6 Ways Massage Therapy Can Benefit Your Health

6 Ways Massage Therapy Can Benefit Your Health

When you think about getting a massage, the first thing that often comes to mind is stress relief. While it is true that massage therapy can help relieve stress and promote relaxation, there are many less known health advantages of massage therapy that you might be missing out on. We’ve outlined 6 important ways out of the many that massage therapy can benefit your health.

1.     Lower Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a very common medical condition and growing concern in the United States. High blood pressure if left untreated can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. One of the main contributing factors to high blood pressure in the country are rising stress levels that are not addressed. Massage therapy is effective in providing stress relief, muscle relaxation and a general feeling of wellness. Massage can be helpful in combination with other medical intervention for relieving stress levels and ultimately lowering blood pressure.

2.     Relax Your Muscles

Muscle tightness, aches and pain can all result in response to overuse or injury of a muscle. Massage therapy works to manually relax muscles by targeting the connective tissues underneath the muscle. Massage also increases circulation helping the muscles and surrounding tissues become less tense.

3.     Improve Flexibility

In addition to providing muscle relaxation, massage therapy heats the muscles and can provide a warm up for muscles in anticipation of a sports event, such as in Sports Massage Therapy. Applying pressure on muscles that reach the lower levels helps stretch the muscles and promote flexibility.

4.     Relieve Headaches

­There are many different types of headaches, but often headaches are due to stress or trigger points in the neck. Trigger points are muscle knots that become painful. If present in the neck or shoulder region it can lead to tension headaches. Tension headaches caused by trigger points can be relieved with manual therapy targeting these specific areas.

5.     Correct Posture

Incorrect posture is not just an eye sore, but it can affect your health! Poor posture can lead to health issues causing back pain and neck pain. Massage therapists can work with clients to correct posture by retraining muscle groups to better support vulnerable areas such as the neck and the back.  People with poor posture are often straining their back and they may not even know it.

6.     Relieve Anxiety

In addition to providing stress relief, massage therapy can help relieve anxiety. Patients with anxiety have a higher heart rate and often-higher blood pressure. Massage therapy promotes relaxation to relieve such symptoms. Trained massage therapists can also work with patients to help change breathing patterns that contribute to high anxiety levels.

If you’re not convinced that massage therapy can benefit your health, we urge you to try a session for yourself. At Sarrica Physical Therapy & Wellness Center in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn we are happy to provide our clients with several forms of massage therapy performed by a highly trained and experienced massage therapist. For more information call us at 347-560-6920 or learn more online here.