Heidi Overman, LMT
You have worked hard all your life and you are looking to have a healthy retirement. You do everything you feel necessary to make sure you are as stable as possible for retirement. You have a financial planner, you go to your doctor for your regular check-ups and exams, you exercise and eat healthy. Is that enough? Why don’t you get regular bodywork? Many feel massages are a luxury.
Your muscles are important! They make it possible for you to live an active and viable lifestyle.
If your muscles hurt or are not flexible, your world can become exceedingly small. Pain and discomfort are not what you were hoping for in retirement, and much of what you are going through is muscular.
I have many of my regular clients who often disclose to me, “If I didn’t have regular massage, I can’t imagine how awful my body would feel.” Another said to me, just the other day, “My motorcycle buddies give me a hard time for getting a weekly massage, but they have no idea how good they would feel if they did it.” Yet another disclosed that she gets regular massages to keep calm during her normally stressful workdays.
There are four characteristics of a muscle:
1. Excitability: The ability of the muscle to be stimulated by a nerve impulse
2. Contractibility: The ability of the muscle tissue to shorten & thicken when it’s excited by a nerve impulse
3. Extensibility: The ability of a muscle to lengthen and stretch
4. Elasticity: The ability of a muscle to return to its resting length when there is no signal telling it to contract or lengthen.
Massage works with the muscles to make sure these characteristics are working properly. Pulled muscles, sprains, and tears often happen when these characteristics are not working properly.
Why wouldn’t they be working properly? There are many factors: developing muscle patterns due to repetitive work conditions; injuries; overuse; the aging process; traumatic events, both physical and mental; exercising incorrectly; under use; and many more.
Massage is preventative.
Massage works with your muscles to keep these characteristics working which helps to prevent injuries and keeps muscles flexible and increases your range of motion. In addition, massage helps with high blood pressure, decreases pain and stress, helps detox the body, increases body awareness, and increases mobility, just to name a few other benefits.
If you are interested in a therapeutic massage, please call MEND for an appointment at 520-771-1514. Our website is www.mymendingplace.com and we’re located at MEND Therapeutic Massage and Restorative Skincare, 15920 N Oracle Rd. Ste 170, Tucson, AZ 85739 (next to the Golden Goose).