Facts About Calgary Massage Therapy

By George Mitchell


Massage refers to a treatment or relaxation approach that involves pressing, manipulating, and rubbing the skin, ligaments, and tendons. This service is provided in body care establishments such as hair salons, nail salons, and spas among many others. Massaging the body may vary from light stroking to deep pressure. It was once considered alternative medicine, but it is now becoming mainstream. Facts regarding Calgary massage therapy.

Massage was once considered a luxury, only available and affordable to a few. That has changed over time as it is increasingly becoming a service provided to the public in various facilities. It is now a service offered in places such as airports, hospitals, clinics, and businesses. High-performance, stressful businesses usually have in-house massage therapists who provide the service to staff members so as to increase performance and ease stress. Such businesses include hospitals, film production companies, law firms, capitals, and day trading businesses.

Today many types of massage exist. The major ones include sports, deep, trigger point, and Swedish massage. Among the gentle forms is the Swedish variety. It entails kneading, long strokes, and deep circular movements. Relaxation in this variety is achieved by use of tapping on the body and vibrations. Most upscale facilities use this very common form of massaging.

Forceful strokes that are slow are a feature of deep massaging. Muscles and connective tissues that lie deep in the body are targeted and that is why the movements are applied. Relieve of muscle damage caused by injuries is also targeted in this form of massage. Swedish variety and sports massaging are more or less the same. The difference is that sports massaging is geared toward athletes. It helps in recovery from injuries or preventing injury. Parts with tight muscle fibers are targeted in trigger point massaging.

Massaging has been associated with many medicinal benefits. Relaxation is the first benefit of this process. The body can often become stressed and tense. Tension and stress to the body causes cortisol to be produced in large amounts. Cortisol is a stress hormone. Cortisol can cause lack of sleep, headaches, weight gain, and digestive problems. Production of cortisol can be reduced by massaging the body.

Another benefit associated with this technique is that it can help with lowering blood pressure. Research has found that attending sessions on a regular basis can help to reduce levels of blood pressure considerably. The research further indicates massaging the body over prolonged periods reduces systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure. Lower blood pressure in turn reduces risk of stroke, kidney failure, heart attack and many other diseases.

The manipulation, pressing, and rubbing processes involved in massaging the body usually improve blood circulation in blood vessels. When blood is flowing consistently to all parts of the body, especially the damaged areas, healing is promoted. The squeezing and pressing also result in the removal of lactic acid from muscle tissues. This improves the circulation of lymph fluid in the body, which transports waste products.

Negative effects are also associated with this method regardless of the many benefits. The first thing is that it is expensive, especially in upscale facilities. The other thing is that the benefits claimed have no strong supporting evidence. The effectiveness is also uncertain.




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