The Therapeutic effects of Thai bodywork
This perfect explanation of Thai Bodywork by maria Mercati
Pressing and stretching is where Thai body work excels. At this point it is appropriate to look at what happens to our muscles and how pressing and stretching can help them.
One of the most common muscle problems is a gradual shortening of the relaxed muscle length. This has many causes. Those who do too much heavy, repetitive and manual work, or weight training in the gym, can develop muscles with higher than normal tone.
This is due to increased numbers of muscle fibers remaining contracted, even when the muscle is in its relaxed state. Other factors such as injury, poor posture and emotional stress can also cause this to happen. The most immediate effect of muscle shortening is reduced movement at the joint where the muscle works. This is because the difference between the relaxed length and the contracted length of the muscle is less than it should be. Unfortunately, it is this difference that determines how much movement the muscle can produce, so stiffness and reduced joint mobility is the result of muscle shortening.
Other unpleasant conditions can also prevail. When a muscle becomes tense and shortened, it spindle organs send impulses to the brain which tell it that the muscle is in a state of contraction. The brain now responds by reducing motor stimulation to its antagonistic muscle. This muscle now loses tone and, if the condition persist , it will gradually weaken. Soon it will not even match the strength of its antagonist, which will shorten still further since it will not be pulled hard enough to stretch it. A state of in balance quickly results which, in some cases, can produce postural problems leading to chronic pain. This is not yet the end of the story! The myofascia has large areas between its cells which contain fibers. Some of these are elastic; some are not.
The non-elastic ones serve to strengthen the tissue. As a muscle shortens the myofascia contracts and shortens with it. Gradually it looses some of it elasticity, if it is not repeatedly stretched to what should be the correct relaxed length of the muscle.
Elastic fibers become replaced with non-elastic kind and the tissue becomes slightly wrinkles. Movement of the neighboring tissues becomes less smooth and this can cause discomfort, which can also lead to abnormal use of the effected parts.
As the myofascia shrinks, due to lack of stretching, it thickens and becomes fibrotic, and pending normal muscle stretching during relaxation and further reducing movement and joint mobility. All these interrelated effects mean pain, stiffness, lowered resistance to joint injury and reduced performance on the sport field.
The benefits of pressing and stretching.The deep presses of Thai bodywork squashes the muscles, stretching the myofascia sideways. This helps to break down the fibrotic tissues and stimulates the production of elastic fibers. Blood flow through the myofascial capillaries is enhanced and energy flow through the Sen is improved. These changes help to alleviate pain and make all the tissues amenable to the effect of stretching that are to follow. The large-scale sustained stretches that characterize Thai manipulations are obliged in myriad different directions. The practitioner constantly changes the angle of approach by altering the relative different parts of the body. Stretching of muscles – even those that are normally shortened - takes them just beyond what their normal relaxed length would be. Muscle spindle organs responds to this by telling the brain that the muscle is relaxed, inhibitory nerve impulses to the antagonistic muscles stop and they soon regain normal tone.
Regular Thai bodywork stretches comprehensively to restore balance within and between functional groups of muscles to ease pain, increase flexibility and improve posture.
Improving and maintaining flexibility.The overall flexibility of the body’s movable joints starts to diminish from the early twenties unless positive steps are taken to work them through a wide range of movements at regular intervals. The practice of yoga could achieve this but reaching an adequate level of expertise requires much application and discipline. Thai massage , on the other hand, requires nothing more than placing your body in the hands of an expert practitioner. After a session lasting to two to two-and-a half hours your muscles and joints will have received an intensive work out. The thoroughness of which you could never hope to equal by yourself. The improvement in your flexibility will be noticeable immediately. This is because Thai body work always stretches muscles and manipulates joints just a little further than you would be capable of when un-aided.
The treatment of many conditions.Though unsuitable for people with serious health problems and those who have had replacement surgery, for others Thai bodywork can seem like a miracle in the way it treats those conditions that result from physical and emotional stress. Repetitive strain injuries, wear and tear and sport injuries are the most common results of physical stress. The signals that warn you of its effects can vary from stiffness, weakness and pain to serious loss of performance. The indicators of emotional stress are vastly more complex. They can be purely emotional such as worry, anxiety and anger, or behavior as with over eating and alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse. Inability to relax, disrupted sleep patterns and general irritability are also observed. Eventually, emotional stress manifest itself through a range of physical symptoms that include headaches, indigestion, constipation, back pains and skin conditions.
Enhancing sport performance. A flexible body is one of the keys of fitness and performance. The other is musculature with total balance between antagonistic groups, with every individual muscle able to assume its normal relaxed length when not contracting. This is probably a combination that even the most highly trained athletes fail to achieve. Including Thai bodywork as a part of their training regime can help all sports men and women towards this ideal condition. It will enable them to undertake more intensive training with significantly reduced risk of injury, and this will result in an ability to sustain even higher levels of performance safely.
Treating sports injuriesThe most sport injuries involve damage to the muscle fibers. Myofascia or tendons and they are commonly caused by over use of muscles that are not functionally balanced with other muscles in their group and with their antagonists. A healthy normal muscle has an amazing capacity to perform repetitively without injury. Thai bodywork received regularly provides maintenance that the muscles need. When injury does occur, its controlled stretches and manipulations have an unrivaled ability to speed healing and restore normal pain free function.
Pressing and stretching is where Thai body work excels. At this point it is appropriate to look at what happens to our muscles and how pressing and stretching can help them.
One of the most common muscle problems is a gradual shortening of the relaxed muscle length. This has many causes. Those who do too much heavy, repetitive and manual work, or weight training in the gym, can develop muscles with higher than normal tone.
This is due to increased numbers of muscle fibers remaining contracted, even when the muscle is in its relaxed state. Other factors such as injury, poor posture and emotional stress can also cause this to happen. The most immediate effect of muscle shortening is reduced movement at the joint where the muscle works. This is because the difference between the relaxed length and the contracted length of the muscle is less than it should be. Unfortunately, it is this difference that determines how much movement the muscle can produce, so stiffness and reduced joint mobility is the result of muscle shortening.
Other unpleasant conditions can also prevail. When a muscle becomes tense and shortened, it spindle organs send impulses to the brain which tell it that the muscle is in a state of contraction. The brain now responds by reducing motor stimulation to its antagonistic muscle. This muscle now loses tone and, if the condition persist , it will gradually weaken. Soon it will not even match the strength of its antagonist, which will shorten still further since it will not be pulled hard enough to stretch it. A state of in balance quickly results which, in some cases, can produce postural problems leading to chronic pain. This is not yet the end of the story! The myofascia has large areas between its cells which contain fibers. Some of these are elastic; some are not.
The non-elastic ones serve to strengthen the tissue. As a muscle shortens the myofascia contracts and shortens with it. Gradually it looses some of it elasticity, if it is not repeatedly stretched to what should be the correct relaxed length of the muscle.
Elastic fibers become replaced with non-elastic kind and the tissue becomes slightly wrinkles. Movement of the neighboring tissues becomes less smooth and this can cause discomfort, which can also lead to abnormal use of the effected parts.
As the myofascia shrinks, due to lack of stretching, it thickens and becomes fibrotic, and pending normal muscle stretching during relaxation and further reducing movement and joint mobility. All these interrelated effects mean pain, stiffness, lowered resistance to joint injury and reduced performance on the sport field.
The benefits of pressing and stretching.The deep presses of Thai bodywork squashes the muscles, stretching the myofascia sideways. This helps to break down the fibrotic tissues and stimulates the production of elastic fibers. Blood flow through the myofascial capillaries is enhanced and energy flow through the Sen is improved. These changes help to alleviate pain and make all the tissues amenable to the effect of stretching that are to follow. The large-scale sustained stretches that characterize Thai manipulations are obliged in myriad different directions. The practitioner constantly changes the angle of approach by altering the relative different parts of the body. Stretching of muscles – even those that are normally shortened - takes them just beyond what their normal relaxed length would be. Muscle spindle organs responds to this by telling the brain that the muscle is relaxed, inhibitory nerve impulses to the antagonistic muscles stop and they soon regain normal tone.
Regular Thai bodywork stretches comprehensively to restore balance within and between functional groups of muscles to ease pain, increase flexibility and improve posture.
Improving and maintaining flexibility.The overall flexibility of the body’s movable joints starts to diminish from the early twenties unless positive steps are taken to work them through a wide range of movements at regular intervals. The practice of yoga could achieve this but reaching an adequate level of expertise requires much application and discipline. Thai massage , on the other hand, requires nothing more than placing your body in the hands of an expert practitioner. After a session lasting to two to two-and-a half hours your muscles and joints will have received an intensive work out. The thoroughness of which you could never hope to equal by yourself. The improvement in your flexibility will be noticeable immediately. This is because Thai body work always stretches muscles and manipulates joints just a little further than you would be capable of when un-aided.
The treatment of many conditions.Though unsuitable for people with serious health problems and those who have had replacement surgery, for others Thai bodywork can seem like a miracle in the way it treats those conditions that result from physical and emotional stress. Repetitive strain injuries, wear and tear and sport injuries are the most common results of physical stress. The signals that warn you of its effects can vary from stiffness, weakness and pain to serious loss of performance. The indicators of emotional stress are vastly more complex. They can be purely emotional such as worry, anxiety and anger, or behavior as with over eating and alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse. Inability to relax, disrupted sleep patterns and general irritability are also observed. Eventually, emotional stress manifest itself through a range of physical symptoms that include headaches, indigestion, constipation, back pains and skin conditions.
Enhancing sport performance. A flexible body is one of the keys of fitness and performance. The other is musculature with total balance between antagonistic groups, with every individual muscle able to assume its normal relaxed length when not contracting. This is probably a combination that even the most highly trained athletes fail to achieve. Including Thai bodywork as a part of their training regime can help all sports men and women towards this ideal condition. It will enable them to undertake more intensive training with significantly reduced risk of injury, and this will result in an ability to sustain even higher levels of performance safely.
Treating sports injuriesThe most sport injuries involve damage to the muscle fibers. Myofascia or tendons and they are commonly caused by over use of muscles that are not functionally balanced with other muscles in their group and with their antagonists. A healthy normal muscle has an amazing capacity to perform repetitively without injury. Thai bodywork received regularly provides maintenance that the muscles need. When injury does occur, its controlled stretches and manipulations have an unrivaled ability to speed healing and restore normal pain free function.