One of the main doubts people have about getting a massage is how it’s able to relieve their pain. After all, a massage is just your muscles being pushed around right? Finding out the specific methods that a massage can help you with is hard. In this article, we outline how massage relieves pain, and why you should consider it to relieve yours.
Massage provides great relief from pain
Let’s Get Into How Massage Relieves Pain
Nerve Stimulation and Muscle Relaxation
A massage works in many ways. It’s a long-term strategy to soothe muscle and joint pain, as well as ease nerves that are pinched. The main way that a massage will relieve pain is through the stretching and relaxation of tight, stressed and injured muscles. By relaxing and stretching your muscles and joints, using them becomes less painful.
A second way that massages soften pain is by stimulating the nervous system. Achieved with a deep tissue massage, nerve stimulation will distract the affected nerves and block pain signals from being sent to the brain. Extra help is provided from the relaxation of the muscles around the nerve, which results in less pinching and compressing of the nerves.
Improved Sleep
Get more rest after a massage
Studies have shown that the pain relief from massage therapy improves our ability to sleep. It will decrease the amount of time taken to fall asleep, and increase quality by preventing disruptions from waking up. People with sleep disorders and continuous sleep deprivation can benefit most as pain and sleep loss only intensify one another.
Sleep and proper sleep cycles are very important for not only our physical and mental health, but for our healing processes. In fact, one of the most important factors of pain intensity is the number of hours we sleep the night before.
Improved Circulation
Having blood flowing well through your whole body is very important in relieving pain and helps your overall health. Massaging helps with circulation by forcing blood into your muscles and through blood vessels, helping them to heal faster and carry extra oxygen into them. This increase in blood flow is especially useful in healing injuries or after intense exercise, and can also lower blood pressure by removing blockages.
Endorphin Release
Another way how massage relieves pain is that feel good endorphins such as serotonin and dopamine are released. These chemicals contribute to lowering the stress hormone cortisol, which can cause pain in our bodies to be amplified. Serotonin and dopamine, combined with lower stress levels, also help with getting us to sleep faster and staying asleep.
Restored Movement
Be more active and do what you want to do with restored movement from a massage
There are many situations where pain in muscles and joints is only felt when moving them. Trying to completely extend them when you can’t only intensifies the pain. Therefore a massage for these muscles and joints will increase their range of motion by raising their temperature and stretching them out. And massages also further help movement by stimulating gamma motor neurons, which let muscles contract and control the stretch sensitivity of muscle fibres.
Wow, Massages Really Do Work!
And now you know all about how massage relieves pain! It’s a great option not only for muscle aches and pains, but also for chronic pain relief. OSIM gives you the experience of having an on-demand massage therapist at your home. Our machines have the ability to do many different types of massages. Experience a wide range of health benefits of therapeutic massage by heading to our website today and getting yourself one of our massage products today!