If you suffer from PTSD, natural treatments may provide significant help and I encourage to to consider Remedial Massage as one possible approach. We can all learn from understanding PTSD and how to deal with the associated stress and anxiety – both physical and emotional. Massage for PSTD can offer some serious relief.
PTSD has become a common diagnosis in the last 10 years or so, originally associated with military service men and women who have returned from active duty. It is now a condition that covers a much broader definition and includes people from all walks of life – even children.
What Is PTSD?
PTSD results in the inability of the individual to appropriately deal with traumatic experiences which can have a profound negative influence in the way we perceive life and interact with the world around us. There can be a continuous presence of anxiety and dread with flashbacks. There are anger outbursts, severe anxiety, nightmares and lack of quality sleep, all of which make it very difficult to live a normal, productive and healthy life.
PTSD Natural Treatments
Recovery is certainly possible through a combination of meditative techniques, anti-anxiety treatment and at my clinic I have used herbal and homoeopathic medicine to help clients with varying degrees of PTSD. Interestingly, Remedial Massage Therapy can also play an important role in mitigating the pernicious effects of stress and anxiety – whether or not you suffer from PTSD or not.
One of the important physiological components of stress is the interaction between the hypothalamus, the pituitary and the adrenal glands and how well these three areas of the body work together determine your ability to cope with stress. Finding ways to bring balance here can go a long way towards reducing the effects of stress – Remedial Massage, nutritional and herbal medicine and homoeopathic medicine can all play a role.
Massage For PTSD
When the body is in a chronic state of health and cortisol levels are sky high, it is easy to reach a state of exhaustion and excess secretion of adrenaline allows the nervous system to be on high alert most of the time and this can lead to what we call adrenal exhaustion. Remedial Massage is able to slow down the release of adrenaline and reduce cortisol and this in turn leads to a deep state of relaxation. Many of you will have experienced this after one of my treatments – a feeling of peace and balance which is partly due to changes in your physiology.
The over-production of adrenaline keeps the muscles in a state of hypertonicity which can make you more vulnerable to injury, cramping and general discomfort in the muscles. Chronic elevated levels of cortisol also wear down the body’s immune system, making the individual even more predisposed to various disease processes. Remedial Massage reduces cortisol levels, reduces the tonicity of muscles, and improves blood circulation to deep muscle tissue. For example, researchers from the University Of Miami School of medicine found that levels of the stress hormone cortisol were lowered by as much as 53% following just one session of massage. Another study (1) done in 2015 by Pinar Rukiye and Afsar Fisun states: “The study results show that family caregivers for patients with cancer can benefit from back massage to improve state anxiety, cortisol level, blood pressure and heart rate, and sleep quality.”
Endless nights without sleep do no favours for helping relieve the ever-agitated state of an individual suffering from PTSD, hence, the need for techniques that promote a restful sleep. For many of us, sleep has been compromised either long term or short term and this negatively impacts our health.
Effective Remedial Massages can help alter the balance of neurochemicals in the brain, increasing expression of GABA (a key neurotransmitter for promoting restfulness) as well as releasing endorphins (which are key brain chemicals to combat the effect of excess adrenaline on the body).
Musculoskeletal Problems Cause Stress Response
Muscle aches and pains, joint restrictions, a stiff neck or sore lower back all lead to a stress response in the body. When you are having Remedial Massage Treatments, it is really important to address the underlying structural issues if you want to enjoy a deep sense of relaxation and relief. As a student Naturopath I was very fortunate to have excellent training in Body Work – for example we learnt many osteopathic approaches and covered detailed functional anatomy. All this means that when you have a treatment, I can help resolve underlying problems and this means more relaxation and relief for you and a better stress-reducing response.
Remedial Massage Lifts Your Self Esteem
Many sufferers of PTSD experience low levels of self-esteem. Finding ways to build up our self-confidence is something we all need to address in one way or another and effective Massage Therapy can go a long way towards ‘lifting our spirits’ which can be partly explained by positive physiological changes.
My Approach To Remedial Massage & Physical Therapies
I am asked all the time about my Body Work Treatments – at college we had 4 years of Body Work training covering basic Swedish massage to highly specialised techniques that gave me the ability to treat many types of musculoskeletal issues. Over my many years in practice I have found that people get the best results when underlying problems are addressed and so my treatments are geared towards this. There is no point loosening up a tight muscle in your back and ignoring the fact that your spine is a little out of alignment. With some gentle techniques, the spine can be mobilised and the muscles massaged and stretched resulting in a longer lasting relaxation of the muscles and a deeper feeling of relief and release. Also I do not ‘crack’ joints – there are other ways to address joint restrictions that can be just as effective if not more beneficial and result in longer lasting improvements.
If you are in Sydney, you’re most welcome to have a remedial Massage treatment at my clinic. Check out my Remedial Massage Page, at my website.
References:
(1) Asian Pac J Cancer,16 (18), 8127-33 2015. Back Massage to Decrease State Anxiety, Cortisol Level, Blood Prsessure, Heart Rate and Increase Sleep Quality in Family Caregivers of Patients With Cancer: A Randomised Controlled Trial. Rukiye Pinar 1 , Fisun Afsar