Indian head massage has been practised in India for thousands of years, with references to the method in Ayurvedic texts. Indian women used it to help keep their hair in good condition, often using various herbs and oils for added benefits. Invented by women, the therapy later spread to barber shops in India, who would use Indian head massage as part of their service. Indian head massage is now widely available both in India and in the UK.
Regular massage during pregnancy has been shown to help reduce back and pelvic discomfort, improve sleep quality, ease swelling in the limbs, support circulation, and promote a calmer emotional state. As the body adapts to the many changes of pregnancy, massage offers both physical relief and valuable time to slow down, reconnect, and restore balance.
Tuina is a very important component of Chinese medicine alongside acupuncture and herbal prescription. However, Tuina can be a complete healing system in itself as not only does it work on muscle groups, joints, sites of pain and poor circulation, but it works the same meridians and points used in acupuncture and employs the same basic theory as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): "Injury or disease causes blockages in the channels of the body. Blockages cause pain."
The Bowen Technique is a gentle, hands-on therapy that uses precise rolling movements over muscles, fascia, and connective tissue to encourage the body to rebalance, repair, and reset itself. Rather than forcing change through pressure or manipulation, Bowen works by stimulating the nervous system and supporting the body’s natural self-regulation processes.
Different forms of bare footed massage are performed all over the world and have been practised for thousands of years. “Ashi” means foot and “atsu” means pressure in Japanese. Ashiatsu has its origins in India where bare footed technique is called Chavutti Thirummal. In USA Ashiatsu has become very popular thanks to R. Hardee, who westernised this treatment and adopted it for use on a traditional massage table and with the help of overhead bars.
The number one cause is, as can be expected, muscular overload. Muscular overload is not just the physical strain the muscle is put under, but also the degree of strain placed on the neuromuscular control mechanism. The latter being the weak link in the normal function of the muscle. A malfunction in the neuromuscular system is the primary cause of the development of muscle knots.
Dr Sarno is an American Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine who has published several best selling books on the subject, such as: Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection and Mind Over Back Pain. He developed the theory of there being a psychological and emotional basis for back pain and symptoms, after studying the behaviour of his own patients. The theory, also called TMS (tension myoneural syndrome), is based on the belief that it is a psychosomatic illness which is causing chronic back, neck, and limb pain, which is not relieved by standard medical treatments. Although his theory has yet to be accepted by mainstream medicine, he has successfully treated and cured thousands of patients based on his theory.
Neck pain is fairly common, but can appear for many different reasons. This article will take a brief look at the most common causes of neck pain and ways to treat and prevent this problem.
Neck pain is not usually something to be worried about, as it it rarely a sign of a serious illness. It can be caused by sleeping in a bad position, holding the neck still for a long period of time (this can happen when sitting in front of a computer) or putting excessive strain on the neck muscles due to bad posture. Stress and anxiety can also cause the muscles in the neck to tense up leading to neck pain.
Firstly, start treating muscle pain and knots early, either by seeing a massage therapist or by treating it at home.
Heat:
Tight muscles usually have compromised circulation, which means that a little less blood, with it's nutrients and oxygen, reaches the area. It also means that the lymphatic system does not remove waste products from the area as well as it should do. By applying heat to the area, the circulation is improved, speeding up healing time
Dry needling is used to treat muscle knots or trigger points as they are also known. Although dry needling is similar to traditional acupuncture, it differs in that it treats the muscle pain directly and is not based on traditional Chinese medicine. Dry needling is also known as medical acupuncture, as the basis of this therapy is derived and explained by western neuroanatomy and modern scientific study of the musculo-skeletal and nervous systems.
If you are an arthritis sufferer you may be wondering whether massage is a suitable therapy to relieve some of the symptoms of your condition. Thankfully, several recent studies have looked at the effects of massage for arthritis, and we now have a better understanding of whether and how massage works for the symptoms of arthritis.
High blood pressure or hypertension is a fairly common and serious condition. It occurs when the force with which blood is pushed against the walls of the arteries is too high. Blood pressure too high is defined as a reading above 140/90 mm Hg. 140mm Hg being the force with which the heart pumps the blood into the arteries, and 90 mm Hg being the force with which the blood travels in between beats or when the heart is at rest. High blood pressure can go unnoticed for years, as it has few symptoms, however it does increase the risk of heart disease and strokes.
Trigger points can cause a whole host of symptoms such as headaches, neck and jaw pain, low back pain, numbness, tingling or weakness. However, the cause of these symptoms, the trigger point, is usually far removed from the symptom's location. Trigger points cause pain in a distant location, just as the trigger of a gun sends out a bullet to a distant location causing pain when it is pulled.
