Massage for Pain Reduction Cairns

Massage and Other Therapies for Pain Reduction.

Massage is one of the old and highly effective touching treatments widely ignored in the west until recently. Whether utilized as a method of relaxation, or as a more complex detoxifying therapy, its benefit for a wide range of conditions, including pain relief, is no so well recognized that it is in growing use in hospitals and nursing clinics everywhere.

The effectiveness of massage lies in stimulating blood flow, relaxing nerves and muscles and in the psychological benefits of feeling cared for. The variations available are enormous, from the relatively strong techniques used in Swedish massage to method so gentle that they hardly seem like massage at all, and have more in common with the of tissue manipulation used by some osteopaths or ‘hands-on’ healers. Massage can cover all the boy or just a small area, such as the neck and shoulders. The most effective massage is that applied to the entire back. The person being massaged should lie horizontal on a comfortable but firsm surface in a warm roo. It is a good idea to have a couple of large towels at hand also to keep the person warm. The massager should use a nuetral oil, so that the hands slide easily over the skin.

Massage is effective for aches and pains due to headaches, migraines, depression, eyestrain, sinusitis, neck strain, backache, coughs, bronchitis, pleurisy, emphysema, asthma, angina, poor circulation, stomachache, constipation, diverticulitis, fibromyalgia, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, feet and ankle pain, gout, arthritis, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, eczema/dermatitis, pregnancy, childbirth, and cancer.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy treats the body with oils distilled from plants considered to have healing prperties. Most of the plants used are well-known and often powerful medicinal herbs. The concentrated oils are known as essential oils and are notable for their stong and characteristically pleasant odor.

The word aromatherapy means smell therapy and so includes treatment by inhaling and vaporizing the oils. But these days aromatherapy is generally taken to mean massaging with aromatic oils, and claims to be the continuation of a tradition practiced widely in the ancient world, particularly Egypt.

Research in France, where the therapy was revived in the 1920s by chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse, has shown that massaged essential oils penetrate the skin, moving into the bloodstream and the lymphatic system within four hours – much as medicinal herbs or drugs do. But therapists believe that the smells given off also have therapeutic value through the olfactory nerves in the nose. Others claim psycholigcal effects for the oils similar to those made for flower remedies.

It is now well estabished that massaging essential oils can help with a wide range of pain problems, from angina and arthritis to migraine and backache. In addition to working like any herb, they also tone and relax, so helping to ease tension and improve mobility. Most people find the overall effect so pleasurable that is is not surprising that the therapy is also said to benefit depression and fatigue.

Aromatherapy is effective for aches and pains due to headaches, migraines, depression, earache, neck strain, backache, coughs, bronchitis, asthma, pleurisy, emphysema, palpitations, angina, stomachache, fibromyalgia, bursitis, gout, arthritis, osteoporosis, anklyosing spondylities, heat rash, boils, blisters, tinea/ringworm, eczema/dermatitis, childbirth and much more.

Electronic Devices

A number of devices for pain relief are now widely advertised, costing from a few dollars or pounds to several hundred. Though they appear to be very different, they all work by stimulating increased blood flow to the affected area, and interfering with pain messages getting to the brain. In effect they do mechanically exactly what we do when we ease the pain of banging oursleves by rubbing the spot. Rubbing not only increases blood flow, which accelerates the healing process, but ‘distracts’ the nervous system, so that pain signals do not get thorugh. Hand-held vibrating massgers, infrared toners, and soundwave devices do this with varying degrees of success, often depending as much on how comfortable the user feels with them as on any direct therapeutic effect.

More subtle devices that make used of the invisible waves of the electromagnetic spectrum, notably electricity and magnetism, have an established and growing, record of helping witht eh symptoms of both acute and chronic pain. The best known method, now utilized in many conventional pain clinics throughout the world, is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or TENS. A new generation of devices that use magnetic frequencies below 25 Hz for pain relief is increasingly popular, and appears to be having some good success. Such devices are less readily available than the toners and massagers as a means of self-help, however, because of the need, in most caes to consult a practitioner before starting and for supervision.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is the use of a device that sends electrical impulses from a battery or batteries to the nerves from electrodes attached to the surface of the skin at specific places on the body, usually on or near the site of the ache or pain. It works on the principle of the gate control theory.

The electrical impulses effectively fool the body into not feeling pain by blocking out the pain sensations trying to get through the pain gate. Since its development in the early 1970s Tens has proved one of the most effective pain-relie ing therapies now available for both acute and chronic pain. It is especially useful for acute pain, providing up to 80 per cent relief for all types of pain, and 50 percent for chronic pain. Recent developments in manufacturing mean the TENS devices are now available for home use.

Please phone Tanya on 0408 054 538 to discuss your painful condition.

massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns/massage for pain reduction cairns