Benefits of Massage

Most people want a massage to relax and de-stress. However, there are more benefits to be found within massage than simple relaxation. As Alison Stromwolf said, “True healing involves body, mind and spirit.”

In a 2008 stress survey conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association, physical and emotional stress was broken down. 71% of people found that getting a massage or visiting a day spa was effective in lowering their stress levels. Below are helpful graphs detailing the results of the AMTA stress survey.

Massage can help with physical stress symptoms from teeth grinding to headaches, to relieving emotional stress from insomnia to lack of motivation. According to Carolyn Jaffe in her book All Kinds of Love: Experiencing Hospice, Jaffe notes that physical pain is often accompanied by fear and anxiety, creating a vicious cycle and increasing the intensity of the pain experience.

Healing through massage can manifest on many levels: physical, energetic, emotional, psychological or spiritual. Massage therapists can help clients target specific complaints to assist in opening, expanding or releasing a variety of concerns such as tension, pain, sore muscles, depression and more. The benefits of massage as encapsulated in three simple words are Detoxify, Revitalize, Rejuvenate.

With massage, the client is accessing healing from the outside-in. Through the therapeutic massage touch on their bodies (outside), clients feel the benefits inside. But healing doesn’t end there. You can also access healing from the inside-out. In a massage session, breathe work is just as important.

The breathe cycle is like your life cycle, according to massage therapist Jeffrey Compton. When you inhale, it is like a new beginning. When you exhale, it is like a natural ending. “Breathe gently and deeply, not to force, but to follow your body,” said Compton. By regulating your breathing patterns, you can stabilize your thoughts and emotions, bringing balance into your life. (Massage Magazine, February 2009)

Regardless of the type of massage, the benefits of therapeutic touch cannot be denied. In Massage Magazine’s December 2008 issue, a research study was discussed about the benefits of touch on cancer patients. One group of cancer patients received 30 minutes of massage therapy. A second group of cancer patients received 30 minutes of simple touch, which involved only a placing of hands without movement on various parts of the patient’s body for 3 minutes at a time.

The study, at the end of three weeks, showed that there was no significant difference in either group. Both groups had significant pain improvement. As a society, we can learn a lot from the people who are seriously or terminally ill.

Massage can increase the level of endorphins, which are neurochemicals in the brain, to modulate pain or reduce the sensation of pain. A therapeutic touch can also have calming effects on the activity in the central nervous system. On a less physical level, according to Carolyn Jaffe, with relaxation from a caring human touch, a person can feel freer to expression emotions or thoughts, releasing psychological burdens; thereby, diminishing feelings of being alone.

True healing does not happen overnight. Just as tension and strain don’t overwhelm you overnight. Massage is another process anyone can add to their bag of healing tools. As Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt once said, “We are all broken and wounded in this world. Some choose to grow strong at the broken places.” So with the aid of massage therapy, perhaps we can grow a bit stronger with a little therapeutic facilitation.