Massage Therapy for Pain Relief

Massage therapy can help you overcome all kinds of chronic issues and injuries. The team at Westside Chiropractic Center in Yakima, WA is here to help with your recovery. Below is more information about massage therapy and how it integrates with chiropractic care.

What is Massage Therapy?

In massage therapy, a massage therapist uses his or her hands to place pressure all over the patient’s body, focusing on muscles and other soft tissues. This thousand-year-old practice is very popular today. Oils and lotions are sometimes used during the massage session. A massage can last anywhere from a few minutes to two hours.

Massages Types

There are over 80 different types of massages. Some popular types of massage include:

• Swedish massage
• Deep tissue massage
• Sports massage
• Chair massage
• Hot stone massage

Swedish massage is a very common type of massage. The therapist may use long, circular strokes all over the body to loosen tight muscles. During a deep tissue massage, the therapist will focus on trouble areas on the body. The therapist will apply pressure to the area to reach deep layers of muscles to loosen those problem areas.

Sports massage may be done before or after a sporting event to help ease chronic issues in a particular area of the body. These massages can help reduce injuries and increase flexibility. In a chair massage, a chair is used to give the client a massage all over the body. In a chair massage, your neck, shoulders, legs, arms, and hands will be massaged.

During a hot stone massage, hot stones are placed on specific parts of the body, sometimes on acupressure points. These stones may be placed on the body for a short amount of time and used instead of traditional massage techniques. The heat from the stones can help relax muscles and other soft tissues.

The Benefits of Massage Therapy

There are many health benefits to massage therapy. These health benefits include relieving pain from headaches and migraines, reducing symptoms of cancer and side effect treatment, reducing neck and back pain, relieving depression, reducing symptoms of osteoarthritis, increasing blood flow, relaxing the body, and providing general muscle pain relief and relaxation.

Massage therapy may be used with other chiropractic care methods to help heal sore muscles and other soft tissues from chronic conditions. Please contact us if you have any questions about massage therapy or other therapies that we use in our office.

Your Yakima Chiropractor

Make an appointment at your earliest convenience to see our massage therapist. Call Westside Chiropractic Center today at 509-966-3421 to schedule an appointment.