HOW MASSAGE HELPS RELIEVE PAIN

Over 80% of trips to the doctor in the United States are related to some type of pain in the body.  Pain not only takes a physical toll on the body, but also affects a person’s social, mental, emotional, and spiritual states.  Activities of daily living become challenging, social activities become a chore, and quality of life begins to dwindle.

Unfortunately in the U.S., medication is the go-to pain treatment.  An epidemic of opioid misuse and overdose is becoming rampant, with deaths from opioid painkillers surpassing those from illicit street drugs.  Often times people become addicted to these drugs after taking them for chronic pain, such as neck pain or back pain.
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Painkillers are not the only option when it comes to pain relief.  Massage is extremely effective and is very safe.  A recent study published in the journal of Pain Medicine investigated massage for various types of pain including muscle and bone pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, deep internal pain, and spinal cord pain.  The study revealed that massage therapy was beneficial in reducing pain for all of the categories.  Multiple mechanisms contributed to alleviating the pain including biomechanical, physiological, neurological, and psychological.  Massage therapy reduces inflammation and promotes mitochondrial biogenesis in the skeletal muscle.

In addition to pain relief, massage reduced anxiety and improved health-related quality of life. Massage has also been linked to reducing depression, heart rate, and cortisol levels.  Massage stimulates blood circulation to improve the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the body tissues and helps your lymphatic system flush away waste products.  It relaxes tense and knotted muscles and stiff joints, which improves mobility and flexibility.  Massage also stimulates the vagus nerve, which is affects, the secretion of food-absorption hormones, heart rate, and respiration.

Massage, combined with chiropractic care, K-Laser Class 4 Laser Therapy, and nutrient balancing are all ways to decrease pain and improve quality of life without polluting your body with opioids and other narcotics.

At Health Pyramid Longevity & Vitality Center we offer every patient the opportunity to receive trigger points following his or her spinal adjustment. Not only do trigger points help to relieve the soreness caused by misaligned spinal bones, they also support the realignment of the spinal bones by creating bi-lateral balance in the supportive muscles.  Oh and they feel really, really good!