Education & Awareness
Half the struggle of healing is the emotional struggle of dealing with pain and/or discomfort; One of our duties as massage therapists is to ensure that our clients have a clear understanding of their condition, what massage can help with and its limitations to the treatment, what the client should do for self-care exercises and a reasonable time frame that outlines how their treatment plan should progress.
Addressing that first can help ease the stress of clients and build on the client/therapist level of trust. Their trust and open communication is key to treating the affected structures!
Improved sleep
Struggling with sleep? Massage can help release serotonin, a hormone that induces a calming feeling and can allow for a better night’s sleep. Sleep deprivation can affect multiple facets of our lives: personal, work performance, and public safety. Your perception, judgement and focus are diminished and it puts you at greater risk for diseases such as, obesity, mood disorders, hypertension and others.
(Source: http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences)
Decreased depression and anxiety symptoms
Serotonin and oxytocin are hormones can help reduce depression and anxiety symptoms and can be activated through massage therapy. Your body and mind work hand-in-hand to function. When your body is in a relaxed state, your nervous system results in lower heart rate and improved breathing, both essential in managing symptoms of depression and anxiety.