There are many benefits of medical massage, ranging from pain relief to muscle healing. The benefits of medical massage can be applied chronic health problems, from medical massage for arthritis to medical massage for headaches. The benefits of medical massage can also be seen when sports massage is practiced on athletes, either to relieve tight muscles or even to help heal an injury.
The benefits of medical massage has become recognized as a valid and valuable form of treatment by the vast majority of the medical community. For instance, more than eighty percent of hospitals in the United States now offer massage therapy services as part of their complementary and alternative medicines programs, designed to supplement traditional medical practices. Chiropractors also often refer their patients to massage therapists, of whom more than ten percent receive at least one patient referred from a chiropractic practice once a week, if not more frequently. And in 2014 alone, more than fifty million patients in the United States had pursued the benefits of medical massage on the recommendation of one or more of their medical doctors.
Though massage can certainly be a useful tool solely for the purposes of relaxation, more and more people are seeking the benefits of medical massage, with more than ninety percent of all massage patients agreeing that it helped to reduce their overall levels of pain, if not eliminate the pain wholly. More than half of all massage clients sought out a massage to help issues like muscle spasms, injury rehabilitation, and pain management and only just over twenty percent of massage patients received a massage for the purposes of relaxation and stress management alone. Massage therapy can even be effectively used to supplement treatment of hypertension in women, according to a study done by the International Journal of Preventative Medicine, which found that the blood pressure of patients was lowered for as long as a full three days after the massage took place.
There are a number of different massage types available. Deep tissue massage is a popular form of massage therapy and, though it can be painful during the course of the actual massage, patients often report considerable relief in the days following, once the initial soreness has subsided. Trigger point massage therapy is also popular, and focused on getting at the problem areas in a person’s body. Sports massage therapy is also popular, well utilized among athletes, professional and amateur both.
Massage has been accepted as a valid supplemental medical treatment and the benefits of medical massage have been found to be considerable. Massage can also be used to treat high levels of stress and promote a deeper sense of relaxation in clients. Through the use of massage therapy, many patients with chronic pain conditions have found some relief, if not total relief, from their pain on a relatively long lasting basis. Massage can even lower blood pressure in hypertension patients.
