Poster from the Registered Massage Therapy Association

Potential Benefits of Massage Therapy and Acupuncture

Everyday stress, repetitive actions, and injuries often cause persistent pain in our bodies. Massage therapy is highly beneficial for injury rehabilitation and maintaining healthy tissue. It can reduce muscle tension, improve posture, enhance circulation, and lower stress levels. Massage therapy may also help with injury prevention and recovery, boost performance and pain management. Overall, it decreases muscle tension, enhances circulation, calms the nervous system, improves sleep quality, and according to research may even strengthen immune function. Massage therapy can be a valuable tool in your personal wellness routine and may help with:

  • Improving joint mobility

  • Improving circulation and relaxation

  • Improving lymphatic drainage

  • Reducing depression and anxiety

  • Reducing muscular tension

  • Reducing or eliminating chronic or acute pain

A person using a hand to massage forearm

Massage Therapy may help with symptoms from

  • Arthritis

  • Asthma and Emphysema

  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  • Dislocations

  • Edema

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Headaches

  • Inflammatory Conditions

  • Insomnia

  • Lymphoedema

  • Multiple Sclerosis

  • Muscle Tension and Spasm

  • Anxiety and depression

  • Whiplash Rehab

  • Parkinson’s Disease

  • Plantar Fasciitis

  • Post-Surgical Rehabilitation

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Pregnancy and Labor Support

  • Sciatica/ Sciatic symptoms (numbness/weakness in thigh/legs hips)

  • Scoliosis

  • Sports Injuries

  • Strains and Sprains

  • Stress and Stress-Related Conditions

  • Post-Stroke Recovery

  • Tendinopathies and tendinitis, including tennis elbow and golfers elbow

Potential Benefits of Medical Acupuncture

Neurofunctional Medical Acupuncture is a type of Acupuncture popularized and taught by Dr. Alejandro Elorriaga Claraco MD, a sports medicine doctor who has worked with olympic athletes and teaches at McMaster University. It is a style of acupuncture using specific points in the nervous system by stimulating structures including skin, muscles, nerves, fascial structures and joint capsules. The goal is to adjust abnormal nervous system activity as well as modulate cellular processes through upregulation and downregulation. Contemporary Medical Acupuncture is used for managing pain, functional issues, and various diseases. It works by affecting the nervous system at different levels, from those near the body's surface to deeper regions in nerves, the spinal cord, brain stem, and even the brain itself.

The World Health Organization recognizes the use of acupuncture to treat:

  • Sports related injuries and other movement disorders including tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthriris and carpal tunnel syndrome

  • Musculoskeletal pain problems: neck pain, shoulder pain, low back pain, joint pain;

  • Headaches, sciatica, osteoarthritis, neuritis and facial pain;

  • Digestive disorders: irritable bowel, constipation, diarrhoea and gastritis;

  • Menstrual and reproductive problems: dysmenorrhea, perimenopausal symptoms and infertility;

  • Urinary tract disorders: prostatitis and bladder dysfunction;

  • Respiratory problems: sinusitis, asthma, sore throat and recurrent respiratory tract infections;

  • Stress related problems: addictions and post-traumatic stress disorder


    *Please note Chris is certified to use acupuncture under the scope of practice of an RMT and is not an acupuncturist

Acupuncture needles inserted into back muscles with wires attached to the needles