How Effective Is Massage Therapy?

Massage therapy is a treatment that is on the rise because of its success in the studies that have been conducted and are happening now.  Many research facilities such as the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Touch Research Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the National Institutes of Health are taking on the challenge of studying the effectiveness of massage therapy.  The results have been very positive, and through these studies, some findings have been that massage therapy increases the body’s “killer cells”, therefore making the immune system more efficient, and it makes people more alert and aware of their surroundings, enabling them to carry out their daily tasks more efficiently and experiencing less stress, tension and anxiety.  For athletes, massage therapy before exercise has shown that muscles become more pliable enabling athlete to reach their maximum potential during their performances. After a hard workout, massage therapy has also shown to reduce muscle spasms and the “metabolic buildup” such as lactic acid, enabling the athlete to recover from the workout more quickly and reduce the risk of injury.