Massage is a treatment that is thousands of years old. If you need or want a massage, you can choose from 80 types of massage with a wide variety of pressures, movements and techniques. But you won’t find them all in the same beauty clinic. A massage involves pressing or manipulating muscles and other soft tissue with the hands and fingers. Sometimes even with the forearms, elbows or feet.
According to the American Massage Therapy Association, up to 25 percent of adults received a massage at least once a year. That’s a lot of people and a lot of reasons to do it. More and more people, especially baby boomers, are recognizing the health benefits of massage. Getting a massage is not a pleasure, it’s a health issue. That’s exactly what we are going to uncover today! Enjoy!
There are many styles of massage. Some are designed to relieve ailments we may suffer or heal injuries, help cure certain diseases, and improve overall well-being, including mental and mood.
This article can help you decide which types of massages are best for you.
What are the Best Massages?
You may have noticed that there are different styles of massage and that some are more popular than others. Often, this depends on the fashions and not on your own needs.
There are many types of massage, ranging from those that require long, gentle strokes to those that require short strokes and more pressure on the body. Some massage therapists use oils and lotions, others do not.
You can have a massage on a sporadic or regular basis. We recommend the latter, as it will help you prevent and keep your body in shape. A massage can last from 5 minutes to 2 hours.
Before deciding which massage is best for you, you should ask yourself the following question: Do you want a massage to relax or manage stress, or do you need to relieve the symptoms of an injury or illness?
Before booking a massage, ask what types of massages they offer at the beauty center and what their specialization is. The massage therapist can customize your massage, based on your age, health condition or any special needs or goals you may have, such as slimming massages.
The Most Recommended Massages
Lymphatic Drainage
The lymphatic system helps eliminate waste products from your body. An active and healthy lymphatic system uses the natural movement of muscle tissue to remove whatever is left in your body. But it is not always as active and therefore as effective, especially as we age.
When performing a lymphatic massage, it is important that the massage not only focus on the affected area to be effective. The entire lymphatic system of the body, with the exception of the head, the right side of the chest and the right arm, drains near the left shoulder, so a massage must include all areas for proper drainage.
Lymphatic massage has two stages: cleansing and reabsorption. The goal of the cleansing is to create a vacuum with gentle pressure so that the area is ready for more fluid to enter, creating a flushing effect.
The second part of the lymphatic massage is reabsorption. To perform this step of the massage:
You should start on the affected body part furthest from the center of the body. For example, the fingertips if you have lymphedema in the hand, arm and shoulder.
Using a gentle, sweeping motion with just enough pressure to move the surface of the skin, massage from the fingertips to the hand, from the hand to the elbow and from the elbow to the shoulder.
Sounds amazing right? Want to learn more? Come back to read the second part of our article.