Easing from summer into fall gives us time to prepare our minds and bodies for cooler days ahead, and it is now that time of year again. Many of us are now eagerly engaged in seasonal chores of harvesting the gardens and preparing for winter. Meanwhile, we may also be experiencing new aches and pains from muscles and joints that haven’t been utilized in quite this way for many months. This is a good time to consider massage therapy to keep you going and to keep your muscles, bones and connective tissue in good working condition.
Long falls and winters can make you feel lethargic, stressed and chilled to the bone. One of the most effective ways to remove the chill of winter from your body is to warm your muscles and your mind from the inside out with a therapeutic massage session. Remedy your winter aches and pains with regular massage and bodywork.
Here are just a few of the ailments massage can help relieve:
Back Pain
Lower back pain is a common injury in the winter as you can overdo and wrench your back shoveling snow or slipping and falling on ice-covered sidewalks. The most common reason to seek a massage is back pain. In fact, research indicates that 70-85 percent of the population will experience low back pain at some point in their lives and lower back pain is one of the most common and costly musculoskeletal problems. While back pain or injuries come in many forms, massage can help minimize pain and disability, while increasing the speed to normal function and get you back into the game.
Seasonal Arthritis Pain
If you have arthritis, the cooler temperatures of fall can be bad news. The fall and winter conditions can be difficult to deal with because they typically cause more pain and inflammation for arthritic people. If you are arthritic, give massage a try!
Golfer’s Elbow
This is an injury to the muscles that flex your wrist and fingers. The site of injury is typically the medial epicondyle, a bony bump on the inside of the elbow where these muscles attach.
Typically, the golfer’s elbow sufferer will experience pain when performing gripping tasks or upon wrist/finger flexion. Pain can also be present when the muscles are stretched. There will be tenderness directly over the bony epicondyle, and there may be trigger points in the wrist flexor muscles.
Boost Immunity
Believe it or not massage can help fight those nasty seasonal illnesses, like the cold and flu, that start to set in during the fall. White blood cells can help keep you healthy. Researchers have been finding that massage can help increase white blood cell activity. The results are a stronger immune system that can fight off sickness more effectively.
Massage therapy does more than just relax you! It also:
- Relieves stress, pain, pain-induced anxiety and muscle congestion.
- Improves range of motion, increasing flexibility and muscle tone.
- Reduces fatigue.
- Helps lift depression.
- Helps you feel and perform better.
- Increases circulation.
- Promotes nervous system functioning.
- Reduces blood pressure.
- Relieves pain and muscle tension.
- Improves mood, intellectual reasoning and job performance.
- Has a positive effect on conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, diabetes and migraine headaches.
- Stimulates the nervous system to help reduce muscle atrophy.
- Increases muscle tone.
- Supports exercise and weight loss goals, encouraging a healthy metabolism as well as warding off food cravings with the use of aromatherapy oils.
- Sedates the nervous system to help ease muscle tension, spasticity, stress-related symptoms and headaches.
- Boosts the functioning of the immune system and maintains health when done
regularly.
Equally important as the season changes is to maintain adequate hydration. Muscles and tissues require stretching and lengthening as well as good wholesome nutrition to function properly and to avoid spasms and sprains.
Keep yourself going great during the cooler months and consider having a full body massage regularly to be at your optimal best and lessen the risk of being sick, with an added benefit of reduced medical costs and lost time at work. Overall, the cost of massage is a small price to pay to have great health and to take care of oneself.
Massage is a way to relax and to treat ourselves. Massage is maintenance and can be healing for the body, mind and spirit.
Stay warm and cozy this fall and winter in our Far Infrared Sauna. We invite you to share this experience with your significant other, family member or friend. Sauna and a massage are the perfect avenues to rebalancing the mind and body. Both reduce stress, increase blood circulation, promoting more relaxed muscles, improving sleeping patterns mental focus, all of which are favorable outcomes for getting through the fall and winter months.
We want to warmly invite you to experience the health and wellness that massage and our Far Infrared Sauna have to offer. Fall is the perfect time to take care of yourself and to renew your energy. Call or go online at MassagePrescott.com today to schedule your winter pre-season massage therapy sessions.
If you’re ready to put your stress, winter blues and pain behind you, schedule a massage! QCBN
By Amanda Barnett
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