Massage

Service Description

Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. The soft tissues include muscle, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments, and skin. Massage techniques can be applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The massage therapist varies the amount of pressure and movement. In professional settings, clients are treated while lying on a massage table, sitting in a massage chair, or lying on a mat on the floor. Massage is part of integrative medicine. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. The benefits of massage are reducing stress and increasing relaxation, reducing pain, muscle soreness/tension, improving circulation, energy, and alertness, and lowering heart rate and blood pressure. In all massages, the therapist lubricates the skin with massage oil and performs various massage strokes that warm and work muscle tissue, releasing tension and breaking up muscle "knots" or adhered tissues, called adhesions. This promotes relaxation, eases muscle tension, and creates other health benefits. There are many different modalities in the massage industry, including (but not limited to): deep tissue, manual lymphatic drainage, medical, sports, structural integration, Swedish, Thai, and trigger point. In European countries, a person professionally trained to give massages is traditionally known as a masseur (male) or a masseuse (female). In the United States, these individuals are often referred to as massage therapists, because they must be certified and licensed as "licensed massage therapists".