, but acupuncture employs needles, while acupressure uses the gentle, but firm pressure of hands and feet.
Acupressure, continues to be the most effective method for self-treatment of tension-related ailments by using the power and sensitivity of the human hand. Acupressure can be effective in helping relieve headaches, eye strain, sinus problems, neck pain, backaches, arthritis, muscle aches, tension due to stress, ulcer pain, menstrual cramps, lower backaches, constipation, and indigestion. Self-acupressure can also be used to relieve anxiety and improve sleep.
There are also great advantages to using acupressure as a way to balance the body and maintain good health. The healing touch of acupressure reduces tension, increases circulation, and enables the body to relax deeply. By relieving stress, acupressure strengthens resistance to disease and promotes wellness. In acupressure, local symptoms are considered an expression of the condition of the body as a whole. A tension headache, for instance, may be rooted in the shoulder and neck area. Thus, acupressure focuses on relieving pain and discomfort, as well as responding to tension, before it develops into a disease—before the constrictions and imbalances can do further damage.
The origins of acupressure are as ancient as the instinctive impulse to hold your forehead or temples when you have a headache. Everyone at one time or another has used their hands spontaneously to hold tense or painful places on the body. More than five thousand years ago, the Chinese discovered that pressing certain points on the body relieved pain where it occurred and also benefited other parts of the body more remote from the pain and the pressure point. Gradually, they found other locations that not only alleviated pain, but also influenced the functioning of certain internal organs.
Tight shoulder and neck muscles deserve a massage. For many people, one of the neck muscles that can become the most tense and painful is the trapezius muscle. Here is a technique for massaging your own “trap” muscle. Try it right now, and feel the tension in your neck and shoulder muscles melt away.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 5 or more minutes
Here’s How:
1. Locate your trapezius muscle. Although it is a big muscle spanning from your neck, across the shoulders and almost all the way down your back, you need only locate the upper portion (at the top of the shoulder) for this technique.
2. Cross one arm in front of your body so that you can place the palm of your hand on top of the other shoulder.
3. Beginning at the base of the neck, knead the muscles in a rhythmic action, moving out toward the arm in increments. Use a pressure that is deep enough to make a difference, but still feels good. In the field of massage therapy, we call this “the good hurt.”
With the field of massage continually expanding, a strong, quality Massage Therapy Education proves to be a valuable resource to meet and beat stiff competition in today’s workforce. Whether students desire to open their own private day spa or practice, or choose to work in a health care setting, it is imperative that future therapists be prepared through an appropriate Massage Therapy Education. In particular, students who wish to work in an acupuncture clinic may consider a Massage Therapy Education that incorporates Chinese medical massage (tuina), acupressure, or shiatsu. A helpful hint for prospective sports medicine and rehabilitative clinic practitioners would be to gain an in-depth Massage Therapy Education in sports massage, neuromuscular therapy, and cross fiber technique.
Other ideal techniques that can be learned through a Massage Therapy Education include lymphatic drainage and geriatric massage. Students who aspire to work in natural health oncology clinics and geriatric centers would find these studies to be quite useful in their career objectives.
Depending on the specific massage school, the Massage Therapy Education you receive may lead you through weeks or months of practical and academic studies. Some Massage Therapy Education institutes provide day and evening classes, as well as weekend classes. Students enrolled in a Massage Therapy Education will find that they will most likely have to sit for the National Certification exam to receive professional certification in massage therapy. In many states, this is preferred, if not required. While LMTs (Licensed Massage Therapists) who have received an in-depth Massage Therapy Education will almost always earn slightly more than regular massage therapists, the field of massage therapy promises to be rewarding no matter which choice of modality or Massage Therapy Education you choose.
