Manual Therapy & Pain Control

Massage affects pain in several different ways:

• By addressing the source of the pain and stoping the nociceptive (painful) nerve firing
• By breaking the pain cycle and eliminating the original source of the pain by increasing blood flow to the ischemic (decrease in oxygen supply) tissue
• Altering the processing of pain stimuli in the central nervous system, by producing neurochemicals (endorphins and enkephalins) in the brain
• By affecting the processing of nociceptive firing by the peripheral nervous system. Therefore, pain intensity can temporarily be reduced for a period of minutes or hours through additional sensory input

In summary

Massage reduces and manages pain that arises from a variety of sources, such as trauma, post-surgery, headache, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and terminal illness.