Massage for Injury and Recovery
Massage Therapy is a powerful tool for injury recovery speed. Once an injury moves past the point of contraindications and is safe for bodywork, Massage can provide benefits in multiple ways:
Relieving tension on the surrounding muscle systems that have gone into a ‘defense response’ to protect the injured area, but whose tension is no longer necessary. Releasing the extra tension will reduce the amount of stress the area is receiving from being constantly pulled on by the tight muscles. This is a factor especially in joint related injuries like knees, elbows and shoulders.
Massage as a general practice increases healthy circulation. In terms of injury a massage assists in clearing out any toxins that have collected in an area due to the injury, and promotes healthy new cells to take their place, increasing recovery speed. Massage always assists with swelling due to edema by assisting the flow of the lymphatic system.
Trigger point and deep tissue techniques can work out muscle adhesions that come from scar tissue. Where these techniques can be intense, breaking up the adhesions gives the client more flexibility, and helps stop perpetual loss of range of motion.
Myofascial and ‘Pin and Stretch’ techniques work to lengthen tendons, ligaments, and the fascial layer of the body. These techniques allow for focused stretches to be performed on the singular areas of a muscle with a far greater effect than traditional stretching, creating tension relief and increased range of motion.
Stimulation of the Para-Sympathetic nervous system, aka “Rest and Recovery Mode”. The relaxation techniques of massage therapy do far more than just feel good, they actually help pull our body out of the “Fight or Flight” mode (The Sympathetic nervous system). Shifting into Para-Sympathetic mode lowers blood pressure, slows our heart rate, promotes digestion as well as turning off the production of cortisol (the stress hormone).
If you are recovering from an injury, or have pains that never quite resolved from an injury in the past, adding massage is the remedy a more pain free life. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about how massage can help you, or book online.
