Charlotte Bodywork.com ~ About Massage

About Massage...

The field of massage therapy has an inherent set of principles that it's practitioners abide by. Many of these are a part of why people choose to become and stay in massage therapy as their chosen career and calling.

1.) Primum No Nocere (First Do No Harm) This is the mother rule of health professions. Help where you can, but first do not harm to the patient. By knowing your current health conditions, medications, and situations, a massage therapist can professionally assess whether or not massage therapy would be an appropriate and helpful treatment for you.

2.) Vis Medicatrix Naturae (The Healing Power of Nature) So many times we make our personal state of health and well being much more complicated than it really is. We tend to overlook the simple things. We ignore the signs and signals that our body has been trying to give us and then wonder, "why don't I feel well?" Nature has a way of bringing balance into our lives. It WILL balance things out to make them run smoothly again. It has to in order to protect itself.

The human body is a stunning, simple yet complex machine. It has more little intricate parts and processes than you could ever imagine. After getting into massage therapy, I was simply dumbfounded as to why we are not all given an in depth anatomy and physiology course in high school? I had no idea that my body had all this stuff going on all of these years! It has been talking to me (and sometimes yelling) about the various things that I had been putting it through. The main problem was that I didn't know how to listen to it.

One of massage therapy's aim is to normalize the body's tissues. Seek out that which is not in the acceptable range and work on changing that situation. If a joint has reduced range of motion, then the muscles surrounding that joint are usually involved (unless there has been joint damage). If a muscle is tight, loosen it. If a muscle is weak, stimulate it, etc..etc...etc.. The physical processes that occur as a result of a therapist's intervention allow the body to do what it does best - heal itself. One of the benefits of this is that it allows you to become more aware of what is going on in your body. Whenever you hear a massage therapist talk about sessions creating an 'awareness', this is exactly what they are talking about. You are in effect, taking mini lessons in learning how to listen to your body when you have a session.

3.) Tolle Causam (Treat the Cause) The body shows symptoms when something is out of balance. For example, when you have a cold virus, your nose will run. Your sniffles are the symptom and the cold is the cause. Certain types of massage therapy look at conditions, pain, and dysfunction from the functional point of view. "What has happened to make this problem occur?" Treat the cause and the symptoms will disappear. The main thing that you need to remember in this regard is that muscle pain does not always occur where the problem is coming from. Many times there are referred pain patterns involved. (This means the pain is being caused by a problem in a different area.)

For more information or to make an appointment contact Adonna 704-491-4799