What Is Chiropractic Massage Therapy?

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Understanding what massage therapy refers to will depend somewhat on what part of the world you are discussing care. Promoting wellness in the body through massage is not at all a new concept. However, modern knowledge of the body offers a more comprehensive base for this to happen effectively.

Massage therapies have not always been held close to traditional Western medicine practices. Yet, this has begun to change as patients have begun to recognize the impact of massage on promoting health in the body. The spine and central nervous system are the focus of chiropractic massage therapy treatments. Chiropractic massage works very broadly to foster healing throughout the body.

How Does Chiropractic Massage Therapy Work?

Goals include helping the body to maintain – or create and maintain – an environment of genuine health throughout all of its portions. The central nervous system is the body’s internal communication system. To function correctly, it must be cared for gently and with each medical action’s pieces in mind. Chiropractic massage works to ‘coax’ and remind these tiny and finite portions of the human body how to do their intended jobs in a kind and effective manner.

Humans are not built to be stationary. When you move and work to complete the activities that life brings you, you cause activity in the body’s muscles, joints, and inner mechanisms. This causes a natural bit of ‘wear and tear’ as you work to complete regular daily tasks.

Not to say that you will fall apart as quickly as some modern tech devices. Yet, you should expect the need to maintain the portions of you that make the rest of your body’s ability to function with efficiency. If you wish to ask your body to function painlessly, you need to care for all the small bits that work to keep you moving.

You would not expect a vehicle to operate for very long if you did not take the time to check the tires and gas tank once in a while. If something needs attention, you attend to the needs of the vehicle. Regular maintenance helps us to avoid having to call a tow truck. It’s the same with your body.

You will do well to offer a kind hand of chiropractic care to ensure that your body is ready for whatever distress life may bring your way. If something needs repair, you can also tend to that through chiropractic care and chiropractic massage therapy treatments.

Chiropractic Massage Therapy Is Not Just for Pain

Massage is known to be a relaxing activity with which to engage. Medical care is often considered something to consider if you have an immediate condition needing attention. So, is there a benefit for those not currently experiencing pain? Definitely!

Chiropractic works to prevent pain before it has a just cause for existing. Due to the wonderfully holistic nature of chiropractic care, the added benefits of chiropractic massage have become a favored tool for many individuals seeking to maximize their body’s ability to stay well. Fostering health and wellness throughout the body is the epitome of what chiropractic is designed to achieve!

How Are Chiropractic​ ​Massage​ and ​Massage​ ​Therapy Different?

chiropractic massage therapy

The term massage often causes the mind to think of candles, warm towels, and quiet music. Massage therapy can do wonders after a day full of stress or physical adventure. Muscles love the attention, for sure!

Chiropractic massage offers this combined with medical care for the spine and body. It seeks to bring healing naturally into the body, providing intricate care for the most minor portions of us that make us human. It is designed to bring us health and promote continued health by working with the secret tunnels of communication entwined within the body.

Chiropractic care woven into massage therapy offers the ability to realign vertebrae, treat discs, and focus on low back pain and other joint ailments while working through muscles. Chiropractic massage also brings toxins from the body’s soft tissues in a manner that helps the body process and remove them efficiently. The body is reminded of its ability to be well.

As modern medicine continues to develop, these two styles of care have begun to meld together such that patients are often not exactly sure what may be different. Massage therapy and chiropractic massage therapy have taken their place in the modern medical spectrum. Here is a brief synopsis of what may be encountered when looking at massage and chiropractic massage therapy.

Massage therapy focuses on muscular conditions and alleviating tension, restoring flexibility, and increasing comfort in the body. It is often coupled with physical therapy techniques and may be used to help recover from injury. Massage therapy holds the traditional concept of bringing relaxation to the body through gentle pushes to the muscles and mechanisms. Massage therapy is sometimes thought more in line with bringing peace into the body and also calming the mind.

Chiropractic massage therapy focuses on the spine and its relationship to the body’s nerves, muscles, and joints. Treatments may localize individual nerve areas that need attention. Care may also be given to promote healing in the body by providing chiropractic massage to multiple areas related to spinal health.

Chiropractic massage significantly promotes a general sense of health in the body. It works to train the body to help keep itself well despite all that we choose to throw at it in our daily activities. Chiropractic massage therapy works to consider the immediate medical needs of a client, as well as prevent future pain conditions from developing.

Read here: If you want to explore the difference between spa and chiropractic massage.

Who Can Administer a ​Chiropractic​ ​Massage?

A chiropractic massage therapist combines chiropractic care techniques with massage therapy to foster healing within the hidden portions of the body. A doctorate in chiropractic care is obtained by providing knowledge of the musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems. Each state administers licensure.

This knowledge is then applied directly to the care techniques utilized to promote healing from injury, ailments, and degenerative conditions in the body. When a professional chiropractic massage is sought, chiropractic adjustments, physical rehabilitation, and spinal decompression steps can be included to increase the effectiveness of care. Care can be specialized to include joint care, nervous system care, and treatments that may help prevent pain and injury.

Indeed, massage therapy techniques have not been officially brought into standardized medical care. However, chiropractic care requires medical training and licensing before the admission of care. This is because many techniques and practices used in chiropractic care require advanced training and medical knowledge.

What Equipment Might Be Used in Chiropractic Massage Therapy?

Chiropractic massage therapy allows medical treatments to be applied with the massage session. Talk about added health benefits! A time-saver, too! Receive multiple types of care in one treatment session? Sure, no problem! That is precisely what chiropractic massage therapy is equipped and designed to accomplish: treat the body as a whole unit – one unified creature waiting to absorb health and wellness.

Equipment may include:

  • Chiropractic massage chair or table
  • Spinal decompression machine

Massage techniques that may be utilized:

  • Gliding
  • Kneading muscles
  • Hand pressure

Chiropractic care techniques that may be added:

  • Spinal and joint manipulation
  • Physical movement
  • Spinal decompression
  • Patient education
  • Chiropractic adjustment
  • Other techniques as fitting to a patient’s request or condition

Before Chiropractic Massage Therapy

A complete physical assessment will be made before chiropractic massage therapy treatments. This is still considered a medical activity. Therefore, the chiropractic massage therapist will need to gain knowledge of your spinal health and physical matters that may relate to the care that may be given.

Be sure to drink plenty of water before receiving care to help your body flush out toxins and minimize soreness. Side effects exist and are usually limited to muscles or joint soreness due to working through conditions in the body. Seek a chiropractic care provider who welcomes you to discuss care and the effects of your time with them.

A Back Massage Designed to Relieve Pain Symptoms?

Back pain sufferers are in an ideal position to find the maximum benefits of massage that can be made available through chiropractic massage therapy treatments. Care plans can be developed to minimize and treat pain. The goal remains to eliminate the source of pain in the body. Pain symptoms are thus diminished as the cause of the pain begins to deteriorate.

Chiropractic massage therapy is an incredibly effective addition to back pain treatment care plans. The massage therapist can focus on muscle groups that may need specialized attention. Work can be done to alleviate the underlying cause of pain by directly caring for the spine or joints as applicable to a patient’s needs.

Back pain patients add to their healing by allowing these two care methods to be combined for increased results. Spinal alignment is key for diminishing back pain. Why not mix it with some healthy muscle love, too?

Finding the Best Chiropractic Massage Therapy in Anchorage, Alaska

For pain relief, stress reduction, better movement, more energy, and better sleep, get your top-rated massage therapy at Better Health Anchorage and call us at +1 907-346-5255 , as reviewed by over 20,000 Alaskans. We can help pinpoint the areas that need the most care so you can get the most out of your massage. Call today to schedule your relaxing and relieving massage!

What Relationship Do Chiropractic Adjustments Have with Massage Therapy Methods?

Chiropractic massage after a chiropractic adjustment is a favorite of many clients. Established facilities may offer them together anyway. Be sure to inquire about what may be available when seeking a chiropractic care provider. Options will vary based on the chiropractic care facility that a patient chooses.

Chiropractic adjustments help to promote regular and natural communication in the nervous system. The musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems love to have attention focused on them in a way that fosters their abilities to do their jobs for the body. Massage therapy promotes further the work done for the body by chiropractic adjustment. 

Benefits​ ​of​ ​a​ ​Chiropractic​ ​Massage

The benefits of chiropractic massage are not limited to what may be seen and understood with words. Clients feel well, and their bodies gain what is needed to heal naturally. Imagine the traditionally understood benefits of massage intermixed with direct care to the spine that works to eliminate existing pain and prevent new pain in the body.

  • Pain relief, prevention of pain
  • Care for muscles and their relationship to the spine
  • Restoration of spinal alignment
  • Restoration of the central nervous system
  • Relaxation, rest, and a general sense of wellness
  • Increased effectiveness when intermixed with other treatments
  • Often covered by insurance

One benefit of chiropractic massage therapy that is often not realized is that insurance may provide coverage because it is considered a medical activity. Insurance companies love preventing conditions that they have to pay to fix. That is chiropractic care’s primary focus: eliminating and preventing pain conditions in the body. Be sure to inquire if your condition may be covered by chiropractic massage therapy or other treatments.

What Conditions Might Be Treated by​ ​Chiropractic​ ​Massage​ ​Therapy?

Chiropractic massage therapy may be used to treat a myriad of ailments, injuries, and degenerative conditions. The option to combine treatment styles gives clients an incredibly long list of conditions to treat. Chances are if you are asking the question, you have a condition that may be helped by chiropractic massage therapy.

A few common conditions include arthritis, back pain, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, disc problems, fibromyalgia, headaches, migraines, pain during pregnancy, pinched nerves, scoliosis, sciatica, shoulder pain, spondylosis, strains, sprains, stenosis, subluxations, tendonitis, and whiplash.

9 Signs You Need Chiropractic Massage Therapy

Chiropractic massage works holistically to bring restoration and healing to the body. Working to reunite the muscles and joints within their original mechanisms does not have to involve the surgery ward. Joint care combined with care of the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and brain is at the core of chiropractic care treatments. Here are a few things to consider as you learn about your condition.

1) You Have Experienced an Injury

If you have suffered an injury, chiropractic massage treatments can help to improve recovery times. Injuries are painful. Minimizing our pain as we recover can be a tremendous benefit. When pain from an injury is present, we often look to minimize how much we feel while healing.

Minimizing pain that has arisen due to an injury will vary depending on the injury and the patient. However, working in this direction can help us increase the recovery process’s effectiveness. Helping the body to heal itself is what chiropractic care is designed to do. When less pain is felt as we heal, we will more likely be effective with physical therapy activities and other healing tasks.

2) You Are Looking to Minimize Degenerative Conditions

From the moment that we are born, we are all subject to aging bodies. Yet, we can work to prevent degeneration of the joints and spine. Chiropractic treatments slow the natural process in the body as we live, work, and play.

Most of us use our skeletal system regularly. Therefore, our muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments are subject to wear. Chiropractic massage helps us offer kind respite for the parts of us that keep us going through all that life brings us. Time spent aligning our joints through chiropractic treatments can help our skeletal system to work for us longer and better – and with less pain.

Helping the muscles work along with their counterparts in the body can help slow the process of degeneration. The spine is a significant pathway for communication throughout the body. Chiropractic massage treatments help to serve as small, gentle reminders of how the body is meant to work together. Methodical and measured care can dramatically affect how the body responds to itself.

3) You Have Experienced a Loss of Mobility or Flexibility

Chiropractic care works to help restore mobility and flexibility by working individually with each joint. Care is given to provide intentional movements within each joint to improve alignment. Tendons and ligaments sometimes become tight as they try to keep the bones where they are meant to stay. This can cause us to lose flexibility and impede how well we move.

Chiropractic massage therapy brings direct care to the joints while providing care for the associated muscles. From this, the muscles learn how to better interact with the connective tissues that make up how our bodies link. Collectively caring for muscles and joints adds immense health benefits for our bodies as they work to function for us as a whole.

4) You Have Unexplained Pain

If you are in pain, you are a top candidate for chiropractic massage therapy. Musculoskeletal pain is not a fun thing for anyone to experience. Add in the ailments that our human bodies develop, and you have a script for severe pain conditions to stay around longer than desired.

Spinal adjustments and a spine-oriented massage offer patients an enhanced method for helping the body eliminate its need to send those nasty pain signals. We do not like such signals, but they are designed to tell us that something in the body needs attention. Chiropractic massage works to locate and eliminate any underlying conditions that cause pain signals to flair. As the conditions that rest far under the surface of our bodies come under control, the need for the body to alert us that something is not quite right diminishes.

When something is not functioning as intended in the body, the brain sends signals telling us where to place the attention for recovery. Chiropractic massage removes the body’s need to send these signals by helping to better align the smaller bits of the body. Finding your road to a pain-free lifestyle may make you want chiropractic treatments.

5) You Have a Chronic Pain Condition

Chronic pain can develop out of a pain condition that did not heal well. Those pain signals never got quite the right message, and they think there is still something to fix. However, sometimes an injury or ailment has already subsided.

So, why does our body still think it needs to tell us something is wrong? As with any communication central facility, sometimes things get a bit messed up. The body may have become so accustomed to sending such messages that even once the condition has diminished, the instructions are still in place for the messages to be sent.

Therefore, we find ourselves still experiencing pain long after the injury or reason for pain has departed. So, what can be done? Chiropractic treatments are at the heart of this answer: Help the brain and body work together through efficient communication through joint synapses, muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments.

This is what chiropractic does. It brings the portions of the body together that have forgotten to work together as a unit. Once the communication highways are in better condition (by working to align joints better), the body can begin to recognize that the reason signals were being sent has long since been removed or greatly diminished. Chronic pain can indicate that you need to see a chiropractor for care.

Of course, it is also possible that the pain is chronic because your body still retains the underlying condition that is causing the pain. It may be difficult for you to fully know whether or not this is the case. However, working to find the cause also makes it far easier to eliminate the pain. Here are a few chronic pain conditions that are known to benefit from chiropractic massage therapy:

  • Arthritis
  • Back Pain
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Headaches and Migraines
  • Neck Pain
  • Pinched Nerves
  • Sciatica
  • Tendonitis

6) You Have Neck Pain

The neck is an integral part of how our bodies operate. Without it, the head would have no way to hold onto the rest of us. It holds the equivalent of a bowling ball all day – everywhere it goes.

That ten or eleven-pound weight is constantly bending, twisting, nodding, and laughing. This can strain the muscles and joints that connect it to the neck and shoulders. Here are a few conditions that may result in neck pain:

  • Whiplash
  • Arthritis
  • Herniations
  • Degenerative Disc Issues
  • Stenosis

Hence, caring for those muscles and joints becomes something that we should consider. These are all signs you need to see a chiropractor for treatment to help your body heal. Chiropractic massage therapy for the neck is a beautiful option for helping the neck muscles relax and regain their power to keep us going.

7) You Want to See How Chiropractic Massage Can Enhance Your Current Care Benefits

Perhaps you are already receiving chiropractic care and are just curious. Go for it! Many patients love to receive a massage just following their chiropractic adjustments. This further promotes the body’s ability to work through joint alignment.

A spinal adjustment offers joint care, and a massage helps the muscles associated with those joints recognize their relationship with each other. As proper alignment is restored, greater and greater communication is developed between that joint, the brain, and the rest of the body.

8) A Health Provider has prescribed Chiropractic

Chiropractic massage is an excellent addition to almost every restoration plan that can be developed. General practice, orthopedics, and other physicians may prescribe certain types of care to help patients recover. This is because they recognize the power of chiropractic care.

Maybe a provider has prescribed you to receive a massage, and you are not sure what type will most benefit you. Consider trying chiropractic massage therapy near you and see what you think. Chiropractic care can offer the added benefit that your body needs to recover, heal, and fight ailments that bring discomfort or difficulty.

Chiropractic massage may be prescribed if you are suffering from migraine pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, sciatica, shoulder pain, and dozens of other conditions. Treating the ailment you wish to address through direct care to the spine, muscles, and joints can help chronic conditions improve. Over time the effects of some conditions can be eliminated or managed, allowing you to enjoy your days more freely, painlessly.

9) You Are Pregnant

Pregnancy is rough on the body. It is especially rough on the spine. As your little bundle grows, your spine and back muscles begin to take on the differences your body encounters. Chiropractic massage is an excellent tool to help keep the spine happy and healthy throughout pregnancy.

Your body is working hard to grow a new human being. Help it with chiropractic love and enjoy that creature as it grows. Chiropractic massages are a way to progress through those long months of spine-twisting days as you await your new little person’s arrival.

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