Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD
There are many types of massage. This article will discuss some of the better known types of massage and the benefits you could derive.
Esalen therapy massage
Sometimes known as intuitive or environmental massage, Esalen massage's emphases is less on stimulating physiological processes and more on creative a naturally therapaeutic self-awareness. Slow, lengthening, and unifying strokes, rhythmic rocking and stretching, passive range-of-motion joint movement, deep muscle bundle manipulation, subtle cranial balancing, and Chinese acupressure-like precision are blended into a primarily meditative approach.
Esalen massage originated at the Esalen Institute in Bir Sur, California about 40 years ago. The Institute currently offers its unique massage training, integrating basic Swedish massage-type skills, anatomy, meditation, movement and sensory awareness in classes ranging from 2 days to 3 months in duration. A Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association provides a formum for information exchange of practitioners and classes worldwide.
Russian Massage
Russian massage is a form of massage that is based on the physiology of a dysfunction instead of the anatomical structure. The techniques are based on the belief that the body is its best healer and that massage can teach the body how to help itself.
Massage influences the body by means of mechanical stimulations provided to the tissues by effleurage (stroking), friction (rubbing), petrissage (kneading), and vibration. These techniques are used to stimulate the mechanoreceptors or tactile receptors the body uses to convert the energy of mechanical stimulation into specific activity of the nervous system. Use of massage dates back thousands of years, but was not used in Russia until 1860.
Russian doctors took the same principles on which medication works in the body and set to match the healing process with the use of massage. They found that effleurage can increase protective white blood cells of the immune system as well as relieve pain and slow down an irritated nervous system. They found that petrissage can reverse atrophy and can help grow muscle. Vibrational techniques can relax, stimulate, or even anesthetize an area. Conditions treated by this type of massage include edema, bursitis, rotator cuff injury, headaches, occipital nerve irritation, trigeminal neuralgia, ulnar neuritis, scoliosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, tendinitis, meniscus tears, sciatica, lower back strain, fibromyalgia, chronic gastritis, colitis, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), low blood pressure and many
postsurgical, skin, and heart conditions.
Sports Massage
Sports massage was developed in the Eastern bloc countries to treat athletes pushed beyond the normal limits of training. It was meant to help the body recuperate faster. The effectiveness of sports massage on athletes was also tested in Sweden on cyclists and it was found that the quadriceps muscles were 11% stronger after a brief massage compared with a l0-minute rest. Sport massage therapists usually have more training in kinesiology, the science of movement, but like other forms of massage, the techniques focus on increasing circulation to speed the healing and recovery time. Sports massage focuses on the small traumas in the muscle tissue and swelling. Like myotherapy and Deep tissue massage, sports massage searches out trigger points to treat and uses compression and cross fiber friction strokes. Sports massage tends to focus on areas of the body most stressed during exercise. Sport massage therapist can provide self-care instructions for clients about sore shins, aching knees and feet and other transient strains and how to avoid them in the future. Like many other forms of massage, if a client has high blood pressure or gastric or small intestine ulcers, the abdominal area is avoided. Those with cancer, TB, high fever or malignant or infectious conditions that could spread through the body should not be avoided. Those with varicose veins, phlebitis, and even diabetes should not have their legs massaged as blood clots can be released. If you're on pain medication, avoid sports massage as the drug can mask pain and you will be unable to know if the massage is too deep for tolerance or have trouble spots missed.
Swedish Massage
Swedish massage began in Greece, Rome and Arabia. The classic Swedish massage consists of stroking, kneading, friction, tapping and vibration. Tapping, cupping or clapping and even pummeling when applied to the upper back and chest can break up congestion in the lungs. Friction in a series of circular, linear or transverse strokes made with the thumbs, fingertips, palm or heel of the hand can spread muscle fibers and free muscles from adhesions and scar tissue following an injury as well as for loosening joints and tendons.
In kneading, the practitioner lifts muscle away from bone and then squeezes, presses and tolls it. This reduces trapped fluids and decongests muscles, relieving soreness and stiffness.
Vibration creates a trembling or shaking sensation and can activate the digestive system.
Benefits of Massage
Massage can benefit those with migraine headache, back pain, coma and spinal cord injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, cystic fibrosis, arthritis, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, depression, celebral palsy, Down's syndrome, eczema, psoriasis, burns, diabetes, autism, posttraumatic stress disorder, ADHD and more. Specific studies have shown that...
*Premature infants who receive daily massage gain more weight, leave the hospital sooner and score better on development scales
*Women in labor experience reduced pain and need less medication, their labor is speeded, their hospital stay minimized and the risk of postpartum depression lessened
*Women suffering from PMS have less anxiety, pain and water retention and show improved mood
*Massage abates pain, improves sleep and diminishes fatigue, anxiety and depression for fibromyalgia
*Smokers who learn self-massage crave less intensely, smoke fewer cigarettes and in some cases, completely give them up.
*HIV patients experience a decrease in anxiety, stress and an increase in their immune systems to ward off cancer and viruses.
*Cocaine-exposed preterm infants improve significantly with fewer postnatal complications and stress behaviors
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