Back Hurt from Carrying Life’s Weight? Get a Massage!
Back pain and everyday aches can be incredibly uncomfortable and keep you from enjoying life to the fullest, and even being productive. When we’re in pain each day, focusing on work and life activities is near impossible.
Roughly 80% of adults deal with back pain at some point during their lives. It can be even worse if you’re older or larger, involved in vigorous activities, or stand on your feet all day. Worse yet, 54% of Americans say they experience back pain from sitting all day at work. Is there nowhere safe?
To top it all off, paying for treatment can be very expensive. In the US, low back pain is the second most common cause of disability for adult and is responsible for the most missed work. With roughly $50 billion being spent annually on related medical expenses, back pain is no joking matter.
Thankfully, there’s something that can help!
Finding Relief
Fortunately, there are a variety of treatment options available for back pain. Hot packs, stretching, strengthening exercises, physical therapy, and so many more. One of our personal favorites that’s becoming more widely accepted by the medical community is massage.
Best of all, thanks to massage chairs you don’t have to go to an expensive spa or therapist each time you want a massage.
Can Back Massages Really Help Back Pain?
While not too much research has been done on massage, what has been done shows that many people report reduced pain and improved relaxation and wellness after receiving a massage. What’s more, the tight areas of the neck and back can experience greater flexibility once massage and this helps to reduce pain as well. Everyone is different, but a massage can be a wonderful way to ease some discomfort if not all of it.
How Massage Helps
Getting a massage can be wonderfully relaxing in its own right, but there are also several known benefits that can help with back pain, both upper and lower. Some of the chief benefits of massage for back pain include:
- Improved blood flow: It is widely known that increased circulation can help you to heal faster from an injury and studies show that massage therapy can assist to improve overall blood and lymph flow and cut down on soreness.
Additionally, massage therapy can help with vascular function for both those who are active and those who cannot be as physically active as they’d like. No matter the reason, this benefit can be especially helpful for those who don’t have as high an activity level.
- Reduced tension. When there is too much tension in our backs, or in the wrong place, it can cause a lot of discomfort and hinder some of our actions. Massage therapy is clinically shown to reduce muscle tension, which in turn can assist with reducing emotional and mental tension as well. After all, it’s much easier to relax when you’re not in pain.
- Bolstered endorphins. Endorphins, our body’s feel-good chemicals, are produced in the brain and help us to deal with pain among other things. In fact, they’re often called nature’s pain relievers. Massage techniques including acupressure and trigger point therapy can encourage our bodies to produce these endorphins, which lessens pain and produces a sense of well-being.
In fact, in just 15 minutes a massage can jump start our body’s ability to make endorphins, creating a long-lasting feel-good effect for up to 48 hours.
Increase the Impact
When you want to increase the benefits of a massage even more, applying heat during the massage has been shown to create an even greater pain-reducing effect. Warm stone massages, hot towels, and heat packs are ideal add-ons that can help to minimize back pain.
Thankfully, you won’t have to reach for the towel when you use a massage chair that offers heating right in the back of the chair. More and more massage chairs are offering heat because of this benefit, and you can see which of our chairs provide this feature right here.
As you can see massage can be a fantastic way to alleviate your pain and get you feeling more relaxed and loosen tight muscles. If you’re looking to purchase a massage chair and don’t know where to start, take a peek at our Massage Chair Buying Guide. It can help you to determine what’s more important for you in a chair and help you to narrow down the plethora of choices out there.
We’re also more than happy to help you over the phone or through email at info@massagechairplanet.com.