Health Advice An answer to your medical questions » Massage

Medical Massage Therapy

Kevin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:59:28 +0000

I bet you are wondering what makes the medical massage therapy different from the relaxation massages. Well, for one thing medical massages are for the relief of certain problems that

a physician diagnoses ahead of time. Another thing is that the medical massage therapist must assess and evaluate each person before betting started. That way they can focus specifically on fixing or relieving the discomfort of the issues that the patient happens to be suffering from at the time.
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It can be very difficult to choose a medical massage therapist for more than a few reasons. The big reason is that there is certification to consider. This is very important because there is no license to be found anywhere in any of the states. This means that any massage therapist is able to claim that they are indeed a medical massage therapist. This means that each and every case should first be examined closely in order to get the best results.

You should always check for certification if you are looking for relief. You don’t want to have medical massage therapy that is not certified or have something equivalent. That means that they haven’t taken the extra step to be sure that they know how to relieve your pain without causing you to feel any worse. You are looking to see if they have been certified as a medical massage therapist, or if they at least have some sort of equivalent certification.

What cause the need for therapists? Well, it has become necessary to find types of treatment to help injuries heal and relieve pain. The explosion of information on injury-rehabilitation led to Dr. Janet G. Travell’s ground breaking work. Some of the pain problems that can be helped include, but are certainly not limited to, carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, rotator cuff injuries, general pain, pain associated with bulged or injured spinal disk (this cannot be repaired through therapy), headaches and migraines, pregnancy pains; the list goes on. If you are suffering from constant pain or discomfort, you might ask your doctor what medical massage therapy they recommend.

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Massage Therapy Schools

Kevin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:56:54 +0000

If you want your journey toward becoming a massage therapist to be pleasant, then the most important thing for you to do is to pick the right school from all the massage therapy schools around.

You must pick one with a good quality program, and it needs to match your personal approach. There are several things you can do to help you pick your school.

1. Find out what schools are near you or in the area you want to be. You really don’t want to have to travel a long distance every time you have a class, nor do you want to get stuck in a place that you won’t like.
2. Determine the accreditation of the nearby massage therapy schools. You shouldn’t choose a school solely on the fact that it is near by, you also want the school to be a good one. You can go the U.S. department of Education to search for accredited schools in your area. This search is for the schools approved by such agencies as the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation.
3. Now it is time to look at the techniques and philosophy of the massage therapy schools. You need to find one that teaches techniques that you want to use so that you aren’t forced to do something you don’t like. If you haven’t decided yet, you may want to find one that offers a sample of several approaches.
4. Check it out in person: once you have narrowed down you selection to only a few schools, you should take the time to tour them. You should find out if you can sit in on a class, and if there is a career day. You should also see about signing up for a student massage to help evaluate how good the massage therapy school is.

Remember, there are more steps that you can take to choosing the right massage therapy school for you; these are just to help you get started. If you don’t do the work to find a school that fits the type of person you are, then you will regret it for the rest of your life. That is, unless you get out and start on another path early, and that can be expensive as well as time consuming.

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Massage Therapy Insurance

Kevin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:53:32 +0000

When going into massage therapy work, there is one very important thing that you absolutely must think about before you start, insurance. Insurance for massage therapists
is an absolute must have,

just in case something does happen while you are with your patient. You don’t want to lose everything you have worked so hard to gain do you?

There are several insurance plans that can be used for your cover; one of them is called the Hands On Trade Protection Plan. This plan covers both the professional and the general liability. It covers you no matter where you might end up working. You could be working from your own office, a spa, a resort, a sporting event, a clinic, a corporate office, or even a place like a shopping mall. It will even cover you if you happen to be working outside your local area.

With this you are covered for more than one hundred and fifty techniques, including almost all of the massage and body work methods that can be found. In a plan like this, a professional only needs to pay $160 per year, and the costs for a massage therapist student is a little over a hundred dollars per year. Remember if you are a student that plans to qualify for the price or $107 you have to be currently enrolled in a school, and the only places you can work are in clinics. Or if you want you can work on your friends and family.

When you start to look at the benefits of the above insurance package, you should keep in mind that it is always better to shop around first. See if there are other plans suited to massage therapy that will are equal or better than the list shown above. You also need to take a good look at the prices, but keep in mind that cheaper isn’t necessarily better. The one above was just used as an example; there could easily be better deals around. Good luck, have fun, and happy hunting to you all and hopefully you can find the right insurance for massage therapists for you!

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Massage Therapy Careers

Kevin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:51:20 +0000

Are you thinking about becoming a massage therapist?

If you look at the market for massage therapy, you will notice something that may make you very happy. It is climbing. The demand for massage therapy has more than doubled within the last decade. It can be found everywhere, which is good for massage therapy careers. What’s better is that a form of it can be found to suit anyone.

Because it isn’t so hard to find a place to get a massage these days, it is not as difficult to find a place to work; you just have to find time to look a little. There are plenty of opportunities out there. You could work in places such as spas, resorts, hotels, cruise ships, gymnasiums, salons, health clubs, as well as places like hospitals, elder car facilities, chiropractic clinics, and of course nursing facilities. Take a look around and see what setting interests you the most.

Where you work completely depends on what you want to do. Before getting a job, decide whether or not you want to limit yourself to the young, fresh people, or old or injured people. Even if you work for yourself, this must be figured out. If you wanted to, you could work with young people, old people, and sick and injured people. It all depends on you and your level of expertise.

After you’ve decided to go into therapy, you should think about the salary and whether you want to work for someone else or not. In the United States alone, there are over 97,000 people with massage therapy careers. Some of them work for themselves, while others work for other people; but all of them enjoy some benefits. Their salaries can range from the low forty to high fifty thousands of dollars in salaries. It gets better, on average, practitioners report for work between fifteen and thirty hours per week.

There are other factors to look at when choosing a massage therapy career path like this one. You want to avoid jumping into those things so fast because it could easily decide how you live your entire life. Good luck and be sure to have some fun.

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Swedish Massage Therapy

Kevin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:02:49 +0000

Swedish massage therapy is the most popular type of massage in the US. It has several techniques including five main strokes, with several variations.

These help it to achieve the effects of relaxation and healing often felt both during and after the massage.

The very first stroke that is usually used is called an Affleurage. It is long and gliding strokes. You can either start at the neck and move towards the bottom if the spine or you can move from the shoulder towards the fingertips. In this type of stroke you either use either your entire hand, or your thumb pads. The Affleurage is usually used so the therapist and subject’s body can get used to each other.

Stroke number two is called the Petrissage. The whole purpose of the Petrissage is to increase the subject’s circulation so that it can aid in the clearing of the toxins from both the muscle and the nerve tissue. This is probably the hardest type of Swedish massage therapy technique to do and to perform this, you normally have to use motions that manipulate their muscles and sking usine some motions like kneading and compression to gently lift muscles away from their bones and turning and squeezing them. You should use gentle pressure the entire time.

Now comes the most penetrating stroke, Friction. This stroke requires intense rounded or slanting motions, that the therapist will make with either the thumb pad or fingertips. The joints and bony areas are where these deep, circular motions are applied. They help to break down knots that form from muscle fibers binding while you are healing. This allows for more flexiblility in both muscles and joints.

Next in line is a Tapotement. For this a number of brisk, percussive movements are applied. This is the stroke where the hands alternately strike or tap muscles. There are several different variations to this particular stroke. Some of them are the application using the side of the hand, resembling a karate chop, using fingertips, or striking using a fist. This is often used to relieve the subject of tension and cramping caused by muscle spasms.

Last, but certainly not least, Vibration or Shaking can be used. It is used to help circulation and increase muscle to contact power, and is especially beneficial to people with lower back problems. It is performed by the therapist pressing their hands either on the subject’s back or the limbs, and then shakes rapidly for a few seconds. Now you can see why Swedish massage therapy is probably one of the best type of massage you can ever have.

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Types of Massage Therapy

Kevin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:14:45 +0000

There are a number of different types of massages used for massage therapy, and this makes it important that you do a little research and figure out what works best for you.

It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to take some classes, or if you are looking for some relief.

The most popular types of massage therapy in America is Swedish massage therapy; you will commonly hear it referred to as either a Swedish massage or just plain massage therapy. During this type of massage, there will be long smooth strokes, some squeezing and pushing that is usually referred to as kneading, and rounded movements on layers of muscle closer to the skin Normally, some type of massage lotion or even oil will be used. If you are going for your first massage, then a Swedish massage is a good idea, in part because it tends to be nice and gentle and very relaxing.

The next popular massage is called an Aroma Therapy massage. This is basically massage therapy with one or more essential scented plant oils that address specific needs. A therapist can use these oils to address several things, including stress, energy, and balance. A more commonly used scents happens to be lavender.

The next on is called the hot stone massage. As the name implies, hot stones are used during this massage to help relax muscles. A therapist will place hot stones on several tense muscles and allow the heat to work its magic. They may aid it a little by applying some pressure in certain areas.

Now comes the deep tissue massage. During this one, the therapist’s goal is to target the deep layers of your muscle and the connective tissue. To do this, a slower stroke or friction techniques are used across the muscle grain. This is most commonly used when muscles are chronically tight or are constantly in pain, under strain, suffering posture issues, or trying to recover from injuries. After one of these massages, people tend to be sore.

And now comes the fifth and final type of massage thatwe will discuss, Shiatsu. Shiatsu happens to be a Japanese form of body-work. For this, localized finger pressure is used rhythmically on acupuncture meridians. At each point in the pattern, the pressure is applied for anytime between two and eight seconds. This helps improve the energy flow and regain balance.

As you can see, there are several types of massage therapies. Though only five are listed here, you can easily find more. Enjoy your massage therapy!

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Canine Massage Therapy

Kevin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:49:05 +0000

Canine massage therapy is exactly what it sounds like. Its a massage for your dog? It is used to help increase circulation, reduce muscle spasms, relieve tension, enhance muscle tone, and

finally, as with humans, increase that healing factor and range of motion. It is safe to use with all different breeds of dogs.

Massage therapy is one of those things that is recognized as beneficial, but not necessarily used a lot. These days the number of people taking their dogs for canine massage therapy is increasing, partially because of its popularity in human healthcare, and partially because of the benefits recently seen with professions like equine chiropractors, therapists, and nutritionists.

What are the qualifications and backgrounds that you should be looking for in your dog’s therapist? First, you want to make sure that the therapist you want for your dog is an animal lover. Your dog won’t receive the best of care if the therapist doesn’t like him or her, and there is no point to the whole thing if your dog isn’t receiving the desired treatment.

Next you want to find someone that has a background in massage therapy. Though this is not mandatory, it is preferred because there is less of a chance of any kind of injury or soreness afterwards.

As you already know, canine massage therapy is beneficial for dogs, but what if you have another animal, like a cat, that needs it. Cats can also benefit from massage therapy, but for them you want to look more for somebody that has study the muscle in cats and knows what techniques to apply to them. If you take the time and the energy to find someone that actually knows about the lean muscle system of a cat, or any animal that you want to take for massage therapy, the animal is much more likely to benefit.

You wouldn’t want to go to somebody who has only study pressure points and techniques for animals such as horses if you had a back ach would you? So what makes you think that your dog wants somebody that only studied cats, or vise versa? If you find somebody who has studied the effects of certain pressure points and techniques on certain animals then the benefits for your animal will increase, and they will live a healthier, happier life.

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Massage Therapy Benefits

Kevin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:45:47 +0000

There has been much research in the many massage therapy benefits for over 120 years.

One study was done on medical school students from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. They received massages right before taking an exam. These students proved to be significantly less anxious and have lowered respiratory rates. They also had both a significant increase in white blood cells and a natural increase in over all cell activity, which suggests that the immune system had benefited greatly.

At one point there was also a study done on benefits for cancer patients, and it too had astounding positive results. The results, in fact, pointed to the suggestion that the patients where suffering from less of the pain and anxiety after having their massage therapy treatment. This study was done at the Cancer Hospital and Research Institute located in Columbus, Ohio and proved the benefits of massage therapy.

According to results from a study performed at the University of South Carolina, massage therapy helps with depression as well. They found that when women who recently suffered the loss of a child underwent a massage therapy treatment, they were less depressed.

As you can see, research has shown many benefits if you undergo massage therapy. As shown in California, it helps make you feel better; as shown in Ohio, it can help you reduce pain; it can even help with health problems as severe as cancer. In New Jersey, it was shown to reduce stress and anxiety, to lower respiratory rates, and to boost immune systems.

I find that it is always nice to know that things can be done to help with certain issues. If we have already found a massage to reduce anxiety and pain, while increasing our circulatory systems and self esteem, can you imagine what else we can find out about massage therapy benefits? There is an argument that if it is not already widely used, then it doesn’t work.

My question is that if that is so true, then why is it that we are constantly changing how we do things, even when we find that something does work. It’s because we slowly begin to realize that there are ways of improving things, so it may not be widely used yet, but it is helping to improve medicine.

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Massage Therapy Center

Kevin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:42:43 +0000

Have you ever wondered what massage therapy is and what it can do for your health? Well by definition, Massage therapy is the organized manipulation of soft tissue in order to help your body normalize its tissue.

Message therapy, on the whole, is to help the body heal itself so that a person’s health and well-being can continue to increase.

There are a number of methods used in massage therapy by practitioners and therapists alike. They are physical methods that can include both fixed and movable pressure at certain points, and holding or making the body move. Since the touch is definitely the most important part in massage therapy, one will often find that their therapists will almost always use their hands to apply pressure; however you might also find that they use their forearms, elbows, or even their feet when they feel that they need to in order for you to benefit the most.

Another important part of massage therapy is the combined use of both science and art. Even though the practitioners must learn several different techniques for giving massages, it is a must for them to use their sense of touch. They use their sense of touch so that they can decide how much pressure is needed in certain areas of tension and where there may be problems.

Massage therapy can also help relieve muscle soreness. When you overwork your muscles, lactic acid and other wastes build up, which cause your soreness and muscle spasms. When you get a massage, your blood-flow increases which allow these toxins to be removed from your body quicker, as well as speeding your healing while enhancing your recovery ability from disease or injury.

Even if you don’t have any of these problems at this time, massage therapy can give you a general feeling of well being and even help improve your self esteem. It helps to boost several things like your immune system, your circulatory system, and helps your blood pressure. A massage has many other benefits and can be included in different health systems.

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