1. Be open and receptive to the massage process. An open mind can go a long way.

2. Don’t eat right before a massage.

3. Be on time. Being late can cause unnecessary stress.

4. Communicate with your massage therapist. It is important that both of you know why you are there and what your expectations are with the massage. Once both of you are on the same page, things are going to run smoothly.

5. Always remember to breathe normally. Breathing allows the body to relax naturally.

6. Relax your muscles. Tightening your muscles during a massage is counterproductive

7. Relax your mind. Having constant thoughts running through your mind causes a large amount of stress and the last thing you want is to be stressing out during a massage. Take this time to clear your mind and relax for a small part of your day and it will go a very long way.

8. Drink extra water after your massage

9. Don’t get up too quickly and do allow some open quiet time after your massage session.  This will leave you refreshed and energized after a massage.

10. Be prepared to schedule several massage sessions. Massage has its best benefits when done over time. Relaxation deepens from each session.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a very serious condition that is surprisingly the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The condition develops slowly and unfortunately has no cure. Luckily, there are ways to treat COPD and make it manageable to live a stress-free life.

A person with COPD has a large amount of mucus in their lungs, massage treatments help dissolve and sometimes even eliminate most of the mucus build up in the lungs, which is the main complaint from patients with COPD.

Massaging the area of the lungs will increase blood flow to the area and ultimately provide relief.

Massage therapy is known to be the sole medical modality capable of eliminating protective tension in the respiratory muscles, restore elasticity of the soft tissue, and help maintain elastic recoil during respiration.

The ultimate goal for massage therapy in COPD patients is to address the soft tissue of the thoracic cage layer by layer. This eliminates tension build up in the respiratory muscles and in the end provides instant and long-term relief to patients who are suffering.

For those with cancer, the daily routine consists of days filled with scheduled treatments and medications. What they might not know is that relaxation can be used as a treatment.

Massage therapy has started gaining popularity for cancer patients in the recent years and has even developed the name oncology massage. The main purpose for these massages is to assist cancer patients in coping with other cancer treatments they have daily.

Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy can leave a patient with side effects such as nausea and fatigue. Specifically for cancer patients, the massage techniques that are used are meant to target relief for these two symptoms.

Like other massages in general, cancer patients feel more uplifted after a massage, which helps them cope mentally and keeps them more at ease while undergoing daily treatments.

Generally massages help in reducing stress, reducing anxiety and relaxing the muscles. All of which benefit cancer patients on their road to full recovery.

Arthritis is a condition paired with constant pain, and it takes a good amount of treatment for that pain to go away. Massage therapies can reduce the amount of pain, and with repeated use can even get rid of the pain.

Relaxation is the one thing that can help to break the cycle of constant pain and stress. Massage therapy is the key to this relaxation.

Massages work for patients with arthritis by focusing on improving the following: pain tolerance, flexibility, stiffness, handgrip, joint functions and overall range of motion.

While massages cannot instantly relieve the pain, massage therapy provides temporary relief and later on, with repeated treatment, can assist a patient in mentally being able to deal with their pain and live a more stress free and relaxed life.

A complaint heard by a majority of arthritis patients is a lack of deep sleep. Massages can put a patient so much at ease that after a while deep sleep comes naturally and with deep sleep, comes significant improvement.

Massage therapy can give patients the sense that once again they are in control of their lives. They will be able to control their pain, be able to function better and ultimately feel better.

Those who suffer from anxiety and depression are often told that they are not alone, but are they aware that there is a treatment that is ultimately all natural? Massages are often paired with feelings of relaxation and energy, and these results can mean relief for those with anxiety and depression.

Anxiety and depression comes in two forms and luckily, massages provide relief for both short-lived anxiety and long-term anxiety.

Short-lived anxiety and depression is experienced by almost everyone at some point in their lives. Massages can provide increased feelings of positive energy, which will allow improvement on ones mental health. Massages also reduce cortisol levels otherwise known as the stress hormone.

By reducing cortisol levels one is decreasing their blood pressure, their heart rate, and their general feeling of anxiety and depression.

Those with long-term anxiety and depression know that there are physical symptoms as well. Anxiety and depression comes with a feeling of uselessness and lack of motivation for activity.

Due to these feelings, patients of long-term anxiety and depression often experience a good amount of pain such as tense muscles and joint pain that can only be solved with physical activity.

Massages allow the muscles and joints to relax, therefore reducing the physical pain. This allows patients to be active and feel better physically and mentally even days after they have had a massage.

Strokes almost always affect those in the older age range and often leave people with horrible muscle pain and almost no feeling in half of their bodies. Massages can act as a way to cope with the pain and most importantly increase the range of motion that is lacking due to the event of a stroke.

When a stroke occurs, the one thing that is most affected is the nervous system. A person who suffers a stroke will almost never have normal nerve function in specific parts of the body depending on whether the stroke occurs in the left or right hemisphere.

What massages can do for stroke patients is improve and sometimes even restore the normal nerve function that they lost.

The way this works is that the tactical stimulation of the non-functional nerves is impossible to ignore and if the nervous system recognizes the stimulation, they are functional again.

Repeated use of this treatment can restore the nerves long-term, but after simply one massage the patient can feel immediate results.

Along with stimulation of the nerves, massage in general can help a stroke patient by elevating their mood, lowering blood pressure, relaxing the body and mind and lastly, increasing blood flow to affected areas.