Massage Therapy

An individual moving through recovery to overcome addiction or address mental health disorders will encounter a great deal of change. Navigating this discomfort is an essential part of the recovery process, and overcoming these emotional hurdles can take a lot of planning and time.    While facing one’s unique trials throughout the recovery process, massage therapy can be utilized to address the physical and emotional distress that may be prevalent throughout the day. Massage therapy’s relaxation and meditative properties can be instrumental in providing necessary breaks for the body and mind, offering a degree of ease amidst stress and change.

Massage therapy has helped millions of people with tension and stress. The American Massage Therapy Association found that in 2015, massage therapy was nearly a $12.1 billion industry. In a general sense, massage therapy involves “pressing, rubbing, and manipulating the skin, muscles, tendons, and ligaments”, according to Mayo Clinic. There are several diverse types of massage therapy, including:

With many different methods of treatment available, you are sure to find something that will best suit your needs. For some, holistic massage therapy provides a non-intrusive way of healing that is derived from the direct needs of their body. Holistic massage therapy is “an individual treatment that is specifically tailored to each client” and considers their mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing, according to the Massage Training Institute in the UK. The National Holistic Institute claims that holistic modalities of massage can include shiatsu, traditional Chinese medicine, hand and foot reflexology, acupressure, energy work, rocking and shaking, and Thai massage. As you can see, these forms of massage take a more Eastern approach as compared to Western approaches, which include hot stone massage, aromatherapy, prenatal massage, deep tissue massage, and more. Massage therapy has been known to alleviate pain, such as lower back pain, neck and joint pain, headaches, and more. Sore muscles, increased circulation, increased nerve flow, lower blood pressure, improved immune system, ease of depression and anxiety, increased flexibility and mobility, and reduced inflammation are a few other benefits that holistic massage therapy can provide. The following go into more detail about each type of holistic massage therapy:

Treatment centers are frequently criticized for offering “luxury” treatments like massage therapy to their clients who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Massage is a healing therapy and treatment modality. Going to treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is about more than simply learning how to quit using drugs and alcohol. It is meant to be a time for healing, mind, body, and spirit. Most people are unaware of the fact that drug and alcohol addiction lives in the body as much as it does the mind. Harmful substances are harmful to the body inside and out. Massage therapy provides a therapeutic healing touch which is soothing and deeply relaxing. Above all else, recovery is a form of stress management. Massage therapy helps clients reduce their stress and learn to relax, which helps them not produce symptoms of craving. Feeling connected to healing human energy, massage work can help to break up toxins in the body, release stored up emotional energy, improve overall health, and create deep relaxation. Massage therapy releases emotional energy which can reduce the effects of depression and anxiety: Eastern forms of therapeutic treatment like massage believe that emotion is energy and that emotional energy is stored in the body when it is not properly released. A body that is tight and tense can create blockages where the emotions cannot get out. For the therapeutic healing process, massage therapy can serve as an aide to emotional release and processing, which is often a challenge for addicts and alcoholics. Massage therapy increases the production of dopamine and serotonin while it decreases adrenaline and cortisol: Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters in the brain which act as chemical messengers to other parts of the brain. Communicating pleasure and happiness, the stimulation of these hormones help the brain balance out the deficit of dopamine and serotonin caused by drug and alcohol addiction. In addition, the increase of dopamine and serotonin production can help reduce the adrenaline and cortisol in the body, which are stress hormones.