Benjamin Franklin said the only certainties in life are death and taxes. In the eighteenth century, perhaps that was true. But in the twenty-first century, it seems reasonable to add "stress" to the aforementioned inevitabilities.
Stress is defined in one online dictionary as "a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression."[i] The key here is that not only is it mentally or emotionally disruptive, but that it negatively affects the body and causes or exacerbates many health problems.
So what can we do to combat stress? Besides finding ways to more effectively manage the challenges we face on a daily basis, it can also be incredibly helpful and healthful to guarantee ourselves opportunities to relax. While stress stimulates the "sympathetic nervous response" (the fancy name for the fight-or-flight, adrenaline-driven state that was meant to save us from predators, not our daily lives), it's possible to help counteract this by seeking out treatments which engage the "parasympathetic" nervous response (the state when your body stops panicking and starts resuming digestion, healing, and other maintenance functions). Two of the best and most complementary treatments which accomplish this are massage and acupuncture.
Massage therapy involves the therapist placing their hands or other tools on the client and, using their knowledge of anatomy and highly trained sense of touch, finding areas of tension and directly manipulating them to break up adhesions, relax muscle fibers, and increase circulation. An acupuncturist, on the other hand, inserts tiny needles into specific points to release physical or energetic blockages, reduce inflammation, and allow everything in the body to flow more smoothly. Both are excellent at bringing a person into the parasympathetic state and rebalancing hormone levels, decreasing cortisol while increasing seratonin, dopamine, and other beneficial hormones. At the same time, massage and acupuncture each have individual strengths as well which make them even more effective in combination.
Though there are exceptions, most types of massage work with a very tactile approach. As the therapist contacts and manipulates your skin and muscles or other tissues, your awareness and sensory understanding of each body part increases. Fibers of muscle and connective tissue are reset and realigned, but the flood of new sensory information can help you to reconnect with your body, which some people describe as a very grounding experience.
Acupuncture, on the other hand, can be much less sensory and much more meditative. It seeks out energetic blockages in a way that massage (unless the person is trained in acupressure as well) does not. It also allows the client the opportunity to relax with minimal outside stimulation, and can be a chance to gather and clear your thoughts and allow your body and mind to repair and return to a more natural, harmonious state.
Individually, both massage and acupuncture can be very effective modalities for relaxation, and each can address some issues in greater depth than the other. But for a holistic approach to relaxing and healing both the mind and body, they are wonderfully synergistic in combination.
If you have questions about Massage, please email Joint Ventures’ massage therapist Stephanie Welch at stephaniew@jointventurespt.com. If you have questions about Acupuncture, please email Joint Ventures’ acupuncturist Rachel Furst at rachel@jointventurespt.com.