Although massage is only within the past few decades becoming recognized in the western world as a useful component in the health care system, other cultures have incorporated massage as part of medical treatment and healthy living for many hundreds of years.For example, in Thailand, massage techniques are taught within the family, passed down from parents to children. Traditional Thai massage involves not only the hands, but also the arms, elbows, knees and feet, applying therapeutic pressure and massaging the various parts of the body. Interestingly, there is a second modality of Thai massage, Royal Thai massage, in which only the hands are used. This is because it is believed that other parts of the massage practitioner's body besides the hands should never be used to touch a member of the royal family.
Other examples of ancient cultures that utilize massage are China and India. Traditional Chinese Medicine, which also makes use of traditional medicinal herbs and acupuncture, includes a modality of Chinese massage called Tianu, while Ayuervedic massage is an integral component of the kind of total health care practiced in India.
There are many ways massage helps to promote better overall health. First, it relaxes the body and helps reduce the effects of stress. Next, it increases circulation in the muscles and throughout the system, helping to clear toxins out of the body. Some modalities of massage also treat the lymph system, assisting in draining other bodily waste into the kidneys from where it can be eliminated.
Of course, a skilled Registered Massage Therapist can work wonders on such aches and pains as muscle or tendon pulls, strains and cramps. In addition, a well trained professional massage practitioner will likely teach his or her clients stretching exercises they can do at home to help make their bodies stronger, more supple, and less likely to have their problems come back again.
Another less understood benefit of massage is that it is said to help improve the flow of energy through the body. Although this energy has yet to be acknowledged by mainstream western medicine, it is a principle that has been used for hundreds of years in other, more ancient cultures, to help improve peoples' health and well-being.
One finding that even the medical establishment in the USA and Canada have recognized is that some forms of massage can help reduce the risk of cancer. It has been shown that when women wear tight, constricting underwear, it can reduce circulation in the breasts, which, in turn, can prevent accumulated toxins from being cleansed out of breast tissues and into the circulatory system. When the breasts are massaged, however (and this can be done by the woman herself, or by a partner) then the build-up of carcinogenic substances is lowered, and along with it is reduced the risk of contracting breast cancer.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น