Massage Therapy St. Louis Park, MN
Massage Therapy in St. Louis Park, MN. Are you suffering from nagging neck or back pain that won't go away? 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 St. Louis Park, MN are turning to massage therapy for lasting relief. Total Spine Health & Injury Center is dedicated to helping those in St. Louis Park, MN feel their best. If feeling good every day has escaped you for far too long, get in touch with Total Spine today at (763) 568-7869 or contact us online.
Massage therapy is becoming a preferred treatment option for many in St. Louis Park, MN and throughout the United States. In 2021, a quarter of men and over 20% of women had at least one massage appointment. Through a variety of techniques massage brings much-needed nutrient-rich blood to a neglected area, and loosens up muscles that have become stuck together, optimizing your mobility. 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 proven to help relieve pain and treat and prevent injuries.
A Brief History of Massage Therapy
Massage therapy has been around for at least 5,000 years. It had widespread use in India, China, and Egypt 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 concept that disease was caused by imbalance or stress, about 5,000 years ago, if not earlier. Chinese texts documenting the benefits of massage therapy appeared. In Egypt, tomb paintings from around the same time show people massaging each other with their elbows, and the Egyptians are credited with inventing reflexology about two centuries later. Around 3,000 years ago, Japanese monks who had traveled in China brought message therapy back to Japan, which grew into amna, or traditional Japanese massage. In all of these regions, people who practice massage believed that massage was crucial to optimal balance, whether within their bodies, minds, or with the outside world.
Massage Makes Its Way West
Around 800 BCE, massage therapy became popular in Greece, where Greek athletes utilized it to prepare their bodies before competition. In the 5th century BCE, Hippocrates began incorporating it into his healthy living combination of proper diet, exercise, and fresh air. He told other physicians to use "friction" or "rubbing", and created a foundation for its use in the West by noting the positive effect massage has on muscles. Roman physician and Hippocrates believer Galen incorporated massage into his practice 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 1600s. It was introduced in the United States to treat World War I soldiers for nerve injuries and PTSD, and eventually massage boomed in the second half of the 20th century.
Today massage therapy is used around the globe to treat countless conditions and disorders, from Asia, to Europe, to St. Louis Park, MN. While people who espouse the benefits of massage may have different ideological backgrounds, patients all over the world have found it to bring them relaxation and eased their pain.
Benefits of Massage Therapy in St. Louis Park, MN
Whether you're making one appointment for some aches and pains, multiple sessions to help treat an injury, or choose to get massages often, massage therapy has numerous benefits that pay off not just for the rest of the day, but that can contribute to long-term positive life changes:
- Lowered stress and increased relaxation
- Lowered blood pressure
- Increased movement
- Improved circulation
- Less muscle spasms and cramping
- Reduced need for and use of medications
- Increased immunity through increased lymphatic circulation
- Improved skin condition
- Peak performance in athletics
You'll only see higher increases in these benefits as you incorporate massage therapy into a consistent part of your wellness routine.
Is St. Louis Park, MN Massage Therapy Right For Me?
Massage therapy can help improve the life of anyone in the St. Louis Park area and beyond. There are no downsides; when a session is carried out by a certified massage therapist, 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 athletes 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:
Injuries From Trauma
Massage therapy can be a vital part of the recovery process for countless soft tissue injuries, including sports injuries and car accident injuries. Any sudden injury causes a variety of complications and symptoms, including pain, swelling, limited range of motion, and scar tissue building up over your soft tissue. St. Louis Park, MN massage therapy can reduce the negative symptoms of your injuries and stimulate the body to heal itself by improving circulation and brining blood and nutrients to an injured area.
Chronic Injuries
Some pain and discomfort does not stem from one single injury. Frequently, pain and discomfort are the result of not performing everyday tasks with optimal posture, a lingering injury that gets worse as it remains untreated, or just the wear and tear our bodies experience at our employment or do the gardening work. Massage therapy in St. Louis Park, MN can smooth over scar tissue and elongate muscles to help you achieve pain relief you haven't felt in years.
Depression and Anxiety
Are physical and mental health is intertwined. Depression and anxiety result in physical symptoms, and physical injuries can affect our mental health. The Mayo Clinic states that depression and anxiety can cause the following symptoms:
- Increased heart rate
- Tightness in the chest
- Frequently being tired
- Muscle tension
- Insomnia
- Gaining or losing excessive amount of weight
- Headaches
Massage therapy in St. Louis Park, MN can help alleviate these symptoms by reducing muscle tension and migraines, stabilizing your heart rate, and releasing dopamine-raising endorphins and hormones such as neurotensin, oxytocin, and cortisol, which relieve pain caused by stress and motivate you to be more social.
Massage therapy, when used alongside exercise and a proper diet and other treatments, can do wonders for your mental and physical health at the same time.
Massage For Pregnant Women
An expectant mother experiences an incredible array of changes to their musculoskeletal structure. Massage therapy has been shown to be effective at alleviating much of the pain and discomfort women experience while pregnant. It will encourage blood flow to body parts that weren't receiving much blood, alleviate joint and neck pain, help you get better sleep, and release endorphins. There is even some research that suggests that massage may make labor shorter and less painful.
While massage is generally safe for pregnant women, you should still consult with your doctor before undergoing any type of treatment in case the specifics of your pregnancy makes massage less than safe.
Massage therapy in St. Louis Park, MN has also been effective at treating:
- Headaches and migraines
- Work injuries
- Digestive disorders
- Upper back and neck pain
- TMJ
Combining Massage Therapy with Chiropractic Treatment in St. Louis Park, MN
While massage therapy can do wonders for St. Louis Park, MN residents suffering from a variety of ailments, its full benefits can be unlocked with chiropractic care. Chiropractic and massage can help treat many of the same injuries and conditions, but treat very different parts of the human musculoskeletal system.
Chiropractic care addresses structural issues. By performing chiropractic adjustments, chiropractors manipulate the joints and spine in order to improve how your body functions. By extending the spine and performing quick, targeted thrusts on the joints, we allow your bones to move with greater ease and elasticity and reduce the strain they put on your nervous system.
Massage therapy targets issues with soft tissue. Soft tissue is comprised of ligaments that connect bones and cartilage together, muscles that we use to move our bones, and tendons that connect muscles to bones. Basically, our soft tissue is kind of a "pulley system" that holds things in place. Through micro-traumas, meaning poor posture or repetitive everyday tasks, or acute injuries, we develop scar tissue that affects the integrity of our soft tissue, causing problems for our body's support structure. Massage helps fibers lay down in the correct configuration so the muscles, ligaments, and tendons can act as they should, which then allows the bones to do their job.
Having both treatment methods as part of your wellness routine prolongs the effects of both and ensure both treatments work optimally. 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 many different conditions. At Total Spine Health & Injury Center, we are licensed and experienced in both types of treatment, making us the ideal location for getting the relief you've been looking for.
Other services we offer in St. Louis Park, 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 St. Louis Park, MN Today
At Total Spine, we take a holistic view of your health and wellness; we want to work alongside you so that you can feel the best you possibly can. We treat our patients with personalized care, aimed at creating an effective treatment plan to help ease whatever ailment you're seeking massage therapy for in St. Louis Park, 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 St. Louis Park, MN, call us today at (763) 568-7869 or contact us online.
