We (our profession) have been discovered!

There was a great article in January/February 2019 edition of The Costco Connection on Massage Therapy, which gave a good overview on the benefits of massage that didn’t downplay our contributions to health care.

The opening line:
Many people consider massages a luxury.

Reading further into the article:
Regular massages help avoid injury. It’s proactive in the sense of keeping muscles moving easily. Massage is a wonderful way to prevent injuries, pain and inflammation.

Massage promotes blood flow to tight, overworked muscles and tissues that may be injured or inflamed.
Massage breaks up adhesions or knots, to achieve a greater pain-free range of motion.
Massage affects the autonomic nervous system which causes the muscles and body to relax.

Further down:
Massage therapy is good for the brain. Researchers have found massage can help decrease depression, anxiety and stress, helping to improve symptoms from such physical ailments such as migraines and high blood pressure.

Types of massage:
Swedish; manipulating the surface layers to ease tension
Deep tissue; works out deeper muscle knots and tension
Sports; receiving it before/after an event can help reduce the risk of injury AND can help with rehabilitation
Specialty; foot, neck and shoulder, or pregnancy massage are examples

Finding the right therapist usually comes from word-of-mouth or recommendations.

Thanks to Marijke Vroomen Durning for an excellent article in informing the public on the benefits of massage.
Massage helps you to get back to your game, so you can have more play time instead of help time.