The Latest on Massage and Pain Relief
Cost of Pain
Back pain alone will affect around 59% -84% of the global population. 10%-20% of these patients will experience chronic low back pain, that’s pain lasting more than 3 months. On a global scale, chronic low back pain could effect up to 1.2 billion people a year. In the U.K alone the healthcare cost is a staggering £1.6 billon a year not to mention the cost to employers which is around £630 million per year!!! We have had countless accounts from our clients on how our Massage has reduced and even cured them from pain, makes us feel warm and fuzzy, read on for the science…
Does Massage Reduce Pain?
The figures in the first paragraph are astounding, however there is a light at the end of this tunnel; massage can help all of this! Researchers at the Mash had University of medical science experimented by combining massage and exercise. They discovered after a 12 weeks that massage, with supportive exercise increased quality of life, reduced pain and alleviated mental stress!! Sounds simple doesn’t it?
Massage been shown to have fantastic benefits on all kinds of pain, cancer patients receiving palliative care have been shown to significantly reduce their feelings of pain after massage therapy, alongside this their levels of anxiety and depression were reported to be significantly lower, when you relax, you heal better too!
How Does Massage Reduce Pain?
So why does all this work, why does Back Massage help? Firstly, it’s been discovered that massage increases the amount of Beta-endorphins in the surface of the body. Endorphins are what are commonly known as the feel good hormone. Beta-endorphins have the bonus effect of providing an analgesic effect within the body, in other words they are your body’s natural pain killer.
It’s not all been easy, there has been some trouble researching massage because of the variables involved and I also hear that one study had difficulty in asking patients to describe there pain after massage… because half of them fell asleep!!! Still that’s a good sign, it’s hard to relax let alone sleep with pain!
Can Massage Help You?
If you are suffering with either mental stress or physical pain, the chances are a massage at YOU Massage Therapy will help you. Any kind of pain is usually combined with a tension in the muscles, either to protect or support uncomfortable structures, this in turn will put pressure on your posture and may cause ‘referred pain’, whereby another area of the body is having to compensate and gets tight as a result.
Massage will straighten out, strengthen and lengthen any postural problems, you can expect to feel an instant relief from muscle pain, headache, abdominal pain and so on, it also works in harmony with the nervous system, encouraging the body to ‘let go’, release endorphins and boost blood and lymph circulation, and therefore nutrient and oxygen distribution to the tissues, you can expect to feel both incredibly relaxed and revitalised after your treatment, a new you!
Sometimes a course of Massage Treatments will be recommended to treat some conditions, although the majority of our clients report a reduction in pain from the first session! We’d always recommend you do have regular massage sessions to maintain a healthy body and mind, it doesn’t have to be every week or even every month, but if you can spare a little time every now and then for yourself, you’ll feel great for making the decision to do something good for yourself, plus we offer 20% off of any future appointments when re-scheduled on the day! So it can always be affordable too.
If you’re in pain and not sure what to do, ring us, we’ll always take the time to talk to you first, find out where the problem may be stemming from and treat you non-invasivly, comfortably and with assurance that your best interests are our priority. We may ask for a your doctors permission in some cases, but we don’t turn people away, we have therapies on offer that are suitable for everybody, whatever your condition.
