By Guest Blogger Adam Brown, LMT, NHE, MCT When most people think of sports massage, they typically imagine a lot of stretching and deep tissue work. They might even imagine pain. Good therapists vary their pressure greatly according to their client’s comfort level and desired depth of bodywork, but it is not uncommon for greater amounts of pressure in localized areas to cause a pain response in the massage recipient. This is typically characterized by muscle “guarding” or tensing and either a sharp inhale of breath or holding the breath all together. Both of these responses tend to be counterproductive as far as the overall goal of most massage sessions is concerned, which is to provide therapeutic relaxation to muscles and soft tissue in order to reduce pain and tension and decrease injuries. Another often overlooked positive outcome of effective massage work is a relaxation of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has two branches, or two sides of the coin, if you will: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. You may have heard these two branches referred to colloquially as the “fight or flight” and the “rest and digest” systems respectively. If you struggle with keeping the two straight, just think ‘S’ for stress and sympathetic and ‘P’ for peace and parasympathetic. The primary functions of the parasympathetic nervous system are well illustrated by the phrase “rest and digest” (and we could also add reproduce). These functions allow the body to build, repair, heal, and carry on life, so to speak. Conversely, the sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear in dangerous and/or stressful situations, elevating the heart rate, increasing muscle tone, and essentially getting one ready for action. From the viewpoint of evolutionary biology, we can understand how it would be beneficial to quickly go from a state of rest to a state of flight if we think of our ancestors’ needs to evade predators at a moment’s notice in order to survive. Our bodies function best when they can actively switch between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems as our environment dictates. However, our achievement driven Western society has conditioned most of us to remain in a constant state of fight or flight. While there is not necessarily a saber-toothed tiger chasing us on a regular basis, as there may have been for our ancestors, we often experience similar physiological response to the stressors of daily life -- running late for work, traffic on the daily commute, public speaking, first dates, parenting, etc. And these metaphorical predators never quite seem to go away as we hold on to them in our anxious thoughts and worries from day to day. The reason it is important to understand the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system and the effect massage has on them is that being stuck in a constant state of fight or flight (or freeze) has been shown to have many health detriments, such as weight gain and a depressed immune system. The pressure applied in a moderate to deep tissue massage (done without eliciting a pain response) can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system and slow down the sympathetic nervous system. So, yes, it’s actually good for you to learn to relax! ![]() One of the best ways I have found to provide my clients the deep, relaxing pressure they desire while eliciting as little pain response as possible, is a specialized massage technique known as Ashiatsu. This modality utilizes the therapist’s feet instead of their hands to provide broad, deep pressure. Ashiatsu is ideal for achieving deeper pressure with little to no pain because the surface area of the ‘tool’ applying the pressure is increased and long, smooth, stokes are used to maintain consistent pressure throughout. One of my clients said after their “ashi” session that it reminded them of the comfort of a weighted blanket. In addition to the benefits to your muscles and nervous system, Ashiatsu can also help improve posture and circulation, decrease chronic pain, and improve joint mobility. Ashiatsu is available at our sports massage center for sessions of 60 or 90 minutes. Schedule your Ashi massage today and let me help chase your saber- tooth tigers away! Sources: Moderate pressure of massage can cause a parasympathetic nervous system response: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19283590 Increased sympathetic nervous system activity demonstrate in obese patients: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5606212/
1 Comment
Nice article!!! The “saber-toothed tiger” pulled me in ;)
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNicholas Garman, LMT NSCA-CPT Archives
March 2022
Categories |
Kalamazoo Athletic Wellness | tHE kaw bLOG |