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What Does Research Show?
At the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Touch Research Institute, 70 studies on touch — the majority on massage therapy — have been published or are under way. Recent and ongoing research at some of the nation’s hospitals, such as Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is expanding knowledge of the benefits of massage for a variety of injuries and ailments. Among research findings: Massage increases activity level of the body’s natural “killer cells”, boosting the immune system. Office workers massaged regularly were more alert, performed better and were less stressed than those who weren’t massaged. Massage therapy decreased the effects of anxiety, tension, depression, pain, and itching in burn patients. Abdominal surgery patients recovered more quickly after massage. Premature infants who were massaged gained more weight and fared better than those who weren’t. Autistic children showed less erratic behavior after massage therapy.
Is Massage Therapy a Luxury?
This is a perception that is rapidly changing as massage becomes increasingly accepted as a natural part of a healthy lifestyle. In fact, according to one media characterization, “massage is to the human body what a tune-up is to a car. It provides a physical boost to the weary, sore and stressed.” The services of a bodywork professional may be covered by health insurance when prescribed by a chiropractor, osteopath, physician or registered physical therapist.
What are the Benefits of
Massage and Bodywork Therapy?
People find that therapeutic massage and bodywork can help with a wide range of medical conditions, including:
Allergies
Anxiety and stress
Arthritis (osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis)
Asthma and bronchitis
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Chronic and temporary pain
Circulatory problems
Depression
Digestive disorders
Fibromyalgia
Headache, especially when due to muscle tension
Insomnia
Myofascial pain
Reduced range of motion
Sinusitis
Sports injuries, including pulled or strained
muscles and sprained ligaments
TMJ (Temporo-Mandibular Joint) Dysfunction
What are the Benefits of Meditation?
Some remarkable benefits are possible for women who meditate regularly. One study found that women with PMS (premenstrual syndrome) reduced their symptoms by 58%. Another study found that women going through menopause could significantly reduce the intensity of hot flashes.
Even those women struggling with infertility can benefit: In a study of a 10-week group program that included meditation (along with exercise and nutrition changes), the women had significantly less anxiety, depression, and fatigue, and 34% became pregnant within six months.
Neuroscientists have found that meditators shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex—brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear.
There's also evidence that meditation has immune-enhancing effects. For example, medical students who meditated during final exams had a higher percentage of "T-helper cells," the immune cells that trigger the immune system into action. Nursing-home residents trained in meditation had increased activity of "natural-killer cells," which kill bacteria and cancer cells. They also had reductions in the activity of viruses and of emotional distress.
Cancer patients have also experienced the benefits of meditation. In one study, patients with metastatic (spreading) cancer who meditated with imagery regularly for a year had significant increases in natural-killer cell activity.
Want to learn more about
Massage Therapy, Energy Work, Meditation
or Complementary Medicines?
Search for it below at Amazon!
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