Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
(WebMD) For the treatment of pain, Americans rate massage as highly as medications, a new survey shows.

Conducted by an independent research firm, the annual survey is the ninth commissioned by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA).

It shows that one in five U.S. adults got a therapeutic massage in the last year. Three-fourths of them would recommend it to others — one reason for the body therapy's growing popularity.

Among those who actually had a massage in the past year, 28 percent say massage therapy gives them "the greatest relief from pain." Another 28 percent say medication gives them the greatest relief. Chiropractic comes in third at 11 percent, followed by 8 percent who got the most pain relief from physical therapy, 3 percent who said acupuncture was best for their pain, and 1 percent whose pain best responded to biofeedback.

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Category: General
Posted by: mbuttrey
Parents of newborns can help their children sleep through the night and cry less by giving them a gentle massage, according to new research from Warwick Medical School and the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick.

The researchers, led by Dr. Angela Underdown, examined nine previous studies on baby massage that included 598 infants younger than a year old. In the studies, health workers had trained the parents in baby massage.

"There are indications that infants who were massaged were more relaxed, probably due to lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, compared to infants who did not receive massage," Underdown said.

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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
Massage could offer a drug-free way to treat agitation and depression among dementia patients, but there are still too few studies about the practice to know for sure, according to a review of recent research.

In two studies, hand massage and gentle touching during conversation helped ease agitation and restore appetite in dementia patients over short periods of about an hour.

"Although the available reliable evidence supports the use of massage and touch, it is so limited in scope that it is not possible to draw general conclusions about benefits in dementia," say lead authors Dr. Niels Viggo Hansen and colleagues.

"However, even if touch therapy aims only to reintroduce something which has been lost in the professionalization and institutionalization of care, it may still turn out to be a relatively effective, inexpensive and low-risk intervention," said Viggo Hansen, of the Knowledge and Research Center for Alternative Medicine, part of Denmark's Ministry of Health.
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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
Low-tech, at-home preparation in the last month before childbirth could help pregnant mothers avoid one of the more common surgeries performed on women in the United States, a new review suggests.
The review looked at studies in which women used a massage technique in the last four or five weeks of pregnancy to train the lower genital tract for childbirth. During perineal massage a women kneads the tissue below the vagina to prepare the tissue to expand more easily during birth.
There was a 15 percent reduction in episiotomies among the women who practiced perineal massage the review found, based on results from three trials, including data from 2,434 women.
The findings appear in the most recent issue of The Cochrane Library, publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
Following up on a groundbreaking study showing that premature newborns who are massaged gain more weight than non-massaged preemies, the researchers at Touch Research Institutes (TRI) at the University of Miami Medical School now have a good idea why.

In the study "Vagal activity, gastric motility, and weight gain in massaged preterm neonates," published in July in The Journal of Pediatrics, the TRI team revisited a 1986 study that first revealed that massage therapy facilitates weight gain among preterm infants. Additional studies have yielded the same result. This time, researchers wanted to find out why. They set out to test whether moderate-pressure massage stimulates vagal activity, leading to more efficient food absorption through increased gastric motility and the release of food-absorption hormones, such as insulin.
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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
I personally feel a wonderful positive energy as a massage therapist when working with pregnant women. I have several children myself and I just love the whole process! When I’m massaging an expecting mom, it’s almost like giving a massage simultaneously to two people – I just can’t describe the joy I feel.

When a woman is pregnant, she is often uncomfortable, with low back and other pains. Her obstetrician will tell her this is normal. However, a good pre-natal massage can alleviate the pain she is feeling, improve her mood and mental attitude, and thus help the baby by having a happier mom.

An expectant mom will feel lighter, with increased capability to maintain good posture after a massage, which is essential in pregnancy. Prenatal massage is especially beneficial for improved circulation and removal of toxins from the body, which is especially helpful for expectant moms. Of course, I tell everyone to drink lots of water after a massage to help remove the toxins dislodged from the body during the massage.
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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
The holistic application of physical touch to affect the systems of the circulatory, body-the muscular, skeletal, elimination, endocrine, respiratory, lymphatic, emotional, mental digestive, and nervous systems is called Body massage.

An expert?s massage with aromatic massage oil does much more than create a pleasant sensation on the skin. The massage oil penetrates into the skin working on the soft tissues (the muscles, tendons, and ligaments) to improve muscle tone. The massage oils reach beneath the deep layers of the skin and possibly stimulate the affected organs for instant relief. Massage oils thus stimulate blood circulation and assist the lymphatic system (which runs parallel to the circulatory system) thereby improving the elimination of waste throughout the body.
Massage oils like Grapeseed oil, Jojoba oil and Sweet Almond oil are very light on the skin as they soak quickly leaving the skin soft, nourished and moisturized with out any greasy feeling. Massage oils can be categorized as the following to serve four different purposes:

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Category: General
Posted by: mbuttrey
Massage and other natural therapies are being recommended to children suffering depression with scant proof that they actually work, mental health experts warn.

A team of University of Melbourne researchers have reviewed all available literature on complementary and self-help treatments commonly used by young people with depressive disorders.

Therapies that involve art, books, light, relaxation, distraction and massage were included in the review, published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
Blaring horns. Beeping car alarms. Jackhammers.

Sound.

It's something we take for granted. But a dozen cancer patients at the Bennett Cacer Center have learned it can also heal.

They were recent participants at what has been billed a "sound therapy" workshop, the third held at the Bennett Center this year. According to Amy Zabin, music therapist at Bennett, sound waves can help balance the body. "Chemo throws off the body," she says. "Sound therapy can be an internal massage that's deeply relaxing and can restore body harmony."

With sound therapy, participants tap lightly on quartz crystal bowls with rubber-tipped mallets, producing a humming sound, a vibration. These vibrations spread through the body "and result in a very delicate internal massage of all the cells," says Zabin.

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Category: Massage Articles
Posted by: mbuttrey
Massage improved daily functioning, increased quality of sleep and decreased stress-hormone levels in people with Parkinson's disease, according to a recent study.
"Parkinson's Disease Symptoms are Reduced by Massage Therapy and Progressive Muscle Exercises," was conducted by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, along with staff from the university's neurology department and Duke University's pharmacology department.
Sixteen adults diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a chronic disease of the central nervous system characterized by tremor, muscle weakness and rigidity, were randomly assigned to receive either massage therapy or progressive muscle relaxation, for 30 minutes twice a week for five weeks.
The massage consisted of 15 minutes in the prone position, focusing on the back, buttocks, ribs, thighs, calves and feet; and 15 minutes in the supine position, focusing on the thighs, lower legs, feet, hands, forearms, upper arms, neck, face and head.
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