Both massage therapy and chiropractic care focus on alleviating pain and improving alignment. Understanding how these two treatments differ can help you decide which one is best for your health needs and goals.
Chiropractors manipulate the spine and other joints to relieve pain and improve alignment. They also offer a holistic approach to healing that promotes wellness and supports your overall health.
Pain Relief
Massage therapy manipulates soft tissue to relieve pain and tension. It uses a variety of techniques to ease muscle tightness, including kneading, tapping, and rubbing. It also enhances blood flow, breaks up scar tissue, and encourages relaxation. These factors make it an excellent treatment for back and neck pain, stress, and even sleep disturbances.
Chiropractors use their hands to manipulate the spine and other joints to treat specific health conditions like spinal misalignment. They can help with chronic headaches, fibromyalgia, and scoliosis. They can even treat pinched nerves by decompressing them with a spinal adjustment.
Chiropractic care may be a better choice for patients with structural problems whereas massage therapy is better for those seeking immediate relief from muscle discomfort. Combining both treatments, however, can help patients achieve a more balanced and holistic approach to spinal and joint health. Relaxed muscles make spinal adjustments easier and can help the benefits of a chiropractic adjustment last longer.
Muscle Relaxation
Massage therapy manipulates muscles and soft tissue with techniques such as deep strokes, kneading, and skin rolling. This improves tissue elasticity, increases circulation, and breaks down waste products. This allows blood, oxygen, and rich nutrients to travel more freely throughout the body, decreasing muscle and tissue pain, promoting relaxation, and reducing stress.
It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers the “rest and digest” response. It reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the fight-or-flight response. This decrease in the stress response can also help alleviate some of the negative side effects associated with cancer and its treatment.
A massage can also increase your range of motion, which may help with injury recovery. However, you should not get a massage for any injury or ailment without a medical evaluation. Some patients should not receive spinal manipulation, including those with osteoporosis, spinal cord compression, inflammatory arthritis, or who are taking certain medications.
Stress Reduction
Stiff necks, escalating back spasms and other muscle pain often take an emotional toll. Chronic discomfort can lead to a downward spiral of stress, insomnia and moodiness. Fortunately, both chiropractic care and massage therapy are natural options to combat the discomfort.
Massage therapists manipulate soft tissues like muscles, tendons and ligaments to alleviate pain and reduce stress. Their hands-on approach increases blood flow and stimulates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals.
Chiropractors realign structural bones, especially the vertebrae of the spine. This process is similar to tuning a piano key that has gone off-pitch, and it helps restore optimal function of the nervous system. This allows the muscles to discounts on pre-game sports massages relax and heal.
Better Sleep
The calming day spa environment and soothing techniques of massage therapy can improve sleep quality by reducing stress, improving circulation, and alleviating muscle tension. Regular massage sessions can even help athletes achieve better performance by boosting the immune system and lowering cortisol levels, the primary stress hormone.
Chiropractic care has been shown to promote restful sleep by focusing on spinal alignment and optimizing nervous system function. The spine protects the central nervous system, which is responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle and ensuring that you experience deep, rejuvenating sleep. Chiropractors perform spinal adjustments to correct misalignments (called subluxations) that can interfere with this crucial process, helping you fall asleep more easily and wake up feeling rested.
Chiropractic care also has a positive impact on sleep disorders like insomnia, RLS, and narcolepsy. It can reduce the symptoms of these disorders, which include leg discomfort and an overwhelming urge to move your legs, allowing you to get more restful sleep.
