Grand Centre Massage
Our Commitment:
The goal of Grand Centre Massage is straightforward: to positively affect the health and well being of the client.
Numerous physical and mental health benefits have been attributed to massage, including reducing stress and aiding in relaxation, reducing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, increasing blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxing the muscles, reducing chronic pain and improving joint range of motion. Specifically, people have found that therapeutic massage can help manage a variety of conditions:
Physical Benefits:
- relaxes the whole body
- loosens tight muscles
- relieves tired and aching muscles
- increases flexibility and range of motion
- diminishes chronic pain
- calms the nervous system
- enhances skin tone
- assists in recovery from injuries and illness
- strengthens the immune system
- reduces tension headaches
Mental Benefits:
- reduces mental stress
- improves concentration
- promotes restful sleep
- aids in mental relaxation
- Emotional Benefits:
- satisfies your need for caring and nurturing touch
- fosters a feeling of well-being
- reduces the level of anxiety
- increases your awareness of the mind-body connection
Massage therapy is recognized as one of the oldest methods of healing, with references in medical texts nearly 4,000 years old. In fact, Hippocrates, known as the "father of medicine" referenced massage when he wrote, in the 4th century B.C.: "The physician must be acquainted with many things, and assuredly with rubbing."
Actually, massage therapy is not so much rubbing as stroking, kneading, tapping, compression, vibration, rocking, friction, pressure, and various other techniques.
Specific styles of massage therapy include, but are not limited to:
- Acupressure is similar to acupuncture, but without relying on the use of needles. This technique involves pressing on certain points of the body to relieve pain. Acupressure attempts to promote maximal flow of "qi," the vital energy or "life force" believed by some to flow throughout the body.
- CranioSacral Therapy involves massaging the bones of the skull and the lower spine (the sacrum). Proponents of this type of therapy claim that massage can loosen or release restrictions or "blockages" in the body that can contribute to pain and dysfunction.
- Deep-tissue massage uses slow strokes, direct pressure, or friction, applied across the grain of the muscles with the fingers, thumbs or elbows. Deep-tissue massage works deeply into the muscles and connective tissue to release chronic aches and pains.
- Neuromuscular massage is massage applied to specific muscles, often used to increase blood flow, release knots of muscle tension, or release pain/pressure on nerves. One type of this therapy is also known as Trigger Point Therapy, in that concentrated finger pressure is applied to "trigger points" of muscular pain.
- Reflexology is based on a system of points on the hands and feet thought to correspond or "reflex" to other areas of the body. The technique is thus concentrated on particular body parts (most often the feet), but is intended to assist the entire body.
- Rolfing refers to a specific type of massage that relies on deep pressure on tissues that cover muscles and internal organs. Also known as "structural integration," Rolfing aims to align different areas of the body relevant to gravity, i.e., the head, torso, legs, etc.
- Shiatsu/acupressure are systems of finger-pressure massage based on the Asian system of healing, which treats special points along "meridians" — channels of energy flow (or Qi or Chi) in the body. The underlying belief is that blocked meridians can cause physical discomfort, and that techniques applied to specific meridian points can "release" the blockage, thereby balancing energy flow.
- Swedish massage: Generally regarded as the most common form of massage, Swedish massage involves manipulation of the muscles and connective tissues of the body for relaxation or health maintenance. Swedish massage uses five basic massage techniques to relax muscles and body tissues.
- Thai massage utilizes many of the movements from yoga and the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine.
- Trager therapy relies on progressive gentle, rhythmic rocking and stretching techniques to promote easy and free sensations in the body.
Currently there are well over 100,000 massage therapists practicing in the United States alone. Training requirements vary from state to state, although more and more schools and states recommend massage therapy programs of at least 500 hours training. As of September 2003, 33 states and the District of Columbia have official licensing regulations concerning the practice of massage. We at Grand Centre Massage honor these requirements.
