If you’re a senior citizen or you’re looking to promote the health and happiness of a senior citizen you love, a massage just might be the perfect thing. Everyone benefits from massage therapy, but senior citizens will especially be able to experience the relief and serenity that comes from massage. Massage is more than just a pampering experience – it has the ability to make daily life for seniors far more comfortable and fulfilling.
Pain Relief
Many people turn to massage for pain relief. The lymphatic drainage and influx of oxygen rich blood promoted by a massage helps stiff or injured muscles to recover faster. Stimulation of tissue encourages the body to repair itself, making massage therapy an effective treatment for common ailments like sciatica or osteoarthritis. Pain relief will ultimately make every aspect of life easier.
Improved Mobility
A lot of seniors experience muscle stiffness that inevitably leads to mobility problems. When the body is less flexible, many simple tasks become far more complicated. It’s hard to go grocery shopping, take a stroll, or play a few holes of golf when the body feels stiff and achy.
Massage focuses on making the muscles long, lean, and soft. The stiffness is gently pushed away, and the tissue becomes flushed with blood, oxygen, and nutrients. This makes it easier for the entire body to experience fluid motion. Even bending over to tie your shoes is easier when the tension is fully (or at least drastically) removed from the body.
Eases Symptoms Of Certain Medical Conditions
Diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathy, and chronic inflammation symptoms can all be managed through regular massage therapy appointments. Since these conditions often evoke symptoms such as nerve ending pain and swelling, they’re difficult to treat. Doctors may prescribe medications that treat the source of the illness, but pain medications do not actually eliminate the symptoms. Instead, they dull the sensation of the symptoms. The source of the pain can only be lessened or eliminated via therapeutic intervention.
The stimulation that massage provides to the body will encourage natural reparative processes to transpire, restoring the capabilities of weakened or damaged muscles and nerve endings. Many seniors report experiencing immediate relief following a massage, but the continued use of massage is likely to lead to long term relief. Doctors will usually advise senior patients with chronic medical conditions to seek regular massage appointments.
Elevated Mood
Stress, anxiety, and depression affect seniors just as much as they affect the rest of the population. These states of mind have a negative physical impact on the body, disrupting quality of life and making it difficult to relax. Seniors have earned their right to relax – they’ve lived long lives and devoted themselves to their careers and families. They need a mood elevating massage to help them find their calm center.
Massage encourages the body to produce endorphins. Some of these endorphins are natural pain relievers, and others are natural mood elevators. The brain has its own system of producing the chemicals we need to make us feel happy and healthy, and massage prompts the brain to create these natural chemicals. An improved mood, on top of reduced pain, boosts overall quality of life.
Better Circulation
Massage prompts the muscles to eliminate metabolic waste products that often accumulate within tissue. The presence of these products in excess can make muscles feel sore, stiff, or swollen. Massage promotes drainage and enhanced lymph flow, bringing new blood and new oxygen in to replace these fluids that may make seniors physically uncomfortable.
The better the circulatory system functions, the better the body works as a whole. When the circulatory system is functioning at top capacity, supplying blood and oxygen to vital organs and muscles, it’s easier to keep the body in its highest possible state of health. It also boosts the immune system, because the body is able to effectively protected itself against germs and bacteria by sending out disease fighting white blood cells to eliminate them.
More Restful Sleep
It’s hard to keep the engine going when the tank is running on empty. If seniors don’t get enough sleep, they’re bound to feel their lack of energy throughout the day. Massage puts both the body and mind into a healing state, making them both crave deep and restful sleep. Because of the relaxing experience and the newly released endorphins, the body is happy to drift off for eight hours and wake up refreshed. The ease of anxiety and discomfort makes it easy to find a comfortable position to tuck in and stay in until morning rolls around.
Let Us Show You
Greentoes offers several different disciplines of massage. One of our massage therapists would be happy to create the ultimate relaxation experience targeted to the needs of a senior guest. You can book online or by phone for yourself or for a senior you love.