Why does my body need massage?

Receiving massage intentionally, allows us to check our limits and needs before we learn from an injury unintentionally.

How does massage help me with shorter recovery times when i train for an event?

Massaging soft tissue, increases circulation, decreases adhesions and reduces restrictions, which increases the flow of nutrients to even the more fiberous parts of the body for a quicker recovery.

How does massage help prevent me from pulling muscles while training for an event?

Massage helps identify and reset the muscles that have lost their ability to lengthen and contract completely as they were designed. Over developed muscle have the potential of strain or spraining the weaker muscles beyond their limit. Massage lengthens, and loosens muscles allowing for all muscles required for that action are participating and grow equally.

How Can massage reduce my depressed mood?

Massage via the nervous system , triggers the endocrine system into rest and digest mode telling the body to incrrease its levels of mood boosting chemicals like, DHA,  dopamine and endorphins, which bio chemically alter our state of being, Exercising  and laughing. also help this to occur, except with massage there is way less effort involed than finding something to laugh at, or the motive to even go out and exercise.

Massage can help make us aware of where we are imbalanced via pain and discomfort. Properly applied massage at times, may even cause us to laugh, cry or  bring up a fond memory. Massaging parts of the body may trigger previous mentally formed path ways in the brain of memories, associated with the physiological and or emotional events, exciting or traumatic with that part of the body. The mind remembers and flashes signals reflexively re-triggering our chemical system associated with that event. In the case of trauma, dopamine levels rise and adrenals which physiologically changes our state of mind again. For example the high you feel after sky diving or being up in front of a cheering audience sometimes make us feel like we can accomplish any thing. Or the euphoric feeling of a new boy or girlfriend are very real chemical releases happening in our bodies.

Why are there so many diverse massage modalities?

Massage applied for a specific purpose while performed by a highly qualified therapist can affect many of your body’s eleven systems all at once. Specialized massage modality’s like Thai, Sports, Ashi, and lymph, are used where others may be contraindicated for that session.

Can a licensed massage therapist (LMTs’) diagnose or treat more than someone certified in in general first aid and CPR?

Massage therapists do not diagnose or treat, unless they are licensed in more than just massage therapy.

How often do I need a massage if I just do my normal daily routine? How often do i need a massage if I am training for an event and getting sore alot?

Normal schedule massage is often measurable to how quickly a cut takes to heal in our common environment. Typically this occurs twelve to sixteen days for soft tissure to heal and repair, thus the twice a month massage maintenance is average for most of us. This time line is assuming your living healthy stretching exercise and diet. For event training depending on how well balanced those muscles are for the event you are training for, and how often you are  getting sore. Its generally related to metabolism acid alkaline levels and genetic repair time per person. On average, about once every 7 to twelve days until your realistic event goal is met. After the goal is met then maintain it doing pre-massage, to warm up the muscles and get nutrients to the muscles without as much effort from the heart. Its like priming the pump to make your first wind hit even later in the race. This typically gets more nutrients to the muscle so you can run longer before your body has to kick in its nutrient reserves, allowing your heart body to send those precious nutrients to your muscles instead of being used up by your heart to send fewer to your muscles during the race. This allows you to run longer before oxygen is used up and fuel/calories are used up. Once calories are used up the athletic field calls this hitting your creb-cycle wall. Post event massage usually happens after your bodies heat levels have lowered and you have eaten something to replace the calories you used up during the race then post event massage is used to prime the muscles with recovery nutrients, and to detox into the blood stream and leave less lactic acid in the tissue making for a quicker recovery. It would be like running premium gas once in awhile instead of regular to keep the carbon build up off your motor and make it last longer and handle more responsively. Cramping after and or during a race means you have an imbalance in nutrient levels or are past their current trained limit.