- Integrated Body Therapies
Christine A. Ruppert, LMT5712 Stillwell Road
Rockville, MD 20851301-231-8695
Health
Benefits of Massage Therapy for a Pulled Muscle
A pulled muscle, or muscle strain, is among the most common types of injuries sustained by athletes and bodybuilders. It’s characterized by the physical tearing (full or partial) of muscle fibers and/or its connected tendons, usually occurring during a strenuous activity. While most pulled muscles will heal on their own without the need for professional medical assistance, seeking massage therapy can speed up the healing process.
Before we reveal the healing power of massage therapy, let’s first discuss the signs and symptoms of a pulled muscle. While no cases are the same, some of the most commonly reported symptoms of a pulled muscle include throbbing pain, swelling, redness, weakness, and/or limited mobility. continue reading
Top 5 Reasons to Consider Massage Therapy
Lowers Stress Levels
Feeling overly stressed about your job, relationships, finances, or health? If so, you may want to consider massage therapy. This treatment has been shown to have an almost immediate benefit on stress levels, relieving stress and anxiety while encouraging greater relaxation.
Improves Muscle Recovery
Another common reason why people seek massage therapy is to improve muscle recovery. When you lift weights or perform other high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises, it creates small tears in muscle fiber, which is essentially why you feel sore afterwards. When the muscle is massaged, it stimulates blood flow to the region, allowing it to heal in less time. And when your muscle tissue heals in less time, you can get back in the gym rather than sitting around the house. continue reading
How Massage Therapy Can Boost Your Body’s Immune System
It’s estimated that roughly 9% of the U.S. adult population has received at least one massage in the past year. Massage therapy is a vast, ever-growing industry that is practiced by countries around the world. While most people seek massage to relieve physical stress and tension, it may also prove useful in boosting the body’s immune system.
The body’s immune system is responsible for fending off infectious disease and illness. Although invisible to the naked eye, we encounter a plethora of microscopic germs on a daily basis. Some of these germs are completely harmless or even beneficial, whereas others seek to invade our bodies and cause illness. The good news is that we have an internal defense mechanism to protect against this silent, hidden invaders: the immune system. It’s works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to not only identify bacterial and viral invaders, but also to neutralize them. continue reading
Massage and Regional Pain Syndrome
Regional pain syndrome, also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, is a chronic condition that’s characterized by long-lasting severe pain, swelling, and discoloration of the skin. In some cases, it may only affect a limb, but roughly a third of people who suffer from this disease report symptoms throughout their body. Whether you suffer from localized symptoms or whole-body symptoms, you can find relief through massage therapy.
Causes of Regional Pain Syndrome
Doctors and medical experts continue to debate over what exactly causes regional pain syndrome. With that said, the general belief is that it’s a type of central nervous system disorder that’s often triggered by surgeries and/or injuries. continue reading
Autism and Massage/Bodywork
Just returned from my Milwaukee massage therapy conference. Many opportunities to continue my education. One of my favorite classes was a first hand story from a mom with a daughter that has autism. She relayed how she found, after many years of frustration with the lack of helpful strategies to support her daughter, that certain massage and bodywork techniques made an immediate and positive impact on her child’s ability to communicate and relate more readily with her family. It was great to learn more about autism and I am motivated to pursue further education in this field.
Will let you know my progress!
How Massage Therapy Can Benefit People with Diabetes
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 208,000 people younger than 20 years old have been diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. An additional 86 million adults 20 years old and older have pre-diabetes. To put these numbers into perspective, roughly 9-10% of the entire United States population has diabetes. While advancements in modern medicine have led to some effective treatment, a centuries-old practice has been also been shown to be effective in treating diabetes. continue reading
Massage Therapy for Improved Sleep
There are an estimated 40 million people in the U.S. who suffer from some type of chronic sleep disorder (source). Lack of sleep can suppress your immune system, impair memory/cognitive function, promote weight gain, and disturb your body’s normal hormonal balance.
Many people who suffer from chronic sleep disorders resort to medication sleep aids to help them fall asleep and stay asleep at night. While these medications may initially help, their effectiveness begins to diminish over time as you build a tolerance. Sleeping pills can come with potentially serious side effects like stomach bleeding and kidney failure. continue reading
How Massage Therapy Relieves Stress
Stress is something that everyone will experience at some point in their lives. Whether it’s related to work, relationships, finances, health, or a combination thereof, stress can take a toll on your body in more than one way. According to StatisticsBrain, 73 percent of the U.S. adult population experiences psychological symptoms caused by stress, and 77 percent experience physical symptoms. Thankfully, the centuries-old practice of massage therapy can combat stress, allowing you to live a more enjoyable, relaxed lifestyle. continue reading
Exercise – bigger brains – Think on that!
Regular exercise may shrink waistlines, but a long-term study suggests it
increases brain volume and lowers the risk of age-related cognitive decline.
Researchers followed 1,583 middle-aged men and women with no personal
history of dementia or heart disease over the course of two decades. At the
start of the study, participants underwent an MRI and took a physical fitness
test on a treadmill, during which their heart rate and blood pressure were also
monitored. The procedures were repeated 20 years later, and after factoring out
people who had developed heart disease and high blood pressure, the research-
ers found that the ones who kept in shape were more likely to have larger
brains. On the other hand, poorly conditioned participants had lost gray matter.
“Our brains shrink as we age, and this atrophy is related to cognitive decline
and increased risk for dementia,” study author Nicole Spartano of Boston
University tells CBSNews.com. “This study suggests that people with poor
fitness have accelerated brain aging.”
—The WEEK
March 3, 2016
Benefits of After-Workout Massage Therapy
While many people seek massage for its relaxing benefits, it can also prove useful as a post-workout remedy – whether you exercise moderately or if you do heavy-duty bodybuilding, or work out at any level along the spectrum. To learn more about massage therapy and the benefits it offers after working out, keep reading.
Reduces Inflammation
When you work out – particularly with strength training exercises – your muscles become inflamed. This is a direct response to the stress the muscles undertake while working out. Massage therapy has been proven to reduce inflammation associated with exercise.
“What massage seems to do is … it reduces the inflammatory response as a function of the damage you incurred while you’re exercising,” said Simon Melov, a molecular biologist at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. continue reading