We all heard it, and we all thought about it, but what good will that clear stuff really do for us after a massage? “Drink lots of water after each session, it will help flush out all those toxins.” The famous words given to just about everyone who receives a massage! Drinking water is an important factor after a massage session, and will help you get the most out of your massage.

Massage is soft tissue manipulation that provides an increase of blood flow to our body. Those “feel good spots”, and an “ahh” moment happens when we increase the blood flow to a specific area that has been blocked. The blocked area is usually from muscle tightness, which comes from stress, physical activity, emotion distress or injury. We need a large amount of water after muscle manipulation occurs because these ‘spots’ are potent and toxic to our body and need the assistance of water to be flushed out.

A Toxic World

Toxins enter our muscles through many different ways.

• Physical and emotional stress
• Drinking and smoking
• A poor diet
• Your job
• Coffee
• Pills and Medications
• Sex ( lol…just kidding)

When we put medication in our body to help ease the pain or for any kind of headache or migraine symptom relief, pills leave excess toxins behind.  These toxins than are settled into our muscles causing muscle tightness and spasms. It is also not uncommon to have muscles tighten or go into spasm due to extreme muscle dehydration caused from lack of sufficient water intake.

Physical activity, stress and injuries create the muscle tissues to build-up toxins in specific areas of the body. Lactic acids, stress hormones, and dehydration are all causes of knots. Water is seen as the “liquid drano” for our bodies to flush out lactic acid and metabolic wastes that cause these knots. When a particular working muscle is dehydrated, it searches for a water source and most often clings to other muscle tissue for this water source.

How Does Massage Therapy Help?

When toxins build up in your body you will feel sluggish and pain. Muscle tissues become very dehydrate and nutrient deprived which will cause more pain and a lack of energy. Massage Therapists have to break apart these tissues which can be painful but for most individuals this is a “feels good moment” because we create more blood flow to the specific dehydrated muscles. When these are broken down and the tissue is back in its normal state, we need water to help keep the muscle tissue hydrated and healthy.

Water is an undervalued tool for the body and it has so many benefits. It helps with headaches, hunger, general hydration, organ health, and weight loss. By the way, it’s always a good idea to empty your bladder before you get started with your massage. If you metabolize quickly, you may start detoxing on the table (well your bladder will get full), and you may want to go use the restroom right after if not during the massage. Next time when you go to your massage, drink a little before your session, and a little more after. Just drink up and be merry!

How much water do I need on a daily basis?

“A simple rule is to take your weight in pounds, divide in half, and drink that number of ounces of water. So for a person how weighs 150lbs, you should be drinking 75 ounces of water. Do not over-drink, thinking that you can overcome months or years of under-drinking by drinking a lot in a few days. Drink your amount (as calculated above) daily & your body will fully re-hydrate over a long period of time.” (Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, M.D).

This article was contributed by Andrea Naugle

to learn more about this sports massage therapist click here

Addiction is a problem affecting more and more people’s lives. In a recent article (July 2007) in Time magazine it was stated that about 18.7 million people are dependent upon or abuse alcohol. An estimated 3.6 million people are dependent on drugs, and a whopping 71.5 million people can’t kick their tabacco habit! On top of these substance abuse figures, behavioral addictions like gambling, sex, shopping and internet addictions are also an the rise.

The good news is that there is hope. In recent years treatment trends for addiction have taken on a more holistic approach by adding massage therapy and bodywork to the standard regime of 12 step programs, nutritional counseling and psychotherapy to help direct individuals to a healthier lifestyle.

According to the Institute for Integrative Healthcare studies: “Massage has the unique ability to affect all of our layers of our being, from the spiritual plane all the way up to and including our body’s chemical composition”. Since people in all stages of addiction recovery seem to experience a painful and uncomfortable gap between their body and mind massage would seem to be the perfect compliment to aid in reuniting the addict with their physical body and to feel more at home in their own skin.

How does massage therapy help?

On a physiological level massage stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve slows the heart rate, facilitates food absorption and reduces cortisol, known as the “stress” hormone, and other neurotransmitters in the brain. It is thought that all addictions have their root in anxiety and/ or depression. Depressed people and addicts alike have very little vagal nerve activity and lower dopamine and serotonin levels.

According to Brigitte Mars, author of “Addiction Free Naturally,” addicts use substances as a way to ignore certain messages from the body. Mars states that massage can address two of the most prevalent reasons for addiction. First, low blood sugar often triggers an addiction. Many addictive substances- alcohol, drugs and even tobacco have the ability to effect sugar levels in the blood. Massage can help to reduce physical cravings by releasing pent up emotions. Secondly, Mars says that individuals with addictions frequently have poor oxygenation metabolism and are shallow breathers. Massage by its very nature brings about body awareness and deep relaxed breathing thus bathing the bloodstream with life giving oxygen.

Using various massage techniques

Different massage modalities can be employed at different stages of recovery. Swedish massage can offer help by relaxing tight muscles that harbor holding patterns due to structural, mechanical or emotional blocks as well as promote detoxification of the lymphatic system. Craniosacral work can help the addict realign themselves and become more deeply centered. Myofascial release work can help rid the body of pent up emotions and unhealthy muscular patterns. Reiki or energetic therapies can help move stuck energy and balance the subtle bodies. And a soothing hot stone massage helps slow down the nervous system and puts the client in a slightly altered state where deep healing can take place.

No matter what stage of addiction recovery a person is at massage can be a helpful tool. By helping the client to increase levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the chemical messenger that is responsible for making us feel “happy” we can help retrain the pleasure pathways in the brain and help them make better choices when seeking comfort for themselves. The physical, emotional and spiritual components of recovery can all be directly benefited by the healing power of massage and therapeutic touch.

This article was contributed by Aeriol Ascher aka Reiki Angel Massage. To book a massage with Aeriol visit our website at www.rpm-therapy.com