Part 4 of the Benefits of Massage Therapy Series is about the benefits of receiving postpartum massage.  Earlier posts have been about how regular massage therapy can benefit your body, mind, and pregnancy, but let's look at why you should receive massage after baby.

I find that while prenatal massage is becoming more popular, many moms stop coming in after they give birth.  While I understand that there are the stresses of recovering from birth while taking care of a new baby which makes it hard to find time for yourself, it is important to remember that those things make it all the more important that you DO take care of yourself.

Last week I wrote this post about the benefits of regular massage therapy for the body.  This week, I want to talk about the benefits of massage for your mind.

As many of you are probably aware, the majority of our aches, pains, and illnesses are at least partially due to stress.  Stress is a mental state that partially manifests as physical pain such as back pain, neck pain, headaches, digestive upset... the list is seemingly endless.  You can absolutely go to a doctor and get medications or procedures to treat these physical symptoms, of course that is likely to lead to a whole host of other problems due to side-effects of the treatments.  However, if you only treat the physical symptoms, the stressed mind will just cause these or other physical symptoms to come back.  If your physical problems are caused by stress, it makes sense to treat the stress along with the physical symptoms.  Massage is a great option for treating both.  While your body is reaping the physical benefits of the massage, your mind also has a chance to let go of some of that stress.

Everyone has a different idea of what massage therapy is and what it is for.  Some people view it as a luxury, or way to pamper oneself.  Others may view it as a way to rehabilitate an injury.  These are both legitimate reasons, however, I want to take a look at how massage therapy can benefit everyone if added to their health care routine.

There are so many benefits of massage therapy, I am splitting this blog post into a series.  The focus of today's post will be about massage for your body, or the physical benefits of receiving massage.

Most people in our society seek treatment when something hurts, or when they begin displaying symptoms.  Massage therapy is a great way to treat these symptoms, but it can also be used as a preventative measure to avoid being in pain in the first place.

There are many myths and preconceived notions regarding massage therapy.  Some people may get nervous and not want to receive massage, while others may not know how to behave during a session.  This is unfortunate, as most people can benefit from massage therapy.  If you have never received a massage before, or you are getting ready to have your first massage, it is always nice to go in knowing a little bit about what to expect.  It should also be said that all massage establishments are not created equal.  Each place does things a little differently, and not all ways of doing things are good.  Therefore, I would like to give you some examples of things that I have noticed at places I have worked, and what I keep an eye out for when I go to get a massage.

One thing that many people don't think about when they go in for a massage is what is being used on their skin.  Most people just assume that whatever the therapist is using on them is good for them.  Depending on where  you go, this may not be the case.

What you put on your body is just as important as what you put into it.  While many people are becoming more concerned with eating healthy, not as many are aware of all of the harmful things that are found in our skin products.  There are a lot of things that we are told to look out for, but I want to talk about what is good to use on your skin.