If you’ve tuned into the news in the past few years, you know that opioids are taking over the country. Whether kids are getting into their parent’s pills and abusing them at a party, those using them are overdosing accidentally or not-so-accidentally, or something else, these pills have gone beyond their role as painkillers to double as dangerous threats. However, if you’ve ever experienced severe pain, you know how valuable they can be. But what happens when your severe pain is daily, and you just need more opioids to treat it? Science has directed many professions to look into other ways to manage chronic pain—without the opioids. Fortunately, your favorite massage therapy office in New Jersey may have an answer.

Massage as a Pain Reliever

While massage does not directly treat any illnesses, it does have a role in relieving chronic pain. The exact way that this works is not yet understood, but it likely has a combination of benefits from relaxation, deep breathing, physical touch and muscle/tissue stimulation, and social interaction—maybe more. In some studies, massage has been shown to reduce inflammation, but how that works is also not very well understood. Massage is so successful at managing pain that around 75% of hospitals offer massage as an option for pain treatment.

Getting the Best out of Massage

This same research that supports massage also shows that other factors play a role in helping you to get the best out of your massage in NJ. Longer massages have often been shown to be more beneficial, as is visiting your massage therapist multiple times per week. This does not mean that you can’t get anything out of shorter or less frequent visits, just that more massage time translates into more pain reduction for most people. In general, when you are able to arrive for your massage session in a relaxed, calm manner, you get more out of it.

Ready to start enjoying the benefits of massage today? While we’d love massage to fight the opioid epidemic, we know we might be reaching too high with that goal, but we are certain that massage and other alternative medicine techniques can be powerful tools for those interested in addressing their health naturally.