Held the last week in October, National Massage Therapy Awareness is held to raise awareness, inform the public and promote the benefits of massage therapy. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) started National Massage Therapy Awareness Week in 1997.
Massage therapists are specially-trained, licensed professionals that practice the manual (hands-on) movement of soft body tissues. A massage therapist will apply gentle or strong pressure to the muscles to ease pain and tension.
Massage therapists attend a special certificate or degree program, an approved national exam in massage therapy, and apply for a license in the state they are practicing. Throughout their career, they must pursue continued education to maintain their licensure.
People seek massage therapy for a variety of reasons—including to reduce stress and anxiety, relax muscles, rehabilitate injuries, reduce pain, and promote overall health and wellness.
INVIVO’s massage therapists offer a variety of styles of massage including:
-Relaxation (Swedish): kneading, circular motions, and passive joint movement techniques
-Hot Stone: placing heated stones to loosen the tissues prior to applying gentle pressure
– Deep Tissue / Sports Massage: using slow strokes and deeper pressure for repetitive muscle use or chronic muscle pain
– Thai Massage: entire body treatment using a sequence of stretching and twisting movements similar to yoga poses
– Prenatal: uses mild pressure similar to Swedish massage; focus tends to be on lower back, hips, and legs
25 Reasons to Get a Massage
- Relieve stress
2. Relieve postoperative pain
3. Reduce anxiety
4. Manage low-back pain
5. Help fibromyalgia pain
6. Reduce muscle tension
7. Enhance exercise performance
8. Relieve tension headaches
9. Sleep better
10. Ease symptoms of depression
11. Improve cardiovascular health
12. Reduce pain of osteoarthritis
13. Decrease stress in cancer patients
14. Improve balance in older adults
15. Decrease rheumatoid arthritis pain
16. Temper effects of dementia
17. Promote relaxation
18 Lower blood pressure
19. Decrease symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
20. Help chronic neck pain
21. Lower joint replacement pain
22. Increase range of motion
23. Decrease migraine frequency
24. Improve quality of life in hospice care
25. Reduce chemotherapy-related nausea
Help us encourage your family and friends to choose massage therapy and make self-care a priority. Please share this article. #NationalMassageTherapyWeek
