Massage is good for everyone. Office workers, doctors, lawyers, and people who work on their feet all day often utilize massage therapy to ease their aches and pains. Military veterans in Tucson may benefit from massages significantly more than the average person. Serving the United States is a highly stressful job, and we should all be thankful to the men and women of the military who stepped up to the plate to protect us all.
The military is a uniquely challenging career path, and the stresses it imposes on the mind and the body can be very significant. Massage therapy has been studied for its effectiveness in contributing to the wellness of military veterans, and results show that massage is one of the most promising complementary therapies available.
Conditions That Often Impact Veterans
Military service is one of the most important jobs in the world. The stresses veterans have faced are among some of the most extraordinary stresses that a person can withstand. This often leaves veterans with conditions impacting their emotional, physical, and psychological wellbeing. Many of these conditions are co-morbid, or occurring at the same time. Often, they’re connected to the same root cause.
Depression
Depression is a relatively common condition, but its implication with military veterans is far more serious. Military veterans living with depression without proper support are at an increased risk of suicidal behavior. Depression often occurs alongside conditions like anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder.
Anxiety
In the military, service members are advised to be constantly vigilant. They need to be aware of their surroundings and concerned with their safety, as well as the safety of the people they’re surrounded by. This constant vigilance can take a toll, even when service members have returned home.
Generalized anxiety disorder is common in military veterans. It often occurs in conjunction with conditions like post traumatic stress and may contribute to conditions like insomnia. It’s hard to get a good night’s rest when you’re constantly wound tight.
Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD)
Post Traumatic Stress, or PTSD, is a condition almost synonymous with the military. Although PTSD can impact all sorts of people who have lived through traumatic events, it is seen in high rates among military veterans. As many as one in 5 veterans experiences PTSD upon their return home.
PTSD is a complex blend of symptoms and sometimes other disorders, including anxiety, insomnia, and depression. People with PTSD have a difficult time coping with ordinary life events, sometimes feeling danger inappropriately. In some cases, individuals who live with post traumatic stress may become progressively more detached from people and events as a coping mechanism to protect themselves from the actualization of trauma.
Insomnia
Many soldiers return home with insomnia. This may be a part of their military conditioning. It’s hard to sleep soundly in a dangerous place, especially when you know you may have to wake up and immediately spring to action at any moment. It’s hard for many soldiers to put this habit home, even when they’re safe and sound in their own beds. Issues like anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and post traumatic stress can often contribute to insomnia.
Chronic Pain From Military Injuries
Military veterans have put their bodies through a lot. As many as 7 in 10 veterans suffer from some kind of chronic pain. This pain can occur anywhere, but back, neck, and shoulder pain are the most common complaints made by veterans to their medical care providers.
How Massage Can Help
Massage can play an important role in mitigating all of the above conditions. This is because massage works on both the body and the mind. Area specific massages can be used to provide relief to aching musculoskeletal systems. Massage encourages muscles to relax and helps to expedite the body’s healing process.
When someone is tense, anxious, upset, or unable to sleep, the body is in a state of imbalance. Hormones like dopamine and serotonin help to calm the body down and promote overall relaxation. This relaxation is both mental and physical, treating the symptoms on both fronts.
Massage encourages the body to release these two crucial hormones responsible for regulating mood and pain response. For this reason, people often seek massage as a treatment for things like anxiety, insomnia, and depression. Studies show that massage may also play a valuable role in mitigating the mood and sleep related symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
Independent studies of massage for these conditions have produced favorable results. Studies with the efficiency of these treatments as they pertain to military veterans have also proven that massage produces favorable outcomes in wellness management.
Starting Massage Therapy
If you’re ready to experience the benefits of massage therapy in Tucson, Greentoes is here to provide them. You can book an appointment online or by phone. If you’d like more information before you’re comfortable proceeding with a massage, simply contact us. We’re always here to answer your questions. We want you to feel safe and welcome with us.