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FACTS / STUDIES ON MASSAGE THERAPY...
Managing Your Stress With Massage
For those who feel a bit undeserving of the pampering, full-body massage, there's enough science on the health benefits to ease even the strictest conscience. Massage has been shown in scientific studies to help with serious medical conditions, including reducing pain and anxiety in burn and cancer patients, and relieving pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and surgery. It also can benefit people with eating disorders and Alzheimer's disease as well as reduce angst and withdrawal symptoms in people trying to kick cigarette and alcohol addictions. If your own medical condition isn't as serious, you'll be happy to know massage strengthens the immune system, makes workers more productive, improves sleep, and relieves tension headaches, migraines, and lower back pain.
If massage can provide such relief in the case of serious illness, how many more benefits can you reap when you're healthy, albeit somewhat stressed or frazzled from work, traffic or the daily demands of a fast-paced society? There is truly a biological component to stress, involving the release of certain neurochemicals and hormones into the body. These substances flood the nervous system with messages that essentially scream, "The sky is falling!" This repeated flooding of the emergency (or stress) chemicals can have a meaningful impact on health. All of this activity and a buildup of stress responses express themselves through the body. If one part of the posture is out of whack - say the shoulders are hunched forward - it throws off alignment throughout the rest of the structure. This adds up to tight muscles, compressed organs, pain and fatigue.
Massage offsets those "stress chemicals" by releasing endorphins (the body's natural anesthetic), countering the cortisol and adrenaline the body releases in response to stress or a perceived threat. We might ride the chemical roller coaster during the day as we try to pour 2 gallon's worth of activity into a 1-gallon container. And we may enter the massage room coiled like springs, wound tightly from driving, sitting in chairs, pushing shopping carts, and craning necks to hold a phone in place. However, massage will sooth that daily stress, decrease our anxiety and re-establishing balance and alignment.
Evidence suggests massage improves circulation and joint mobility, lowers blood pressure, and improves energy and concentration. With better circulation, more oxygen and nutrients reach your vital organs and tissues, and more lymph fluid flows to fight off disease. Massage also improves muscle function, flexibility, and range of motion, and decreases muscle spasms and cramping. A study by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami showed less stress and improved performance for a small sample of employees (against a control group), who had twice-weekly, 15-minute massages in the office. Little wonder the Society for Human Resource Management reported in 2007 that 13 percent of its 210,000 member companies offer workplace massage, and an article in Working Mother magazine reported that 77 percent of the top 100 U.S. companies offer massage at work.
STUDIES:
~German emperor Frederick II, took a number of newborns from their mothers and gave them to nurses who fed them but did not cuddle or talk to them. All of the babies died before they could talk. Fredrick concluded "They could not live without petting."
~In the early 1990's, Romania, thousands of infants were put in orphanages, they were left in their cribs for two years, all alone. They were found to be severely impaired.
~Duke Professor Saul Schanberg found that rat pups separated from their parents for 45 minutes underwent major internal changes including a large drop in growth hormones. Injections of growth hormones didn't help. But when someone stroked them with a wet paintbrush-- mimicking their mothers tongue--the hormone levels went back up.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TOUCH...
~Touch is the first sense to develop in humans, and may be the last to fade
~there are approximately 5 million touch receptors in our skin-- 3000 in a finger tip
~a touch of any kind can reduce the heart rate and lower blood pressure
~touch stimulates the release of endorphins (the body's natural pain killers) which is why a mother's hug for a child's skinned knee can literally make it better
~people with eating disorders who receive massage three time a day for ten day's, gain weight faster and got out of the hospital six days sooner than those who don't
~elderly people who massage surrogate grandchildren report higher-esteem and better moods
~massage before an athletic event, makes the athlete more flexible, enhanced speed and power, and less prone to injury
* One in five Americans have had a massage from a massage therapist in the past five years and 13% report receiving one in the past year. This is up 8% from 1997.
* Today, there are more than 60,000 Nationally Certified practitioners that serve millions of consumers.
* Nationally Certified practitioners provide expertise in various areas of therapeutic massage and body work; Nationally Certified practitioners provide expertise in various areas of therapeutic massager and body work, including Swedish massage, shiatsu, polarity therapy, RolfingŪ, TragerŪ techniques, reflexology, neuromuscular therapy and many more.
* In 1996, massage therapy and bodywork was officially offered for the first time as a core medical service in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. At the Games, Nationally Certified practitioners were providing key medical services.
* Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia now regulate the practice of therapeutic massage and bodywork. Of those, twenty-five states, in addition to the District of Columbia, now use the NCBTMB examination as meeting (in part or in whole) the requirements of regulation.
* NCBTMB currently has over 600 Approved Providers of Continuing Education.
* Consumers spend between $2 and $4 billion dollars annually on visits to massage and bodywork practitioners, totaling approximately 75 million visits each year.
* The three most often cited reasons for getting a therapeutic massage are relaxation (27%), relief of muscle soreness, stiffness or spasm (13%), and stress reduction (10%).
* Health insurers are increasingly expanding coverage to include alternative medicines. In addition, several healthcare network providers use NCBTMB to check the National Certification status of the practitioner.
* Fifty-four percent of primary care physicians and family practitioners say they would encourage their patients to pursue massage therapy as a complement to medical treatment.
* Massage therapy accounts for 18% of the 425 million visits made to alternative healthcare providers each year.
* In 1999, 52% of American adults thought of massage as "therapeutic," which is up 47% from 1997.
* An estimated 20 million Americans receive massage therapy and bodywork each year, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).
* Approximately 50,000 massage and bodywork practitioners provide 45 million one-hour therapy sessions each year.
* Two thirds of Americans have tried at least one form of alternative therapy or treatment for medical conditions.
* Massage therapy is the third most commonly used form of alternative medicine in the U.S., having been tried by 35% of Americans.
* Women are more likely than men to have tried alternative treatment.
* Americans make more visits to see alternative therapists than to see primary-care physicians, spending $21.2 billion.
* Massage and bodywork therapy is sought out by a large number of people in age brackets: 18-24 (22%); 25-34 (31%); 35-44 (25%); 45-54 (22%); 55-64 (19%); and over 65 (9%).
* The most important driver to try an alternative treatment is a recommendation from a friend or family member, which leads 62% of their patients to these providers.
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