Six conditions you did not know massage therapy could treat

It is no secret that massage therapy is extremely effective at helping people cope with tight, aching muscles, but did you know that treatments with a registered massage therapist can help you manage many other conditions as well?

Related Article: What you need to know about Massage Therapy – An Infographic

Movement, sports, and fitness routines play an important role in healthy living. Oftentimes though, whether from stress, too little rest and recovery, or sustained, intense physical activity, these activities can catch up with us and damage our tissue faster than it can recover. 

By assessing and monitoring muscle health and tension, your RMT can play a role in speeding up your recovery time between bouts of activity through a wide range of  massage modalities such as sports massage therapy, and deep tissue massage therapy treatments to reduce lactic acid levels in muscles. Inaddition RMTs can advise regarding stretching, rehabilitative exercises,  and targeted application of heat or ice  which have all been shown to help people recover more quickly from activity and injury.

We can end up with scar tissue for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, scars don’t pose a major problem when it comes to our long-term health. Sometimes though, through Injuries like sprains, strains, broken bones, or surgeries to repair the body, we can be negatively impacted by the formation of internal scar tissue.  This scar tissue can lead to impaired range of motion, chronic pain, or a feeling of tightness or restriction in the body.

A registered massage therapist can help you address concerns related to scar tissue in a variety of ways.  RMTs can mobilize and breakdown scar tissue using a variety of techniques, including Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM), frictions, or myofascial release. The result can be an improved range of motion, a decrease in chronic pain, or a  decreased feeling of tightness  in the body.  Similarly, your massage therapist is trained to show you how to treat your own scar tissue at home through the demonstration of techniques and other homecare instruction.

Constipation is the most commonly experienced digestive complaint in North America.  As many as one in five Canadians have suffered from constipation at some point in their lives.  While there many over-the-counter solutions to this uncomfortable problem, a visit with an RMT can often be the least invasive solution. 

A massage therapy treatment for constipation with a registered massage therapist typically would involve a brief chat and assessment regarding the nature of your complaint, and then a relaxing massage to the area around your stomach. Typically, gentle, clockwise manipulations are performed either directly over the abdomen or over clothes, following the path of the digestive system.  This brings blood and movement to the area and typically one treatment with a registered massage therapist is enough to move things along.

According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada, 25% of Canadians will experience some form of persistent anxiety in their lifetime.  Massage therapy can play an excellent part in a comprehensive plan to manage feelings of stress and anxiety.

In addition to relaxing your muscles, an RMT can help educate you on breathing techniques that have been proven to reduce anxiety.  Additionally, slow, deep yet gentle massage stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, also known as your ‘rest and digest’ system, which in turn calms your sympathetic (fight or flight) system down When you are experiencing anxiety massage therapy can  eave you feeling calmer, happier, and more at ease. 

Did you know that there are over ten different types of headaches?  Luckily, the most common type of headache, a tension headache, is often easily addressed via a visit to a registered massage therapist.

Stress, injury, or activity induced tightness in the muscles of the head, jaw, neck, and shoulders can all create intense, long lasting tension headaches by compressing tissue, restricting proper range of motion. Tension Headaches can also involve trigger points and referred pain patterns.  An RMT can work with your body to release this muscular tension. Debilitating tension headaches are often eased or fully eliminated in just one massage therapy session.

Temporomandibular joint disorder, also known as TMJD or TMD is characterized by chronic pain in the jaw, face, head, neck, or shoulders, as well as difficulty closing or opening your mouth, and clicking, grinding, popping, or crunching noises or feeling when you yawn, open you mouth, or chew.

Registered massage therapists are trained to address this either externally, via releasing many of the muscles that act on the joints of the jaw and mouth, or internally, using a gloved hand to release and manipulate muscles within the patient’s open mouth. 

Geometry Integrated Health offers massage therapy in Victoria BC.  We are located downtown next to the YMCA and are open 7 days a week.  Wether you are recovering from an injury, looking to manage chronic pain or are interested in the many benefits massage therapy has to offer or just looking for a massage in Victoria BC, check out our registered massage therapists and take advantage of our online booking and direct billing.