Many people think of massages as a treat, but massage has serious medical benefits for your body. Physical therapists use massage techniques to ease many conditions and foster healing in clients. Massage therapy can be part of an exercise, recovery or treatment plan depending on your specific case. Massage therapy Raliegh NC helps not only in the short term reducing injury recovery time and easing pain but also in the long term. Regular massage therapy can keep your body in better working order for years to come.
Keeping Your Musculoskeletal System in Good Shape
Massage doesn’t simply make your muscles relax and feel better. Physical therapy massage can improve mobility, strength and function in your joints as well. Having a trained specialist manipulate your joints allows them to relax while in motion. This relaxation is key to encouraging flexibility and increased mobility, especially in previously-injured joints.
Relieving Pain and Stress-Induced Tightness
Many people can feel the stress of everyday life manifest as tightness in their bodies. The shoulders and neck are well-known trouble spots for chronic tightness, but lesser-known areas can become tight with stress as well. This can become extremely painful over time, as physical stress tends to build and worsen f you try to ignore it.
One possible effect of high stress on the body is an overly tight pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is your body’s ultimate underlying support structure, the network of muscle and connective tissue that supports your bladder, bowels and lower organs.
Chronic tightness in the pelvic floor can cause pain and make it harder for you to breathe deeply and relax. Ironically, constantly flexing the pelvic floor muscles can cause them to be weak, brittle and more likely to fail. Pelvic floor physical therapy uses massage techniques to both relax and strengthen the pelvic floor to prevent embarrassing and painful symptoms later in life.
Helping Out Your Immune System
There is also evidence to show that massage can wake up your body’s natural defenses. Massage can increase the number of white blood cells the body produces. It also increases blood flow to affected areas, speeding up the healing process and providing more nutrients and support for your muscles during recovery.
Recovering From Injury Correctly and Effectively
Physical therapy massage is a key step in recovering from injury the right way. Injuries can throw off the balance of your body, as pain and physical limitations make you adopt stances that aren’t ideal. Massage targets the injured area itself, promoting healthy healing, and it also helps the other muscles in your body that were forced to compensate for the injury. Without this help, these muscles may struggle, tighten and sustain injuries of their own over time.
Massage is more than a treat when it comes to physical therapy. Relaxation and flexibility are as important to a healthy body as rigor and exercise. Increasing flexibility and mobility makes everyday tasks easier, fosters long-term independence and can help your body move without pain. Look into physical therapy Winston Salem to experience all of the healing power of massage.
