Massage Therapies
Massage therapy can have many health benefits. It can relieve pain and muscle soreness, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote health and healing. Massage therapy can help your body release natural painkillers, and it may boost your immune system.
A massage therapist manipulates your body’s soft tissues– muscles, skin, and tendons– with his or her fingers, hands and fists, usually using oils or lotions to reduce friction. A massage can be gentle or more robust depending on the therapy needed. Your massage therapist will ask you for feedback to make sure that the depth of massage feels right.
You should check with your doctor about undergoing massage therapy if you are pregnant or have the following: deep vein thrombosis; a recent heart attack; a bone fracture; burn or open wounds; severe osteoporosis; cancer; or rheumatoid arthritis.
The medical professionals at the Integrative Health Center believe that massage can be an effective complementary therapy for many health conditions. The doctors can work in collaboration with the experienced massage therapists at the Center when appropriate. The medical professionals also believe that massage can be a part of a preventative health plan for people interested in improving their flexibility, stress levels, and general feeling of wellbeing. The range of massage therapies offered at the Center are outlined below.
Therapeutic Massage
Massage therapists will use a number of different massage techniques for achieving stress reduction, relaxation, and pain relief. Techniques may include deep tissue massage, Swedish massage ands trigger point therapy.
Cancer Care
Oncology Massage offers modified massage and bodywork techniques for people living with cancer. Skilled and gentle massage is beneficial during treatment and recovery. The general benefits are reduced stress, pain, anxiety, nausea, fatigue, and depression.
Touch has the potential to reduce isolation and help people feel cared for, whole and empowered.
Heated Stone Massage is a massage using heated smooth basalt stones that become an extension of the therapist’s hands to give the ultimate thermotherapy treatment. The heat from the stone penetrates deeply into the muscle tissue to dissolve stress and tension. Hot Stone Massage is soothing to the body, mind, and spirit.
Manual Triggerpoint Therapy. Trigger points are painful concentrations of energy held in the muscles or tendons. They often refer pain to other parts of the body and can limit movement, and range of motion. Sciatica, tennis elbow, headaches, neck and back pain are often caused by trigger points. Using deep pressure, movement and energy balancing, trigger points are gradually released.
Massage for Mastectomy and other Breast Surgeries offers benefit to women who have undergone breast surgeries. Whether life saving or cosmetic, breast surgery may cause swelling or edema, as well as contribute to sore, achy muscles. Massage can help increase range of motion and mobility of the shoulder, alleviate post-operative discomforts and reduce scar tissue. Attentive, caring touch can help to reconnect a woman with her entire body.
Polarity Therapy is a holistic approach to achieving health and balance which includes diet, exercise, lifestyle, attitudes and energetic touch. This gentle yet powerful work uses the natural reflexes of the body to balance and heal the body, mind and emotions. It is highly effective for reducing stress and pain, bringing relief from tense muscles, increasing vitality in the organs and glands and bringing greater ease and peace of mind.
Reflexology is a form of energetic touch which is based upon physiological and neurological study. It works on the premise that reflex areas on the feet, hands, and ears correspond with all parts of the body. Reflexology treatments focus on the whole person with the intention of inducing a state of balance and harmony. This form of body therapy is very useful when massage therapy is contraindicated.
Swedish Massage relieves stress, relaxes muscles tissue and improves blood and lymph circulation. Strokes include kneading, gliding, and brisk tapping strokes applied to superficial and deeper muscle tissues. Pressure is light to medium. Often joint mobilization, assisted stretching, and movement is indicated in Swedish massage.
