Muscle Tension

Massage plays an important role in helping you deal with your tension.

Muscle tension is like a car that is idling too fast. With muscle tension, your muscles are working hard, but are not doing anything useful. The tension doesn’t help you move and it certainly doesn’t make your muscles stronger. It doesn’t really accomplish anything at all. It does, however, cause a lot of wear and tear on your body. It strains the tendons that hold your muscles to your bones. It pulls the joints tighter together which not only causes horrible grinding and crunching noises, but also causes the cartilage in your joints to wear out. The tension limits your movement, interferes with your co-ordination and may make you more prone to injury.

The tense muscles burn up fuel in your muscles, making you feel tired. They also create the equivalent of car exhaust – toxic waste products that fatigue your muscles and make you feel sore and achy.

Massage helps ease tension in two main ways.

First it helps induce a general relaxation response in your body. Relaxation causes your brain and nervous system to slow down and this, in turn, lowers the tension levels of all the muscles in your body.

Secondly, during the massage, your muscles are pulled and stretched. This physically releases the specific muscles. In addition, the sensations you feel, both consciously and subconsciously, give your brain information about the level of tension that exists in your muscles. This helps your nervous system adjust your body and muscles to a normal level of tone.

The wonderful thing about massage is that you will feel the tension leaving your body immediately.