Massage Therapy and Weight Loss

Absolutely! I just wanted to make sure people were interested before I did my whole "speech"

Before I even became a massage therapist, I was aware of the benefits and got massages often just to control my stress level. As we all know, stress is not good for the body and overall health because of that lovely little hormone it produces, known as cortisol (yikes!) So I got massages to control that hormone in order to prevent weight gain, but I later discovered how it also helped in my weight loss.

Massage is beneficial for EVERY system of the body, such as cardiovascular, respiratory, lymphatic, digestive, nervous system, endocrine (hormones), integumentary (your skin), and last but not least, your muscular system!

Through massage, every little aspect of your body is improved. Muscle nutrition and flexibility, improved resilience, improved mental and emotional well-being are just some of the benefits that you can get from regular massage because all the components of your body are working together in a subtle way to bring healing, as well as returning the body to a normal state of being.

Now, before I get too confusing, lets focus on the muscles of the body. Muscle is very smart and knows how to adapt to certain situations, such as an injury. We've all heard the term "muscle memory" and it's very real. Say you had a sprained ankle or pulled a muscle way back in high school. It's 10 years later and it still bothers you every now and then. That's because when the muscle was healing, it developed scar tissue and adhesions in order to prevent another injury from occurring. Sounds good, right? Well, on top of all that, scar tissue also prevents mobility. So your sprained ankle is all healed and ready to go, but you won't exactly get the full range of motion back. However, though massage, scar tissue and adhesions can be broken up to return the muscle back to it's normal flexibility and, in return, become stronger because massage brings oxygenated blood to the muscle to increase the healing process.

Ok, so a sprained ankle is a pretty obvious injury. But what most people don't realize is that general "wear and tear" on the body from every day living can also produce adhesions in the muscles that we're not even aware of. Ever noticed a knot or feel tight in your shoulders, for example? That's an example of an adhesion. And it could very well be preventing that muscle from fulling operating.

Now what's this got to do with weight loss?? When you receive regular massage, your body goes into super healing mode!! In other words, massage will put you in a very relaxed state of mind (yay sleepy time!:happy:) and your parasympathetic system (the very exciting "rest and restore" part of the nervous system of the body) goes to work! Therefore, kicking your body into overdrive and finding the parts of your body that need attention and healing (such as, your muscular system), and that even includes your metabolism.

Now, before I go any further, I'm not saying massage is the miracle drug that's going to help you lose all this weight. But I CAN tell you that massage coupled with your regular exercise and diet routine will do wonders for your body and emotional well-being.

So it not only feels wonderful to be rubbed on, it actually improves your health!

I know this is a lot to take in, but I hope it helped you understand how massage can aid in your weight loss goals. Don't hesitate to ask questions! I love talking about my profession!