Foundation Changing Children’s Lives through Touch Therapy
The Liddle Kidz Foundation, founded by pediatric massage therapist Tina Allen, is bringing massage to some of the most underserved populations globally, reports Massage Magazine. Last year, Allen and her volunteer health care provider team visited various parts of Indian. It worked with children in orphanages, schools for special needs children, and children in clinics, hospitals, and other facilities.
Allen told the magazine that India is very receptive to massage and that baby massage is a natural part of Indian culture and traditional child care. Still, the idea of massage for health reasons is relatively new. The medical benefits of massage were most impactful to special-needs children, especially since many do not have the financial resources for access to therapies and consistent health care.
The Liddle Kidz Foundation's events brought parents with children suffering from cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism spectrum disorders, and various other disabilities. Often attendance meant traveling from outlying villages.
Education plays a key part in the foundation’s outreach. The organization teaches parents how to tailor specific massage therapy to their children's needs and take an active role in their child’s health care. Read more.
Benefits of myofascial massage for breast cancer patients
Recent research indicates that massage therapy can improve pain levels and a range of motion in post-surgical breast cancer patients, reports the Daily Herald. Many who have had breast cancer surgery develop scar tissue and swelling and bruising of the soft tissues, resulting in pain and decreased range of motion.
A study published in the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork indicated that myofascial massage significantly reduced the pain and disability associated with breast cancer surgery.
As part of the study,21 women with pain and disability from breast surgery either received myofascial massage focusing on tenderness and disability or, as a control, received a Swedish massage, but not in the area of pain disability. Each participant received 16 massage sessions over an eight-week period.
The participants who received the myofascial massage had a significant decrease in pain levels and a significant increase in mobility, and a feeling of better general health and overall quality of life compared to the control group. Read more.
Why foot massage helps you feel good
The Daily Mail cites new research that finds squeezing and rubbing the feet cause a surge of oxytocin, the “feel-good” hormone. As part of the study, 40 adult males received 10 minutes of light foot massage, either by hand or a massage machine.
Blood samples taken before and after the massage gauged the level of oxytocin. After the hand-administered massage, oxytocin levels in the blood were up by 51 percent. By comparison, oxytocin levels rose only 18 percent following the machine-administered massage.
The concentration of nerves in the feet is attributed to the greater sensitivity. Read more.