Benefits of Massage

General Benefits:
• Massage feels good, it is pleasurable.
• Increases body awareness and sensitivity.
• Reduces stress.
• Calms the nervous system and has a centering effect.
• Relaxes and clears the mind.
• Relieves tension-related headaches.
• Helps to improve posture.
• Massage helps to fulfill the need for caring and nurturing touch.
• Promotes self-esteem and a feeling of well-being.
• Massage reduces levels of anxiety.
• Increased the awareness of the body-mind connection and emotional awareness.

Circulatory System's Benefits:
• Produces a dilation of the blood vessels thereby improving circulation.
• Reduces the lack of blood, reduces pain due to the irritation of free nerve endings.
• Speeds the elimination of the waste products of metabolism.
• Massage helps to reduce swelling.
• Massage increases the number of red blood cells in circulation.
• Massage has the overall effect of lowering blood pressure.
• Facilitates tissue healing through the enhancement of circulation.
• Massage reduces the pulse rate.
• Massage can break the cycle of spasm and pain by decreasing both.

Musculoskeletal Systems' Benefits:
• Increases the blood supply and nutrition to the muscles.
• Helps muscles recover more quickly from exertion and fatigue.
• Relaxes muscles, reducing spasm, tension and cramping.
• Reduces adhesions (knots) and fibrosis.
• Improves the circulation and nutrition of the joints and can increase joint range of motion.
• Helps to reestablish proper tone in muscles.
• Reduces muscle and soft tissue pain.
• Reduces joint strain and compression through releasing tight muscles and tendons.
• Increases ease and efficiency of movement.
• Supports increased work capacity and metabolism.
• Massage can stimulate muscle contraction.

Nervous System's Benefits:
• Massage stimulates the touch, pressure and proprioceptive receptors of the skin and underlying tissue.
• Massage can have a sedative, stimulating or even exhausting effect on the nervous system depending on the type and length of treatment given.
• Massage reduces sympathetic stimulation and helps to balance the autonomic nervous system.
• Massage relaxes the muscles and helps to reestablish proper tonus through its effect on the neuromuscular reflex pathways.
• Known to affect the neurotransmitters of the brain and increase endorphin secretion in particular.
• Massage can reduce nerve entrapment through the release of soft tissue or muscular binding.
• Massage can reduce nerve root compression caused by muscular tension.

Lymphatic System's Benefits:
• Massage increases tissue fluid and lymphatic circulation thus reducing swelling and enhancing the immune and filtering activities of this system.
• Massage increases venous and lymphatic flow.
• Massage reduces swelling by enhancing lymphatic circulation.

Excretory System's Benefits:
• Massage increases the excretion (via the kidneys) of fluids and waste products of protein metabolism, inorganic phosphorous and salt in normal individuals.
• Massage can facilitate elimination through the large intestines by mechanically stimulating peristalsis and improving tone.

Skin's Benefits:
• Helps to reduce tension in the skin and adjoining tissues as well as increasing its circulation and improve its nutrition.

Respiratory System's Benefits:
• Massage deepens and normalizes the breathing pattern through relaxation, and release of tension in the breathing structures, both the rib cage and the muscles of respiration.
• Massage can be used to relieve congestion in the lungs through percussive and compressive movements.

Digestive System's Benefits:
• Massage stimulates peristalsis and can reduce cramping or spasm in the digestive tract.
• Massage supports healthy digestion through its stress releasing effects.