Can a good massage do more than just get your muscles relaxed? To find the answer to this question, researchers, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, called in 53 healthy adult people.
These were divided and 29 people received a 45 min. In-depth physiotherapy massage and the remaining 24 people received a lighter massage treatment.
All the people involved were equipped with an intravenous catheter, so blood tests could be taken immediately before treatment and up to one hour after treatment.
To their great surprise, the researchers, sponsored by the National Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - part of the National Institutes of Health, discovered that a single massage treatment caused biological changes. Massage clinic oyster bridge
The volunteers who received Swedish massage experienced a marked reduction in the stress hormone cortisol in both blood and saliva as well as arginine vasopressin - a hormone that can cause cortisol increase. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes - white blood cells that are part of the immune system.
The volunteers who received a lighter massage received a right level of oxytocin, a hormone that is related to satisfaction with those who received the Swedish massage. There was also a decrease in the hormone adrenal corticotropin, which stimulates the adrenal glands in producing cortisol.
