Monday, February 13, 2012

Some Of The Best Types Of Massage Therapy

By Owen Jones


It is probable that massage has existed in every country for thousands of years. You can just picture a caveman coming back from a hunt and his spouse massaging his shoulders and likewise when his wife has been up all night with a crying baby.

However, not every country is famous for a massage technique. Here is a list of some of the most well-known massage techniques.

The most common kind of massage in the USA, and presumably Sweden, is Swedish massage. This is probably because it is soothing and relaxing. It involves gently massaging oil into the body with the hands.

Similar to Swedish massage is aromatherapy or using perfumed oils for the massage. Lavender oil is very common for this type of massage because it is good for the relief of stress.

A few massage techniques use warm stones or pebbles. The masseur puts the warm pebbles on various points to relieve muscle pain and stress. Frequently the pebbles are placed on the spine. Another variant of hot stone massage involves a gentle massage with the hands or the stones.

Deep tissue massage means massaging slowly with robust pressure across the grain of the muscle. Deep tissue massage is particularly useful for those with tight muscles, postural problems and repetitive strain injury. This type of massage is fairly rough and may make you ache for a day or two afterwards before you start feel better.

Shiatsu is one of the Japanese forms of massage therapy. It involves using the finger tips to apply pressure to acupuncture meridians. The pressure is applied for between two to eight seconds and is done on the same lines as acupuncture. It is soothing but does not cause soreness.

Thai massage is a little like Shiatsu in that pressure is applied to pressure points but it differs in that joints are alternatively compressed and stretched in a similar manner to yoga, but the masseur does all the work, the client merely has to supply a compliant, non-resisting body. Thai massage is quite strong and many people hurt for a day or two after a two hour session, but it can cure a bad back.

A lot more gentle variations of massage are those kinds intended for babies and pregnant women. It is intended to relieve stress and anxiety rather than cure aching bones, joints and muscles. It is fairly safe when practiced by someone who has been taught.

Reflexology is foot massage. Advocates of reflexology believe that areas of the foot are related to internal organs and so massaging a part of the foot is the same as massaging, say, the heart.

On top of these are various sorts of sports massages and back massages which are specialized in that they just work on the area that is likely to have been injured in a particular sport. There are other kinds of massage as well, like scalp and head massage, but these are the most prevalent.




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