Case Study: Effective Massage Therapy for Muscular Tension Treatment

This case study examines the effectiveness of massage therapy in treating muscular tension. It begins with an introduction to muscular tension as a body condition and highlights the benefits of massage therapy. Part A discusses various body conditions like muscular tension, cellulite, and scar tissue, emphasizing the role of massage in each. The case study focuses on muscular tension, its impact on homeostasis, and the significance of massage therapy. It also addresses contra-indications, including local and total contra-indications, and the need for medical clearance in certain situations. Various massage techniques, such as Swedish massage and manual lymphatic drainage, are described. The study concludes with a treatment plan for back pain due to muscular tension, ranging from home treatments to massage and physical therapy, emphasizing lifestyle changes. The report provides references from various books and journals to support the findings.

CASE STUDY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Body Treatment Conditions.........................................................................................................3
Muscular Tension........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Muscular tension is a particular type of body situation and muscle therapy can be used
effectively in order to cure this. In this report, the use physiological system for treating particular
body conditions will be discussed.
PART A
Body Treatment Conditions
There a variety of body conditions that patients can come up with while treating them for body
pain and three major categories of problems that can be faced by patients are Muscular Tension,
Cellulite and Scar tissue. Different conditions affect different body systems in the individuals
and therefore all have different treatments and conditions (Shin & Sung, 2015). However, in
treatment of almost all types of body conditions that are related to stiffness in the muscles, giving
a massage therapy is extremely rewarding.
Muscular Tension can be resolved using massage therapy since it relaxes the muscle tissue and
this helps in minimising the pain caused due to muscle contractions and spasms. The rhythmic
movement of fingers helps in relaxing the pressure points and ligaments thus giving relief from
the stiffness or tension.
Cellulite can be treated by massage since it helps in improving the lymphatic drainage and the
correct movements of massage process helps in removing the excessive cellulite and the
stretching of the skin in correct manner will treat the patient effectively.
Scar Tissue can be effectively diminished using the scar massage where the scar gets softened
and flattens out. It helps in decreasing the itching and provides moisture and flexibility to the
scar thus promoting collagen remodelling.
Muscular Tension
Amongst various body conditions, one major condition that can be actually resolved only by
giving massage therapy involves Muscular Tension (Gholami-Motlagh, Jouzi & Soleymani,
2016). The major body part that can get impacted due to such muscular tension is back pain and
stiffness in its movement. Homeostasis i.e. the process through which the internal physical and
chemical balances are maintained in the individuals at an equilibrium rate. Muscle Tension
contributes in the maintaining of this homeostasis since there is increase or decrease in the body
temperature based on the muscle contraction and expansion. Therefore, muscle tension can

hamper this entire process of maintaining homeostasis and therefore, massage is an effective tool
in the homeostasis process.
However, there are some specific cases, in which the massage therapy can even be declared as
contra-indication and these situations are classified as local contra-indications and total contra-
indications.
Local Contra-Indications arise when the massage therapists suggest that massage should not be
performs over a specific or particular portion or area and Total Contra-Indications occur when
the massage cannot be given over the entire body parts and needs to be avoided by the patient
(Bhadar, Asghar & Mukhtar, 2017). For example, an outdoor activity has resulted in soreness or
stiffness in the patient and he has also developed sunburn. Now if he insists to get massage in
that particular area say his lower back, then the therapist must deny giving massage in that
particular area which is affected by the sunburn and the rest of are can be massaged. On the other
hand if the patient has caught a communicable disease say flu and then intends to get a massage
done, then in such cases, the therapists cannot allow massage to be performed in any part of the
entire body.
Additionally, there are also some specific situation in which, the patient has to obtain a medical
clearance certificate in order to get massage treatment which is usually given for giving massage
except on a particular area that has been affected. These scenarios involve a pregnant women,
person that are inflicted with cardiovascular diseases at an extreme level etc.
Massage therapy involves a number of techniques that can be used by the therapists in order to
treat their patients but some prominent techniques involve Swedish Massaging Technique and
Manual Lymphatic Drainage Technique (Kanwal and et.al., 2018). There are a variety of
movement techniques that are categorised and included under both these techniques and these
can be used by the therapist in accordance with the current body condition of patients. However,
there are three major movement techniques that are covered under both the Swedish Body
Massage technique and the Lymphatic Drainage technique and these are that both the massages
are done in an extremely light hand where there are defined movements that are followed by the
massage therapists. The Rhythmic tapping technique where fists are used, giving long massage
strokes and the use of cupped fists are used in both the massage techniques in order to relax the
tightening of the muscles. However, Lymphatic massage is mainly used to push the lymph

toward the correct nodes and deform, the skin and Swedish Technique is used to solve the
tightening of the knots.
In case of Muscular tension, both the techniques can be used to give the relaxation to the muscles
and treat the problem effectively.
The treatment plan to improve the present condition of back pain due to muscular tension
involves a treatment ranging from 1 week to 4 weeks where home treatments like icing your
back, applying heat and other pressure, taking painkillers and more advanced level of treatments
ranging from massage or physical therapy that can be used to get treatment for the back (Ramesh
and et.al., 2015). The lifestyle changes and other similar things are the best measure of curing
muscular tension and giving appropriate relaxation.
CONCLUSION
The use of various massage techniques in order to cure the different body situations were
identified in this report and discussed with special reference to Muscular Tension.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ramesh, C., and et.al., (2015). Effectiveness of massage therapy on post-operative outcomes
among patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A systematic review. International Journal of
Nursing Sciences, 2(3). 304-312.
Kanwal, R., and et.al., (2018). STRETCHING EXERCISES VERSUS DEEP FRICTION
MASSAGE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME. The
Rehabilitation Journal, 2(02). 65-69.
Bhadar, M., Asghar, S., & Mukhtar, Z. (2017). Muscular strain as risk factor of somatic
symptom of mix anxiety and depression. European Psychiatry, 41. S406.
Gholami-Motlagh, F., Jouzi, M., & Soleymani, B. (2016). Comparing the effects of two Swedish
massage techniques on the vital signs and anxiety of healthy women. Iranian journal of
nursing and midwifery research, 21(4). 402
Shin, M. S., & Sung, Y. H. (2015). Effects of massage on muscular strength and proprioception
after exercise-induced muscle damage. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning
Research, 29(8). 2255-2260.
Online
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