If you enjoy a relatively pain-free life, take a moment to Imagine living with chronic pain. You wake up every morning after a night where you might not have gotten very much sleep. You know that your day will involve pain, and you may not even know where to expect it. But often in several areas of your body. Living with chronic pain also means dealing with depression and anxiety that often accompanies these symptoms.
Fortunately, massage therapy, including massage chair therapy, can provide welcome relief. Massage can improve physical, emotional, and psychological well-being for those who suffer from chronic pain.
What Kinds of Chronic Pain Can Benefit with Massage?
Fibromyalgia and arthritis are two chronic pain syndromes that can be positively impacted by massage therapy. In a study of massage therapy for knee osteoarthritis, a group receiving massage therapy for the pain showed significant improvement in pain, stiffness, and physical function. They increased their range of motion and reduced the time it took them to walk 50 feet.
Even those with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, react positively to massage treatment. ALS is insidious, with muscle weakness or stiffness as early symptoms, progressing to weakness, wasting, and paralysis of the muscles of the limbs and trunk.
An hour-long Swedish massage with a focus around the hips and shoulders brings deeper breathing, visible relaxation, a better mood, and an overall sense of well-being to those who suffer this debilitating form of chronic pain. And the benefits of a single treatment may last for two to three days.
What Kind of Massage and Massage Chair?
Several kinds of massage are effective, all of which a massage chair can provide. Swedish massage focuses on deep and complete relaxation but can also be used to release whole-body cramping and muscle soreness. Swedish massage is an excellent choice for stress relief as well. The Positive Posture Brio offers state-of-the-art tech, including a 3D L-track for rolling, kneading, tapping, pushing in three dimensions on your back and the same styles in three dimensions on your glutes and under your legs.
Deep tissue massage is not for everyone, because it may be too intense. But having a chair with a range of intensity options gives you control over the depth of the treatment. The Panasonic MA-J7, for instance, is crafted to bestow the most lifelike massage in the industry today, Therapeutic deep tissue massage is the trademark of this chair, with adjustable intensity from gentle all the way to “vigorous” and beyond.
Trigger point massage is similar to deep tissue in that it goes much more deeply into the muscle than Swedish massage. Trigger points are tight areas within a muscle that cause pain in another area of the body. Trigger point massage identifies and releases tight points within a muscle: the trigger point. Again, the Panasonic MAJ7 might be a perfect choice. Its hyper-advanced sensors work one hundred times per second to deliver a personalized massage experience to over a thousand points on your back and neck.
The Benefits of Massage
Massage offers a wide range of benefits for addressing chronic pain. It increases serotonin, the body’s natural anti-pain chemical, which reduces pain naturally. As it reduces pain, it increases the range of motion. Everyday movements, as well as more intentional physical exercise, get easier with a trip to your massage chair.
As you sink into the welcoming arms of your chair, anxiety almost immediately melts away and your mood improves. At the end of the day, massage therapy increases your ability to get deep, restorative sleep so you can heal.
Finally, those with debilitating diseases do not receive enough touch as family and friends see them as fragile and are afraid of hurting them. A massage chair can offer a sense of caring touch, even in the absence of the human factor.
Try out a Massage Chair for Your Aches and Pains
Even if your pain isn’t debilitating, you can enjoy the same kind of relief within a few steps anywhere in your home.
Check out your massage chair options here on our website. And don’t hesitate to contact us with questions. We’re here to help you get treatment for whatever ails you.
“Massage Therapy Manages Pain of Chronic Conditions.” Massageenvy.com, 2018, www.massageenvy.com/massage/massage-benefits/manage-pain-of-chronic-conditions/.
“5 Best Types Of Massage That Can Help With Your Pain.” Pain Doctor, 31 Oct. 2018, paindoctor.com/5-types-of-massage-that-can-help-with-pain/.
“The Power of Touch for ALS.” Certification, Licensing and Accreditation for Massage Therapists | AMTA – American Massage Therapy Association, 5 Jan. 2016, www.amtamassage.org/articles/1/news/detail/3001/the-power-of-to.
Syms, Rachel. “Massage + Chronic Pain | Massage Therapy Journal.” Certification, Licensing and Accreditation for Massage Therapists | AMTA – American Massage Therapy Association, 13 Nov. 2013, www.amtamassage.org/articles/3/MTJ/detail/2851/massage-chronic-pain.
