Massage Therapy Greenfield, MN
Massage Therapy near Greenfield, MN. Do you have nagging neck or back pain you just can't get rid of? Did you suffer soft tissue damage from an acute trauma injury? Or or is there simply too much pressure in your life right now that's keeping you from being at your best? Many people in Greenfield, MN are finding massage therapy to be an effective treatment option for whatever ails them. Total Spine Health & Injury Center is devoted to helping those in Greenfield, MN return to an active, pain-free lifestyle that many thought had passed them by. If feeling good every day is something you want to get back to, call Total Spine at your earliest convenience at (763) 568-7869 or schedule an appointment online.
Massage therapy has recently exploded in popularity in Greenfield, MN and across the country. In 2021, one out of four men and one out of five women received a massage. Through a variety of techniques massage increases blood flow to a region, and lengthens muscles that have contracted, optimizing your ability to move. It also sends "feel-good" signals to our brains, which leaves us relaxed and stress-free. While massage therapy can help anyone feel better, it's also been shown to be effective at treating specific conditions.
A Brief History of Massage Therapy
Massage therapy originated around 3000 BCE, if not before. It had widespread use in several different ancient civilizations and eventually spread throughout the rest of the world.
The Ancient Origins of Massage
In India, massage was practiced as part of Ayurveda, a healing system based on the idea that disease was caused by imbalance or stress, about 5,000 years ago, at the very latest. Textual evidence shows that the practice had begun to be used in China by 2700 BCE. In Egypt, tomb paintings from a similar period depict people massaging each other with their elbows, and the Egyptians developed reflexology about two centuries later. Beginning around 1000 BCE, Japanese monks who had traveled in China brought message therapy back to their homeland, which grew into amna, or traditional Japanese massage. In all of these regions, people who practice massage believed that massage was essential to optimal balance, whether spiritual, physical, or with their outside world.
Massage Is Introduced to Europe
In approximately 800 BCE, massage therapy began to be used in Greece, where Greek athletes used it to recover and stay at peak performance. In the 5th century BCE, Hippocrates began incorporating it into his healthy living combination of proper diet, exercise, and fresh air. He prescribed "friction" or "rubbing", and created the rational and scientific basis for massage therapy in Western medicine by touting the positive effect massage has on muscles. The Roman physician Galen, who practiced with Hippocrates' philosophies, began using massage therapy between 100 and 200 BCE, and the wealthy began having massage therapists brought to their homes, while the lay people would seek massage in the public baths.
Decline and Introduction in the United States
While massage therapy would decline in popularity in the West for many centuries, it started to pick up steam in Europe again in the 17th century. It found its way to the United States to help World War I soldiers who were suffering from nerve injuries and shell shock, and eventually massage boomed in the second half of the 20th century.
Now massage therapy is ubiquitous around the globe, from Asia, to the Caribbean, to Greenfield, MN. While people who espouse the benefits of massage may have different ideological backgrounds, anyone who's gotten a massage can attest that it brought them relaxation and eased their pain.
Benefits of Massage Therapy in Greenfield, MN
Whether you're receiving one massage, multiple sessions to recover from an injury, or frequently attend massage sessions, massage therapy has numerous benefits that last not just for the next few days, but that can benefit your long-term health:
- Lowered stress and more relaxation
- Lowered blood pressure
- Increased range of motion
- Improved circulation
- Reduced severity and duration of muscle spasms and cramping
- Reduced need for and use of medications
- A better immune system through increased lymphatic circulation
- Improved skin condition
- Increased athletic performance
You'll only see higher increases in these benefits as you incorporate massage therapy into a mainstay in your wellness routine.
Should I Go to Massage Therapy in Greenfield, MN?
Massage therapy can be beneficial to anyone in the Greenfield area and beyond. There are no downsides; when a massage is performed by licensed professionals, it can help anyone relieve stress, gain more range of motion, get rid of minor aches and pains, and live a more enjoyable and pain-free everyday life. Many people who participate in athletic events choose to have frequent massage appointments to help ensure they stay at peak performance. There are also many specific conditions that studies show massage therapy may be capable of alleviating or curing:
Acute Injuries
Massage therapy can be an essential part of the recovery process for many different soft tissue injuries, including sports injuries and injuries sutained in auto accidents. Any sudden injury has a tremendous effect on your body, including pain, swelling, limited range of motion, and the creation of scar tissue. Greenfield, MN massage therapy can help ease nagging symptoms and stimulate the body to heal itself by improving circulation and brining blood and nutrients to an injured area.
Chronic Pain
Some pain and discomfort does not stem from one single event. Often, pain and discomfort can come from not performing everyday tasks with optimal posture, a nagging injury that starts to hurt more as it remains untreated, or just the wear and tear our bodies fall under on the job or do the gardening work. Massage therapy in Greenfield, MN can correct these imbalances and bring your body back to a place where it can feel good every day.
Depression and Anxiety
We're only at our best when we feel great mentally and physically. Depression and anxiety can display themselves physically, and physical injuries can affect our mental health. The Mayo Clinic states that depression and anxiety can cause the following symptoms:
- Increased heart rate
- Chest pain
- Frequently being tired
- Muscle tension
- Trouble falling or staying asleep
- Gaining or losing excessive amount of weight
- Headaches
Massage therapy in Greenfield, MN can help eliminate the physical consequences of depressions by soothing muscle tension and migraines, stabilizing your blood pressure, and sending out dopamine-raising endorphins and hormones such as neurotensin, oxytocin, and cortisol, which reduce stress-related pain and motivate you to be more social.
Massage therapy, in combination with exercise and a proper diet and other treatments, can do wonders for your mental and physical health at the same time.
Prenatal Massage
An expecting mother's body goes under a huge array of changes to their musculoskeletal structure. Massage therapy has been shown to be effective at alleviating many of the physical discomforts women experience while pregnant. It will increase blood flow to areas that weren't receiving much blood, alleviate joint and neck pain, improve sleep patterns, and release much-needed feel-good hormones. Some studies have even suggested that prenatal massage may reduce labor time and labor pain.
While massage usually carries little risk for pregnant women, it's always important to speak with a physician before setting up an appointment to ensure it's safe for you.
Other conditions massage therapy can help treat in Greenfield, MN include:
- Headaches and migraines
- Work injuries
- Digestive disorders
- Upper back and neck pain
- TMJ
Combining Massage Therapy with Chiropractic Treatment in Greenfield, MN
While massage therapy can do wonders for Greenfield, MN residents suffering from a variety of ailments, its full benefits can be unlocked with chiropractic care. Chiropractic and massage offer much of the same benefits, but treat very different parts of the human musculoskeletal system.
Chiropractic care fix structural issues. Through chiropractic adjustments, chiropractors manipulate the joints and spine in order to improve how your body functions. By increasing the space between spinal joints and targeting specific areas, we allow your bones to move with greater ease and elasticity and reduce the strain they put on your nervous system.
Massage therapy treats the soft tissue component. Soft tissue is comprised of ligaments that connect bones and cartilage together, muscles that we use to move our bones, and tendons that join muscles to bones. In essence, our soft tissue works with our bones to keep our bodies in the proper structure and allows us to perform movements. Through micro-traumas, meaning poor posture or degeneration over time, or acute trauma, we develop scar tissue that affects the integrity of our soft tissue, compromising our body's support structure. Massage smooths out scar tissue so the muscles, ligaments, and tendons can act as they should, which then helps the bones function correctly.
Having both treatment methods as part of your wellness routine makes each treatment method more effective. Chiropractic adjustments help the muscles relax for a massage, and massage therapy relaxes the nervous system, enhancing the effects of chiropractic treatment.
There is no risk to either treatment when they are performed by appropriately certified professionals. In many cases, they are more cost-effective than prescription medications for pain relief and swelling reduction. At Total Spine Health & Injury Center, we are licensed and experienced in both types of treatment, making us the ideal location for your injury recovery, pain relief, or general wellness needs.
Other services we offer in Greenfield, MN include:
- Herniated Disc Treatment
- Work Injury Treatment
- Family Chiropractic
- Auto Accident Chiropractors Near Me
- Chiropractor
- Chiropractic Adjustment
- Whiplash Treatment
Call Total Spine Health & Injury Center for Massage Therapy in Greenfield, MN Today
At Total Spine, we take a comprehensive view of your health and wellness; we want to partner with you so that you can feel the best you possibly can. We offer personalized care, aimed at implementing an effective treatment plan to help find you meaningful pain relief in Greenfield, MN. Our licensed massage therapist can treat you with deep tissue, Swedish, myofascial, and trigger point massage, as well as cupping. For effective and long-lasting massage therapy in Greenfield, MN, call us today at (763) 568-7869 or schedule an appointment through our website.