What is the difference between a therapeutic massage and regular massage?
Are you curious about the difference between a therapeutic massage and a regular massage?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we’ll explore the nuances of these two types of massages and help you understand what makes a therapeutic massage much more beneficial vs a regular massage.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s dive into the world of massage therapy!
Let’s begin by defining what is a therapeutic massage?
A therapeutic massage is a form of massage therapy performed to help treat general or specific problems in one’s body.
Therapeutic massages help relieve muscle and joint pain, treat specific problems, reduce stiffness, increase blood circulation throughout the body, and help heal injuries, in contrast, regular massages aim to only provide temporary relief without trying to heal the root of the problem.
It is a common misconception to believe massages are only for “pampering” which for some are, however, therapeutic massages are geared towards healing and pain relief.
What are the benefits of a therapeutic massage?
Therapeutic massage has numerous physical and mental benefits. Some of these include healing and relief from:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Fibromyalgia
- Headaches and Migraines
- Insomnia
- Nerve pain
- Postoperative care
- Scar tissue
- Soft tissue strains and injuries
- Sports injuries and even,
- Temporomandibular (TMJ) disorders
As you can see, there are several benefits to receiving a therapeutic massage but let’s get more specific.
Pain relief
The most common reason why people visit our massage clinic is due to pain. Whether its back pain or pain related to over stressed muscles or joints, it sure is the # 1 reason the majority of our clients seek our services.
Due to the long, deep strokes throughout the body that hit certain trigger points in muscles, knots and adhesions are broken which help relieve pain and discomfort, relax your muscles, and reduce tension.
Depending on the source of the pain, our massage therapists have special techniques and training to deal with pain of all kinds. Those include deep tissue, myofascial release, and migraine miracle just to name a few.
Increase flexibility & better blood flow
If you notice you are not as flexible as you used to be, a deep tissue massage may be what you need. Deep tissue session is a specialty massage that is targeted and aims to relieve muscle stiffness and tension, while helping tissue elasticity and undwinding troublesome knots and adhesions.
In additon, blood and oxygen are more properly circulated throughout the body, and waste products are removed from the muscles.
Due to this, your body’s flexibility and range of motion is increased, allowing you to move around or exercise properly with a decreased risk of pain or injury.
This direct pressure applied to your body not only helps relieve your muscles, but also allows blood, oxygen, and other rich nutrients to travel throughout your body as it should.
With proper circulation, your organs will function much better and properly. Increased circulation and better waste management improves your tissue health, decreases muscle and tissue pain, creates faster recovery time after workout, and reduces the amount of soreness your muscles will feel.
Reduced stress and anxiety
We understand life can be hard and full of unexpected events causing stress and anxiety. Excessive stress and anxiety built up in your body can also be relieved through therapeutic massages.
When you’re stressed, your body produces the primary stress hormone known as cortisol. High cortisol levels raise blood sugar levels, increase risk for depression and anxiety, and increase blood pressure.
In therapeutic massages, studies have shown cortisol is lowered as serotonin is increased.
More energy and better sleep
There is without a doubt a massage with help you feel relaxed and refreshed, but with a therapeutic healing touch, you may experience better sleep due to less tension in your muscles and more energy from better night’s sleep.
Toxins being flushed away from your body and the feeling of refreshment entering your body promotes better sleep too!
I always encourage our clients to talk to your massage therapist about your specifc problem areas. This will certainly help in finding the best massage treatment for you for your specifc needs and goals.
What makes therapeutic massages unique?
There are several reasons therapeutic massages are unique compared to other massage types. Firstly, they provide an immense amount of physical health benefits.
Massages can help treat any pain, discomfort, or tension your muscles naturally that you may be experiencing. They help keep your muscles and joints flexible and with a wide range of motion, high elasticity, and relaxed muscles.
Therapeutic massages promote positive mental and emotional well-being. They are significant for reducing stress, decreasing depression, and lowering levels of anxiety.
As mentioned earlier, high levels of cortisol are not good. Therapeutic massages help lower what can make you unhealthy and raises levels of serotonin, which keeps you happy and overall feeling great!
Most importantly, they can help prevent you from being injured.
Nobody wants to be injured as there are various negative side effects that come from it. Serious injuries and chronic injuries have been tied to increased mental health problems, such as anxiety, anger issues, depression, shame, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Injuries can leave individuals as a shadow of their former selves. They can create new and uncomfortable pain, reduce mobility and flexibility, decrease your physical strength, and present health conditions.
For example, victims of car accidents may find a healing massage beneficial if they are suffering from a sore neck or back and shoulder pain.
Who should get these massages and when?
Therapeutic massages are for anyone looking to relieve pain, detox their body, restore flexibility, recover from injury, and when you are running high on stress or anxiety – regardless of age!
By receiving massage therapy to relieve muscle pain and discomfort, your injuries can be treated more naturally and trying to resolve the source of the problem.
Tightened muscles can be loosened up and any scar tissue, along with waste products, can be broken down. The overall recovery process can be shortened down and less painful.
Even expecting mommies come in and receive a massage to relive themselves of pregnancy symptoms such as swelling and back pain.
Our massage therapists here at Bodycraft Wellness are professionally trained and understand the body and muscles very well. They know how to target and relieve deep rooted pain or other unwanted symptoms to help you feel back to normal (or in most cases) better than new!
We are all about wellness and healing!
If you are experiencing aches and pains that just won’t go away, consider receiving a therapeutic massage by a professional massage therapist to create a healthier you! There are lots of positive and life changing benefits that come from massage therapy.
Don’t believe me just yet? I encourge you to see our google reviews from our customers!!
Many of which have found relief from chronic pain, headaches, sore muscles, disk problems, arthritis, painful joints and the list goes on…
Remember that the benefits don’t only pertain to physical health. Therapeutic massages have been also known to promote a healthy mind and emotional health, so having a routine massage can be a great pick-me-up!
If you are not sure which massage is best for you, we made a massage guide to help you understand what each one is for and what it’s best for.
At Bodycraft Wellness we are all about helping you feel better but more importantly helping you find true relief from the source of the problem.
Visit our massage therapies section for more information on each one we provide.
You can always give us call or send a message via our website. We are more than happy to answer any quesions!
