Massage
Massage is one of the oldest and simplest forms of medical care, used to ease pain and anxiety. Henrik Ling, a Swedish gymnast in the 19th century, based his Swedish movement treatment on anatomy and his methods were, over time, developed into Physiotherapy.
Massage is the kneading and stroking of the body's soft tissues (skin and muscles) with varying degrees of pressure. It is used in many traditional health systems and practitioners of modern complimentary therapies also use various massage techniques.
The most common massage techniques include effleurage (a light firm gentle stroke) petrissage (a firm kneading and rolling of tissues) fottage or friction (deep direct pressure to release muscle tension) and tapotement (hacking, clapping and tapping over the muscles and fleshy parts of the body).
Swedish Massage - Gentle massage that affects the nervous system through the nerve endings in the skin, stimulating the release of endorphins (feel good chemical) to help induce relaxation and well being, to relieve pain and reduce the levels of stress chemicals. It helps reverse the damaging effects of stress by slowing heart rate, respiration and metabolism and lowering the blood pressure.
Sports Massage - This is a combination of Swedish and deep tissue massage techniques - deep tissue is slow intense strokes and deep finger pressure. The main purpose of Sports Massage is to relieve minor injury to the body and also to help prevent any further injury from occurring.
Massage reduces anxiety and depression, it relieves back pain and muscle pain, lowers high blood pressure, eases PMS symptoms, re-energises stressed out workers and boosts the immune system. It is also used to help insomnia, headaches and other stress related conditions, as well as arthritis and some digestive disorders such as constipation.