By Cindy Atoji
Globe Correspondent / December 30, 2007
Steven St. Hilaire, an Arlington plumber, is a longtime tradesman used to the physical demands of long days of hard work, installing and repairing pipes and fixtures. And when chronic aches and pains in his back, hips, and shoulders continued to plague him, he began seeing a massage therapist.
The details

To find a qualified massage therapist, try using online locator services provided by certifying agencies such as the American Massage Therapy Association, amtamassage.org, or the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals, massagetherapy.com. Both organizations …

Understanding Massage as the Body’s Workout
By Shirley Vanderbilt
Originally published in Body Sense magazine, Fall 2002.
Copyright 2003. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.
You’ve just had a wonderful massage, and you go home feeling both relaxed and rejuvenated. But the next morning, you wake up with twinges of muscle soreness, maybe some fatigue, and you just don’t feel yourself. What happened? Chances are it’s the massage, and it’s perfectly OK.
Keith Grant, head of the Sports and Deep Tissue Massage Department at McKinnon Institute in Oakland, Calif., says, “It’s very …

By Whitney Lowe
© Massage & Bodywork magazine, January/February 2008

Someone once said, “Predictions are frequently inaccurate—especially those about the future.” It is likely that fifty years ago few in the profession could have guessed massage would grow in the ways and to the extent it has. Indeed, it is not possible to predict an absolute course for the future of massage therapy. Nevertheless, it is valuable to review the general trends in the profession to gauge its growth patterns and future possibilities.
In the last issue, which …

By Mary Decker
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 9:15 AM EST
For some, massage therapy may be seen as a special “treat” or an escape from stress in a fast-paced world, for others, massage therapy is much more than this. As far back as 400 B.C, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, employed massage and manipulation in healing his patients. Since that time it has been used as a mode of treatment for many ailments and to restore health and vigor to many systems of the body. As a result, more and more …

HEALTHY LIVING
Posted by Stephenie Koehn, Special to the News
January 25, 2008 00:00AM
There is a quiet invasion taking place in Livingston County.
Businesses offering massage therapy are popping up all over the county of late and county residents are flocking to use their services.
Beth Little, lead massage therapist at the recently opened Ashka Salon and Spa in the Green Oak Village Place mall near Brighton, says people are beginning to realize that massage has benefits that go beyond merely “feeling good” for a while.

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The demand for massage therapy comes as adults realize the potential health benefits that can result from the soothing touch of hands. Thirty percent of those who have had a massage in the past year said they did so because of health concerns such as pain management, migraines or injuries, according to the Association.

A massage not only relieves tension, but it allows your body to release natural painkillers and boost the immune system.

Massage FAQ 1: How many types of massage exist?

Dozens of massage styles exist. Know what results you want (relaxation, pain relief, injury treatment, better posture, etc.) and communicate clearly with your therapist. Read more about a few styles of massage here.

Hypertonic muscles soften and lengthen.
Muscles are cleansed.
Muscles receive more nutrients.
Nerves fire faster.
Muscle lesions heal faster.
Stretching the muscle fibers increases circulation.
Range of motion is increased.
Eliminates trigger points (Increases freedom of movement and range of motion.)
Brings recipient into parasympathetic dominance
Releases andogenous morphenes and canabanoids
Kenyon & Harris, Fix Pain ©2002

~Deep Tissue Massage is a type of massage therapy that focuses on relaxing, releasing, and realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. It is especially helpful for chronically tense and contracted areas such as stiff necks, low back tightness, and sore shoulders. Some of the same strokes are used as classic massage therapy, but the movement is slower and the pressure is deeper and concentrated on areas of tension and pain.

While the psychological benefits of massage are reason enough to receive massage, the physical benefits of massage and bodywork are far-reaching as well. Massage stretches and loosens muscle tissue, pumping blood circulation through the muscle, flooding it with nutrition and whisking away toxic waste that gets trapped in our muscles.