The Top 6 Reasons to Get Massage When You Feel Good
Everyone Knows That Massage Relieves Muscle Pain and Improves Range of Motion
There’s nothing like walking into a massage therapist’s office with low back pain and walking out pain free. The same can be said for any type of pain caused by muscle tension. After all, pain has a way of making your days interminably long and completely sucking any pleasure from them. Ain’t no one got time for that!
It’s also pretty awesome to arrive without the ability to turn your head and to leave being able to easily turn far enough to check your blind spot without turning your whole body. Any time your body can’t move as far as it should, it impacts your life in a negative way. It also creates pain as your body compensates for the lack of movement.
If my clients are any indication, these are the two biggest reasons that people get massage. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a chronic problem caused by repetitive tasks like sitting at a computer all day, or a one time issue caused by being a weekend warrior, because massage can help them both.
But massage can do so much more than just relieve pain and increase movement.
You Probably Also Know That Massage is a Great Stress Reliever
The second biggest reason that people get massage is stress. It’s not just the stress that prompts them to call, it’s the effect that stress is having on their body and mind. Headaches, anxiety, and inability to sleep are some of the most common effects people seek to alleviate by getting a massage.
Massage is wonderful at turning off the fight or flight stress response and turning on the rest and digest relaxation response. For this reason alone, massage is invaluable. After all, the body can’t heal when the stress response alarms are sounding.
Unfortunately, many people view massage and bodywork as something that will fix them when they’re broken. They’ve either forgotten or never learned that massage is also an excellent prevention strategy.
But Did You Know That Massage is Even More Effective When You Feel Good
Off the top of my head, I can think of 6 ways in which massage can and should be used to keep you in tip top shape:
- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The old saying is true. It’s easier to prevent dysfunction than it is to correct it. Just like regular car maintenance keeps your engine in good working order, regular massage keeps your body working like a well-oiled machine
- Massage can make you more mindful of how stressed you actually are. No one alive is without stress of some sort. You may have gotten so used to your current stress level that it no longer feels like stress, but that doesn’t mean it’s not affecting you in the same way it always did. Getting regular massage allows you to feel the way stress has been affecting you, which then allows you to do something to reduce the amount of stress you have.
- Massage can increase the connection you have with your own body. You probably have more muscle tension than you think. “I didn’t know I hurt there,” is something I hear on an almost daily basis and it indicates a disconnect between body and mind. While it may be uncomfortable to feel the full extent of the tension in your body, it’s vitally important that you’re aware of how your body feels if you want to be healthy.
- You will feel even better than you do now. Sure you feel fine now, but don’t you want to feel even better? Seriously.
- You are better able to care for others if you take care of yourself first. It’s not self-indulgent to keep yourself healthy.
- It is hands down the easiest and most enjoyable way to make your friends, family, and coworkers jealous.
Each of these are taken from my own personal health journey. Like most people, I began with a “fix me” mentality that viewed health as the absence of disease or pain. As I slowly became aware of just how dysfunctional my body was, even in the absence of pain, I resolved to make prevention, rather than cure, my main health philosophy. I have not regretted that decision. Not once. I have a greater awareness of how my body reacts to stress and how I can keep it working properly, as a result I have less pain & muscle tension than ever before.
What about you? Are you a fix it person or a prevent it person?
