Massage, get this therapy in your life and give them too รยขรขโยฌรยฆ-its valuable
One of the first things we will look at and give the merits for is massage, known and applied for thousands of years .In todays society at least in the UK touch is almost alien through whatever reason be it Victorian or upbringing .Yet touch can convey so much and the UK in general has to learn this very important role. For in my experience touch can be life changing ,yet I still meet nurses who have never had a massage in their life. Clearly there is much to change for these people are supposed to be at the very front to treating the ill but as the previous chapter has explained modern conventional treatment has almost obliterated one of the prime tools for healing. Massage should be done to babies, children and adults and much soothing would take place were this in place without need for drugs, sedatives alcohol or other stimulants. if only this would go into every would be mums repertoire of dealing with their children. The results I am sure would be impressive.
Various combinations of oils for massage can be used however I have only experience with using the oils of peanut /olive and almond and I am sure there are many others which are of real benefit too. Also very good results have been obtained using tincture of myrrh.
Research in massage therapy has been ongoing for more than 120 years.
Here are some reported benefits of massage:
Preliminary results suggested cancer patients had less pain and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage at the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
Women who had experienced the recent death of a child were less depressed after receiving therapeutic massage, according to preliminary results of a study at the University of South Carolina.
Medical school students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School who were massaged before an exam showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates as well as a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity, suggesting a benefit to the immune system
Studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found massage beneficial in improving weight gain in HIV-exposed infants and facilitating recovery in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. At the University of Miami School of Medicine's Touch Research Institute, researchers have found that massage is helpful in decreasing blood pressure in people with hypertension, alleviating pain in migraine sufferers and improving alertness and performance in office workers.
An increasing number of research studies show massage reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and increases endorphins (enhancing medical treatment). Although therapeutic massage does not increase muscle strength, it can stimulate weak, inactive muscles and, thus, partially compensate for the lack of exercise and inactivity resulting from illness or injury. It also can hasten and lead to a more complete recovery from exercise or injury.
Research has verified that:
Office workers massaged regularly were more alert, performed better and were less stressed than those who weren't massaged.
Massage therapy decreased the effects of anxiety, tension, depression, pain, and itching in burn patients.
Abdominal surgery patients recovered more quickly after massage.
Premature infants who were massaged gained more weight and fared better than those who weren't.
Autistic children showed less erratic behaviour after massage therapy.
According AMTA, massage helps both physically and mentally.
"Often times people are stressed in our culture. Stress-related disorders make up between 80-and-90 percent of the ailments that bring people to family-practice physicians. What they require is someone to listen, someone to touch them, someone to care. That does not exist in modern medicine.
One of the complaints heard frequently is that physicians don't touch their patients any more. Touch just isn't there. Years ago massage was a big part of nursing. There was so much care, so much touch, so much goodness conveyed through massage. Now nurses for the most part are as busy as physicians. They're writing charts, dealing with insurance notes, they're doing procedures and often there is no room for massage any more.
I believe massage therapy is absolutely key in the healing process not only in the hospital environment but because it relieves stress, it is obviously foundational in the healing process any time and anywhere."
Joan Borysenko - Massage Journal Interview, Fall 1999
Physical Benefits of Therapeutic Massage
Massage also provides another therapeutic component largely absent in todayรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs world: tactile stimulation, or, more simply, touch. In 1986, the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami published groundbreaki