NEUROMUSCULAR MASSAGE or NMT for short, is a very specific massage technique that is used to address pains that you may be having. You must first understand that your nervous system controls everything in your body, including muscle tension and the amount of pain you can take...



Whereas a standard "relaxation" massage will work on the general areas of your back...NMT is a deep tissue massage that works on individual specific muscles, ligaments, connective tissue & tendons that are often never touched in a standard relaxation type of massage.

Allow me to tell you what you can expect.

First the client will sit in a special chair built for getting a massage. The therapist will be using their thumbs, finger tips and even the elbows to explore every fiber tissue looking for bands of muscle fibers that are tighter than the rest of them. These cause problems such as hyper tonicity and ischemia. Hypertonicity is just a five dollar word for an excess tension in your bodies muscles. Isechemia is just another word for a restriction of your bodies blood flow in that area.

These areas will be worked until they cooperate or relax. NMT will enhance blood flow, moderate their pain and believe it or not release anxiety on nerves caused by past soft tissue and muscle trauma.

The funny thing is that clients will ask, "why are you working over there? It Doesn't hurt there...it hurts over here." The explanation is Neuromuscular massage aids the freeing of trigger points and intense knots of tense muscle that in turn let go pain in other areas of the body that are linked by the same muscle. This is acknowledged as "Referred Pain". For instance: Relieving a stressed trigger point in your back...could help relieve pain in your shoulder or even get rid of those constant headaches.

What Does This Have To Say About Your Massage Therapist?

Lets stop and dwell on that for a moment. This means that your neuromuscular therapist must be educated in Several disciplines including:

The physiology of the bodies nervous system

Its impact on the muscular and skeletal systems.

Is educatedin the field of kinesiology

Is knowledgeable in biomechanics

Is skilled in how to work in a clinical or medical environment

What Are The Benefits Of Neuromuscular Massage?

Neuromuscular Therapy will be used to address each of the five elements that cause pain in everyone of us:

Ischemia: We mentioned a bit about this one already. Isechemia is just a lack of blood supply to soft tissues which the consequences are a hypersensitivity when touched.

Trigger Points: These are greatly aggrevated points in muscles, which refer pain to other parts of ones body. Previously we brought up about how relieving a trigger point in your left upper back could relax or put an end to those horrible pounding headaches. (Even though you might not have associated the two together before)

Nerve Compression: This is only pressure on a nerve caused by any of the following:

Soft tissue

Cartilage

Bone

Postural Distortion: This is an unevenness of the muscular system resulting from the movement of the body off the longitudinal and horizontal planes. This is a another way of saying your body every now and then needs a muscle alignment similarly as a van requires one after hitting too many potholes!

Biomechanical Dysfunction: This has to do with to the imbalance of the muscular skeletal system due to bad habits like these:

Poor lifting habits

Miserable golf swing

Awful tennis stroke

Inaccurate typing posture

If you know that you could benefit from Neuro-muscular Massage therapy, Why not call your local massage therapist and ask if they specialize in this type of massage therapy. After a couple of sessions I think you will be amazed at the difference.