Massage
Chinese Massage
Chinese remedial massage, also called Tui-Na, is an ancient healing art of Traditional Chinese Medicine which has been practised in China for over 4000 years. The name Tui Na comes from “Tui” meaning ‘push’ and “Na” meaning ‘grasp’. It is based on the meridian and acupuncture point system whereby a range of techniques are used to strengthen Qi (vital life energy) and unblock stagnation. This means that Tui Na not only works on muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, but is also effective in treating certain internal conditions.
Tui-Na is particularly useful in helping:
- muscular, tendon, ligament and joint pains
and injuries including sports injuries - stress, anxious, depressed mood, moodiness
- chronic headaches, migraines
- digestion problems including bloating, irritable bowel
- loss weight
Remedial massage
When muscles and tendons become damaged or impaired, knotted and tense or immobile, Remedial Massage provides a healing treatment that can be gentle or strong, deep or shallow.
Remedial massage holistically treats the whole body and traces the discomfort as far as possible back to the original cause, healing both the cause of the disorder as well as the symptoms.
It uses several specialized techniques to locate and repair damage and to support and speed up the body’s own repair mechanisms. The massage is applied directly to the skin using a lubricating medium, usually almond oil, which ensures that the muscles associated with the disorder and mobilization of the joint is deeply penetrated.
Sports Massage
Sports massage is designed to prevent and treat injuries and conditions that are associated with exercise. It can often be quite strenuous and is meant to relieve and reduce the stress and tension that can build up within the body’s soft tissues while exercising. It can be carried out before, during, or after playing sport or exercising and uses techniques that are designed to increase endurance and performance, to minimize the chances of injury and, if there is an injury, to reduce the recovery time.
Key benefits of Remedial Massage include: the stimulation to the blood supply allowing toxins in the muscles to be removed; the calming of the peripheral nervous system to ease pain and discomfort; and the toning and relaxing of muscles to improve joint mobility. An improvement to the health of the cells, the repairing of tissues, and the easing of stiffness and tension can also be experienced through therapeutic relaxation.
Sessions usually take 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the whether the practitioner will just address a specific area or give a whole body massages. As oil is used, it is necessary for the patient to be unclothed for the treatment.
Sports massage can treat a variety of ailments and injuries that may occur as a result of exercise. It also has other benefits that allow you to train or exercise more efficiently. Some benefits that sports massage has include:
- draining away fatigue
- relieving swelling
- reducing muscle tension
- promoting flexibility
- injuries that occur as a result of overexertion or overuse
- relieving pain
- preventing injuries
- increasing blood circulation and lymph flow
- treating injuries such as shin splints, elbows pain, sprains and strains, corked thighs etc.
Relaxation massage
The main purpose of relaxation massage is to increase the oxygen flow in the blood and release toxins from the muscles. Some other benefits include shortening recovery time from muscular strain, increased circulation without increased heart load, stretching of ligaments and tendons, skin stimulation and soothing of the nervous system. It reduces stress, both emotional and physical, and is suggested as part of a regular program for stress management.