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Massage and Massotherapy

Most people believe that massage or massotherapy is beneficial because it just makes you feel good. This is in part true because of several factors. The first is that it helps to identify sore or injured muscles or muscle groups. It further helps to break spasms in the muscle by passively stretching the muscle. The actual manual compression and stretching of the muscle helps to release certain waste byproducts of muscle metabolism such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid. These noxious chemicals build up during muscle spasm causing vaso-constriction increasing pain and swelling. As a muscle goes into spasm, blood flow is restricted to the muscle due to increased pressure inside of the muscle much like a water dam.

Massage helps to physically release these chemicals into the blood stream allowing normal circulation and function to return. The carbon dioxide is released through the lungs and the lactic acid through the kidneys. That is why people are told to drink lots of water after a massage to facilitate lactic acid removal from the body. Also, there is a great hands-on effect in massage therapy. The passive action of having someone’s hands on our body is pleasing and therapeutic. Variations of massage therapy also include reflexology, acupressure, therapeutic touch, deep tissue, and hot stone massage to name a few.

Massage Therapy can treat the following conditions:

Sprains and Strains
Spondylolisthesis
Spinal Stenosis