Massage Therapy Can Benefit Hypertension in Ramsey County, St. Paul MN

The American Heart Association reports that onestress, anxiety and depression.
in every three adults has high blood pressure orThe Touch Research Institute, the University of
hypertension in the United States. That comes toMiami School of Medicine, and the Nova
a total of about 73 million adults. There are alsoSoutheastern University in Florida did a study in
about two million teenagers and children who haveMay 1999 with 30 hypertensive adults. The
high blood pressure in the country. This isparticipants' blood pressures have been under
dangerous because hypertension is a deadlycontrol for six months prior to the study. They
disease. It can be prevented and treated, though,were randomly assigned to a massage therapy
through various massage therapy modalities. Yougroup and a progressive relaxation group.
can ask for several massage therapy modalitiesParticipants in the massage therapy group
such as reflexology massage therapy, Swedishreceived 30 minute massage therapy sessions in
massage therapy, deep tissue massage therapy,the afternoon or early evening twice a week for
sports massage therapy or even pregnancya total of five weeks. During the same period,
massage therapy from a professional therapeuticparticipants in the progressive relaxation group did
massage spa in Ramsey County, St. Paul MN.30 minutes of self-administered progressive
Patients with high blood pressure have higher risksmuscle relaxation exercises with the same
of succumbing to strokes, heart attacks, heartfrequency.
failure, heart disease, arterial hardening, arterialParticipants were assessed before and after the
aneurysm,chronic renal failure and eye damage.treatment period. Their blood pressures were
When high blood pressure becomes chronic it canregularly monitored throughout the study. The
lead to organ damage. It is inevitable thatState Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Center for
untreated high blood pressure decreases aEpidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)
person's life expectancy.questionnaire and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised
Blood pressure measurement covers systolic(SCL-90-R) self-report symptom inventory were
pressure over diastolic pressure. This refers toused to measure emotional levels. The
the pressure of blood flow on the arteries.participants' levels of urinary cortisol and
Systolic pressure is the highest pressure exertedcatecholamines were likewise measured because
on the arteries as the heart contracts and pumpsthese biologically active amines have been found
blood outward. Diastolic pressure is the lowestto have a major effect on the nervous and
pressure exerted on the arteries as the heartcardiovascular systems.
relaxes immediately after a contraction. NormalAfter the five week treatment period, both
blood pressure should be below 120/80. Bloodgroups showed lower levels of anxiety and
pressure at 139/89 is already pre-hypertensivedepression. Only the participants in the massage
while 140/90 is hypertensive. Early detection oftherapy group, however, showed lowered levels
hypertension is important so that it can beof sitting blood pressure and salivary and urinary
corrected immediately and complications can bestress hormones in addition to lowered
prevented from developing.depression, anxiety and hostility.
High blood pressure is most often triggered byReflexology massage therapy, Swedish massage
stress and emotional tension. Therapies to reducetherapy, deep tissue massage therapy, sports
stress are, therefore, often prescribed formassage therapy and pregnancy massage
patients with hypertension. Examples of suchtherapy are some of the massage therapy
therapies are massage, progressive musclemodalities that can prevent and treat
relaxation techniques, mind-body relaxationhypertension. Make them a part of your lifestyle
techniques, biofeedback techniques and meditation.by going to a professional therapeutic massage
Among these, massage therapy has been foundspa in Ramsey County, St. Paul MN. This will go a
to have the most beneficial impact in not onlylong way in maintaining your health.
lowering blood pressure but also decreasing