Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress-related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. Massage is an effective tool for managing this stress, which translates into:

• Decreased anxiety.
• Enhanced sleep quality.
• Greater energy.
• Improved concentration.
• Increased circulation.
• Reduced fatigue.

Massage can also help specifically address a number of health issues. Bodywork can:

• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body's natural defense system.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
• Improve the condition of the body's largest organ—the skin.
• Increase joint flexibility.
• Lessen depression and anxiety.
• Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
• Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
• Reduce spasms and cramping.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
• Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body's natural painkiller.
• Relieve migraine pain.

Benefits of Hot Stone Massage 

Hot stone massage which is one of the best ways to take a break is seen by a lot of people not as a luxury but as a necessity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here are the top 10 benefits of hot stone massage.

Have you ever been so tired that you felt like your head was going to burst? Almost all people experience this at some point in their lives. Although there's nothing wrong with it happening once or twice but for you to constantly to get tired beyond what your mind and body can handle is not good for your health and well-being.

Hot stone massage which is one of the best ways to take a break is seen by a lot of people not as a luxury but as a necessity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you are not sure why, here are the top 10 benefits of hot stone massage:

1. A good way to manage stress. Studies show that stress is the number one root of a lot of diseases and disorders. Whether it's stress from work, home or dailyactivities, the result is the same: too much stress can lead to health problems. And because we can never run away from it, the only way to deal with it is to manage stress efficiently. A hot stone massage offers some relaxing time for your mind and does wonders in releasing muscular tension. Thus this is one of the best ways to relieve you of stress.

2. Effective in muscle relaxation. The heat in the stones is effective in enabling the muscles to loosen up and relax. This makes it easier for deep tissue manipulation.

3. Improves health conditions. More and more doctors are beginning to recommend this therapy as part of medical treatment of a lot of health problems such as Arthritis, Fibromylagia, Hypertension and musculoskeletal problems.

4. Allows better sleep. It's really hard to get a good quality sleep when you're over fatigued. With the relaxation you get from this therapy, it makes it easier for you to doze off into a deep sleep which your body needs to recuperate from daily fatigue. This is why people who have Insomnia are often advised to get this therapy.

5. Relieves pain. Manipulation of muscles can significantly reduce muscle spasm and give comfort to painful muscles so those who suffer from back pains or muscle aches often go for this therapy.

6. Improves blood circulation and flow of energy. The stones are placed on key points of your body known as energy centres which are sometimes clogged or blocked.

7. Allows for easy rehabilitation. Massage can facilitate easy recovery from injuries such as sprains.

8. Releases toxins from your body. When muscles are massaged, toxins that are clogged within are released. This is why, it's advised that clients drink plenty of water after a session to help flush out those unhealthy and unwanted toxins.

9. Satisfies human longing for touch. It's only human to crave for hugs and affection. But since our loved ones are not always within a hug's reach, having a hot stone massage is a good alternative to suffice this need.

10. Gives you a happy feeling. A calming and soothing massage can do wonders in giving you an emotional boost, leaving you with a happier and more positive outlook in life.

Taking a break from work and from life is truly a necessity that most people overlook and take for granted. No, you don't need to fly and have a vacation every once a week. Just being able to give yourself some down time to unwind and relax is a healthy habit.

Sports Massage 

Sports massage can help maintain the body in generally better condition, prevent injuries and loss of mobility, cure and restore mobility to injured muscle tissue, boost performance and extend the overall life of your sporting career.

Pumping - The stroking movements in massage suck fluid through blood vessels and lymph vessels. By increasing the pressure in front of the stroke, a vacuum is created behind. This is especially important in tight or damaged muscle tissue as a tight muscle will squeeze blood out like a sponge, depriving the tissues of vital nutrients and energy to repair.

Increased tissue permeability - Deep massage causes the pores in tissue membranes to open, enabling fluids and nutrients to pass through. This helps remove waste products such as lactic acid and encourage the muscles to take up oxygen and nutrients which help them recover quicker.

Stretching - Massage can stretch tissues that could not be stretched in the usual methods. Bundles of muscle fibres are stretched lengthwise as well as sideways. Massage can also stretch the sheath or fascia that surrounds the muscle, so releasing any tension or pressure build up.

Break down scar tissue - Scar tissue is the result of previous injuries or trauma and can effect muscle, tendons and ligaments. This can lead to inflexible tissues that are prone to injury and pain.

Improve tissue elasticity - Hard training can make tissues hard and inelastic. This is one reason why hard training may not result in improvements. Massage helps reverse this by stretching the tissues.

Opens micro-circulation - Massage does increase blood flow to tissues, but so does exercise. What massage also does is open or dilate the blood vessels and by stretching them this enables nutrients to pass through more easily.

Fun Masage Therapy Facts

Did You Know?

• There are approximately 5 million touch receptors in our skin? 3,000 in a finger tip.
• Healthy touch of any kind can reduce the heart rate and lower blood pressure.
• Julius Caesar used massage to help his epilepsy.
• In 1996, massage therapy/bodywork was officially offered for the first time as a core medical service in the Olympics in Atlanta.
• Massaging and gently pulling on your ears – top, middle, and bottom of outer earlobes once per day improves your immune system.
• The present lifestyle of too many Americans guarantees lower back pain.
• Specialized massage improves the flow of lymph through the body, relieving aches, pains, and flu-like symptoms.
• Touch and massage stimulates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers.
• A 60 minute massage is about the same as 7-8 hours of sleep to your body.
• Bob Hope, who lived to be 100, had daily massage as part of his health regimen.
• You can have a full-body massage with all of your clothes on.
• Massage may be the oldest form of medical care. Egyptian tomb paintings show people being massaged.
• Massage can be performed on a table, a chair, a couch, a bed, a bench…on the entire body or just some parts, with or without oils or lotions.
• There are about 75 common massage modalities used today.