How Massage Therapy Works With the Rest of Your Treatment Plan

Many people understand how chiropractic care and physical therapy can help relieve pain and speed healing from injuries and illnesses. It may not be as clear where massage therapy fits in. However, massage therapy can enhance other forms of treatment, reduce stress, and promote the healing process as well. Here’s how:

Improving Blood Flow to Support the Healing Process

Chiropractic treatment and massage therapy actually have a lot in common. They both aim to improve blood flow to affected areas, as this boosts immunity, helps you heal faster, and can reduce pain in some cases. Chiropractic care seeks to do this by adjusting the spine, while massage therapy warms the muscles and tissues. Essentially, chiropractic focuses on the musculoskeletal system, while massage therapy focuses on the soft tissues. Hint: Both need to be healthy for you to feel your best!

Massage therapy is also useful before chiropractic treatment, as it helps relax the soft tissues, making manipulations easier. It can also help after chiropractic treatment, to flush out toxins from the soft tissues.

This combination of treatments promotes relaxation, as well as helping the body heal itself faster. With improved circulation, more oxygen and nutrients can reach your tissues, making you stronger. Chiropractic care and massage therapy work together to help you feel better faster.

Helping You Relax and Recover After Physical Therapy

The goal of physical therapy is to help you recover lost strength or function, as well as treating your pain. Physical therapy may involve stretching, strength work, or other exercises to improve how your muscles function. Because you are working to improve how your body works, sometimes you may have temporary pain or discomfort, even though long term, physical therapy should reduce your pain.

Since massage therapy helps deliver oxygen and nutrition to your muscles, it can help you recover and improve faster as you continue to work on physical therapy exercises. Massage also helps to get rid of lactic acid, which can build up in muscles after a workout and cause stiffness. Additionally, it can help you relax and relieve temporary pain associated with working and strengthening muscles.

Helping With Mood and General Relaxation

While massage therapy is useful for physical injuries and discomfort, mental health is just as important—and massage therapy can help with that too. Sometimes when patients come in for acupuncture, JOOVV red light therapy or NuCalm treatments, we also recommend massage therapy. These therapies can work together to relieve stress and help patients struggling with anxiety, as well as stress-related physical symptoms like headaches. Improved blood flow from a massage session can help patients feel more relaxed, and can be combined with other therapies like acupuncture.

Helping You Recover After Surgery

Along with chiropractic care, physical therapy, and other treatments, massage therapy is also useful in post-surgical treatment plans. Convalescing after an operation can leave you feeling stiff and sore. Because of its role in improving blood flow, dispensing with lactic acid, and relaxing the tissues, massage therapy is an effective treatment for post-operative pain and stiffness. It can also speed up the healing process, and make recovery from physical therapy workouts easier.

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