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Healing Art or Pure Pampering? Before I began collecting background information for this article, my husband and I spent a weekend at a New England resort, compliments of a birthday gift certificate for a relaxing getaway. The resort offered golf, tennis and a health spa with pool, fitness center, sauna and massage. I had always thought of massage as a complete luxury -- the ultimate in pampering, -- so I had never allowed myself to sign up for one. Now, with research as an excuse, I signed up immediately. When I arrived at the spa the attendant gave me a terrycloth robe and rubber "slippers," then accompanied me to the women's locker room. She suggested I take a shower, don the robe and slippers and take a sauna while waiting for the therapist to call for me. "Therapist?" I silently noted. "Isn't this person called a masseur or masseuse?" Laura, who introduced herself as a massage therapist, showed me to a darkened room with a cushioned table in the center. Background music of male voices singing Gregorian chants set a soft, relaxing tone. I lay down on my stomach and rested my face on the cushioned, oval structure (open in the middle) that juts off the end of the table. The cushion surrounds the face, thus allowing free breathing while maintaining a straight spine during the massage. After asking me about problem areas and exercise patterns, the therapist applied oils mixed with aromatic herbs to her hands and began to massage my neck and upper back, gently at first with gradually deepening pressure. I squirmed under the deep pressure close to my spine. "My back has always been extremely ticklish," I told her. Laura told me that ticklishness is a defensive reaction from sore or tense muscles, and that the sensation would decrease or disappear as pressure released the tension. I doubted it, but she was absolutely right. After about a quarter hour of back and neck massage, I was able to tolerate the deep pressure completely, with no twinges at all. I have never felt such total relaxation and freedom of motion in my back. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the massage to arms, hands, legs and feet (also without ticklishness). During the treatment Laura answered a few questions about her training. She had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis as a child, and massage therapy greatly alleviated the pain caused by this condition. Fortunately, her symptoms subsided during adolescence, although she still experiences mild symptoms of joint pain. Giving and receiving massage help control and lessen the pain, she says, without medication. She prefers not to take anti-inflammatory medications, because they irritate her digestive system. After we returned home, I interviewed two Connecticut massage therapists: Linda Derick, Director of Education and Program Development at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy (CCMT) and Rosalie Dunn, Massage Therapist and owner of a private group practice in Westport. Ms. Derick has maintained a full-time massage therapy practice for the last 18 years. She has also taught a variety of subjects at CCMT and other schools since 1985 (including technique courses, Professional Foundations, advanced studies in Ethics and supervision of the Student Clinic). In her private practice, Ms. Derick specializes in treatment of women in recovery from the trauma of physical or sexual abuse. "I help them regain comfort with their own bodies through the safe and loving contact of massage." She has also helped patients recover from a variety of physical injuries and those who suffer from chronic pain that hasn't responded to other kinds of treatment. Ms. Derick described some of the benefits of massage for pregnant women, infants (parents and other caretakers are also taught how to massage the infant), adolescents, elderly women who suffer from osteoarthritis and, most generally, people under stress. "Massage introduces the body to new possibilities about how it can feel," says Derick. On a physiological level, stress triggers the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), which floods the body with cortisol and adrenaline for "fight or flight." After the danger has passed, the body returns to its original calm state, unless stressors remain or the person is fearful of their return. Unremitting stress can lead to ulcers, migraines, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, weakened immunity or other chronic conditions, Derick says, conditions that massage can often ease. The stroking and rubbing of massage stimulates the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) to release calming hormones and endorphins that interrupt the stress cycle, reduce tension and help the body return to physiological balance. "Massage is like a lullaby to the nervous system," Derick says. Rosalie Dunn, a massage therapy practitioner in Westport, completed her training at CCMT in 1989. She works with nine associates, six of whom offer a variety of massage treatments, such as sports massage, Reiki and myofacial release. The others in the group are a yoga instructor, a medical herbalist and a psychologist. Dunn specializes in sports massage, geared toward active people and athletes who need relief from sore muscles and tightness after exercise or competition. Deep pressure massage helps speed their recovery. Dunn has seen a great increase in employment of massage therapists who travel with athletic teams. She personally helped set up a massage program for the Olympic athletes at the Atlanta games - more than 200 therapists provided massage to the participants. Massage, both rubbing and stretching, helps "iron out" wrinkles in the connective tissue (called fascia) that surrounds muscles and joints. According to Dunn, the primary goals of massage are to:
Contact Information
Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy
Linda Derick: (860) 667-1886 Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net. Previous columns are available. | |||||||
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