The gift of touch
Touch is as essential to a healthy and happy life as eating right, getting proper sleep, and exercising. With the world growing more technological, the need for healthy human contact is more important than ever. Massage and body therapies are an age old healing refuge for us in this fast-paced, stressed-out world. The practice of massage therapy is rapidly growing in the United States. It has so much to offer and is becoming more widely accepted by doctors and the general public. Massage is touching another person by such movements as rubbing, kneading, pressing, rolling, slapping, and tapping. This type of therapy provides circulation of the blood and lymph, relaxation of muscles, relief from pain, restoration of metabolic balance, and many other benefits both physical and mental. There is much historical evidence to indicate that massage is one of the earliest remedies for pain relief and for the restoration of a healthy body. It is said to be the most natural and instinctive means of relieving pain and discomfort. Massage has proven to be an effective method for treating many conditions for thousands of years and it will continue to be used for thousands of years to come. Massage therapy is a great treatment for the body and soul.
The roots of massage can be traced back to ancient civilizations. In the book titled The Complete Book of Massage by Clare Maxwell-Hudson she illustrates that much evidence has been found to support the belief that prehistoric people massaged their muscles and even rubbed oils on their bodies(8). The history of massage probably begins before we could properly call ourselves human. We instinctively rub a pain or an ache, we instinctively stroke a bruise. We use touch in healing without thinking about it, which suggests that it's very, very old. Some form of massage was practiced in almost all early civilizations; Ancient Chinese, Japanese, India, Hindu, Greek, and Roman civilizations to name a few (Maxwell-Hudson 8).In the The Bodywork and Massage Sourcebook by Andrew and Valerie Levine they write about how, “Julius Caesar, who suffered from epilepsy, had himself pinched all over and massaged on a daily basis”(12).
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...simple as that. Although I am still in training I know the great effects it has on people because I have seen it first hand. I don’t know how long I will be able to do it though, only after a year my hands and writs are already hurting. What is massage? For me it's part of our family heritage that we're suffering for the lack of, and by not using it we're laying ourselves open to physical problems that shouldn't affect us anywhere near as badly as they do. I believe that by not using massage we're stiffer, tenser, and tireder than we'd be if we took back this ancient and essential part of our birthright.
Work Cited
Frijters, Sid “The psychological effects of massage”. <http://hammer.prosting.com/~khhc/massage.htm>
Levine, Andrew and Valerie. The Bodywork and Massage Sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1999
Maxwell-Hudson, Clare. The Complete Book of Massage. New York: Random House,1988.
Sutton, Catherine. “Discovering Shiatsu.”<www.Innerself.com>
Woodward, Donald. Personal interview. April 6.2002.
though its massage may be uncomfortable it opens our eyes to social problems that we still can
Therapeutic touch was developed by Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz in the 1970s as a non-invasive nursing intervention (Kelly et al. 2004). Jackson and Keegan (2009, p.614) defined therapeutic touch as “a specific technique of centring intention used while the practitioner moves the hands through a recipient’s energy field for the purpose of assessing and treating energy field imbalance.” The original theory of the technique proposed by nursing theorist Rogers (1970) is that individuals as a unified whole have their own permeable energy fields that extend from the skin surface and flow evenly when they are healthy. The energy field of the ill physical body is disrupted, misaligned, obstructed or “out of tune” (Huff et al. 2006). TT has the potential to re-pattern, reorganize and restore the individual’s imbalanced energy fields through the open system extending from the surface of the body interacting with the environment constantly (Krieger, 1979). The earliest studies of healing touch were carried out in the 1950s and 1960s: biochemist Bernard Grad (1965) collaborated with famous healer Oskar Estebany to demonstrate the significantly accelerated healing effects of therapeutic touch on wounded mice and damaged barley seeds. The central aim of healing therapies is to relax and calm patients in order to activate patients’ natural healing ability, and it does not include any religious activity (Lorenc et al. 2010).
It is evident that the capacity to visually recognize things or objects is far much superior in comparison to the recognition by the use of the sense of touch (Saal, Vijayakumar & Johansson, 2009). Moreover, in comparison the ability of a human being to recognize objects visually is considered to be much accurate as well as faster than the case of tactile recognition. However, in the case of human beings visual recognition requires some brief palpations on an object in order to properly mark the identify of that object (Tonkonogiĭ & Puente, 2009). The sense of touch for any human being or species provides immense data regarding the surrounding world. Tactile recognition or the sense of touch is usually the first to develop and lasts even after the two other cognition senses fade away; visual and auditory recognition (Warren, Santello & Tillery, 2011). Though, Verrillo (1966) suggest this may due to the fact that ones are more aware the loss of visual and auditory senses as they are more salient and the deterioration of tactile senses are less noticeable. The sense of touch is considered to be an informative, active as well as perceptual system in any species. However, it is essential to point that the aspect and practice of tactile recognition plays a frequent role in an individual’s daily life. Therefore, it can be stated that tactile recognition is important and central to a human being as substantial amount of the human activities relate to touch. For instance, in the case of preparing this essay, a sense of touch is present in either the case of typing the keys on a computer or touching the pen when writing on a note pad. The need to identify the objects that one wants to use at a particular time plays a pivotal...
Some clients who have experienced trauma are particularly sensitive to issues related to touch and loss of control. Healing Touch treatments can be done without physical contact and provides the client with a choice about when and how much touch is
Kolcaba, K., Dowd, T., Steiner, R., & Mitzel, A. (2004). Efficacy of hand massage for enhancing the comfort of hospice patients. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 6(2), 91-102. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&sid=2de162ef-afff-4a48-8415-83dcedf9530a%40sessionmgr110&hid=104
Lee H., the effect of infant massage on weight gain, physiological and behavioral responses in premature infants, J Korean Acad nursing, 2005; 35(8), 1451-1460.
Reflexology is a safe and natural drug free modality that has been practiced in many cultures for centuries. It is a unique form of bodywork that enables the body to activate its own healing potential. Reflexology is an alternative and complementary medicine based on the principle that reflexes in the feet, hands and ears correspond to a mapped system of the organs or glands in the body. The official definition of Reflexology states that, “reflexology is a protocol of manual techniques, such as thumb and finger-walking, hook and backup and rotating-on-a-point, applied to specific reflex areas predominantly on the feet and hands. These techniques stimulate the complex neural pathways linking body systems, supporting the body’s efforts to function
Reflexology What is reflexology? Reflexology is the theory that the human body can be healed from disease or imbalance through pressure on specific points on the hands, feet, and ears (http://www.doubleclickd.com/reflexology.html). This alternative form of healing is doubtful by many, although there are studies that support its theory. History of Reflexology Reflexology is an ancient method of healing that originated in Egypt and the Orient. More than four thousand years ago, man discovered this treatment for imbalance, and recorded their discovery in drawings on cave walls.
This paper aims to endorse physicalism over dualism by means of Smart’s concept of identity theory. Smart’s article Sensations and the Brain provides a strong argument for identity theory and accounts for many of it primary objections. Here I plan to first discuss the main arguments for physicalism over dualism, then more specific arguments for identity theory, and finish with further criticisms of identity theory.
through the Eyes of a Participant Observer." Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. Vol. 20, No. 1, 19 Jan. 2012, p. 1. EBSCOhost. 2017 October 25.
What is massage therapy you might ask? The title for it explains almost the entire career. Massage therapist help their customers by using the manipulative skill of touching to relieve pain stress, and many other discomforting factors. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) state, therapists help rehabilitate injuries, improve circulation, relieve stress, increase relaxation, and aid in the general wellness of clients. Therapists also soften issues of the body and knead muscles. They promote general wellness and provide treatment for injuries. Massage therapists may use lotions and oils and massage tables or chairs as Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) writes. Massages can last as short as 5-10 minutes or even longer than an hour. These are
The mind has an incredible power. We see it as we go through our everyday activities, constantly displaying the wonders of logic, thought, memory and creativity. Yet, can the mind be more powerful than we know? Is it possible to reduce or even eliminate pain, illness and disease by using the natural powers it possesses? Can the mind heal?
Sensation refers to the process of sensing what is around us in our environment by using our five senses, which are touching, smell, taste, sound and sight. Sensation occurs when one or more of the various sense organs received a stimulus. By receiving the stimulus, it will cause a mental or physical response. It starts in the sensory receptor, which are specialized cells that convert the stimulus to an electric impulse which makes it ready for the brain to use this information and this is the passive process. After this process, the perception comes into play of the active process. Perception is the process that selects the information, organize it and interpret that information.
Overview This paper will discuss the mind-body connection and its relevance to health care professionals and to the public. It will explore the history of the mind-body connection, as well as state research that has been done on the subject. The reader will gain an understanding of the various techniques used in mind-body therapy, as well as their effectiveness. What is the Mind-Body Connection?
Haptics is a recent enhancement to virtual environments allowing users to “touch” and feel the simulated objects with which they interact. Haptics is the science of touch. The word derives from the Greek haptikos meaning “being able to come into contact with”. The study of haptics emerged from advances in virtual reality. Virtual reality is a form of human-computer interaction (as opposed to keyboard, mouse and monitor) providing a virtual environment that one can explore through direct interaction with our senses. To be able to interact with an environment, there must be feedback. For example, the user should be able to touch a virtual object and feel a response from it. This type of feedback is called haptic feedback .In human-computer interaction; haptic feedback means both tactile and force feedback.