Cold or allergy? Maybe massage can help - Hometown Focus

[massage]

So which is it? Do you have a cold or an allergy? Both are annoying and uncomfortable, although only one is contagious. That of course would be our friend, the common cold. Did you know that massage may help to curtail the symptoms of both, though at different stages for the cold versus allergies? W hen you have a cold and you go to the gym, I believe it’s the same as getting a massage. In going to the gym to work out, you increase your blood and lymph flow. The same thing happens when you get a massage. I f you are in the beginning stages of a cold (approximately the first week) you will make your cold worse by the stimulation of working out. Your body’s immune system is already working hard to get rid of the cold bug and now you have stressed it more by asking it to work when you really should be resting. I n the same manner, by getting a massage during that first week, again you are increasing the blood and lymph flow, helping the cold bug to spread even more rapidly through your body. This is what happened to a client of mine years ago. He thought he had allergy symptoms when he came in for his massage. When I saw him for his next massage the following month, he told me it hadn’t been allergies but a cold, and it was the worst cold he had ever had.



So, my recommendation to you is do yourself a favor and avoid extra exertion or massage during your first week of a cold. It does take two weeks, generally, for a cold to work its way fully through your body. So when you get to week two, I believe there is a possibility you can go to the gym or get that massage. You may not still feel 100 percent, you may still have some congestion and sniffles, but at the same time you can tell you’re on the mend. W ith my own personal experience of working out during week two of a cold, I was pleasantly surprised that I reduced my cold duration and I believe it was due to raising my core temperature slightly. I think that helped kick the cold out of my body sooner. Massage appears to do the same for the body during the latter half of a cold.
Now as for allergies, massage can help reduce the symptoms and you don’t have to wait for a certain time period to get a massage. Allergies are a pain for people as they can cause similar though not identical symptoms to a cold and last a whole lot longer within the body. You may have to take allergy medications to help with your symptoms. Think of massage as a nice adjunct to what you are already doing to combat your allergy. I found an article on the Custom Craftworks website titled, “Massage can help relieve allergy symptoms.” It gives a series of ways the body reacts to massage and how that helps alleviate your allergy symptoms. One that I wasn’t aware of is that stress can trigger allergies. A s the article states, “The reduced level of stress hormones and state of relaxation combined also strengthen the immune system which is then able to react less to certain allergens. Allergic individuals are likely to also experience a stabilization of blood sugar, increased immunity and improved lung function from massage therapy which, all combined, help reduce the severity and rate of allergic reactions.” D o you have allergies? It may be time for a massage.

Susan Santi is a certified massage therapist and owner of Ahhh Massage in Virginia, MN. Feel free to contact her with questions at 218-410-2144.

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