Why offer massage therapy in addiction treatment programs? There is much to be said about the health benefits of massage for just about anyone, but when seeking to begin recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD), including massage in your addiction therapy programs makes excellent sense.
To learn more about massage therapy and addiction recovery, contact Apex Recovery. Our massage therapy program in Nashville magnifies the many benefits of our evidence-based psychotherapies. It’s easy to connect with us. Just fill out this online form or call us at 615.703.4639.
How Does a Massage Therapy Program Aid in Recovery?
Massage therapy does a great deal of good for the body of someone, leaving drugs and alcohol behind. For example, massage offers:
- Detoxification – Massage is vital in flushing lactic acid from the body’s tissues and promoting blood flow. During and after medical detox, massage speeds up and improves the body’s ability to expel toxins and waste products that build up in the blood and lymph systems, as well as getting oxygen to the body’s systems, promoting healing.
- Endorphin release – Drug and alcohol addiction interferes with the brain’s ability to produce necessary chemicals for pleasure, balance, and emotional regulation. Massage amps up endorphins in the bloodstream, helping those in recovery regain their balance and ability to feel hope, joy, and satisfaction.
- Improved self-awareness – For many people with an SUD, managing emotions is difficult. In recovery, people risk relapse when they cannot control their emotional reactions to triggers. Massage engages the senses in a way that helps people become aware of where emotions reside in their bodies. In other words, what are the physical warning signs that an unproductive emotion, like rage, panic, or frustration, is spiking? Knowledge is power. Once someone can identify those emotions clearly, it is much easier to use other skills learned in rehab to manage them, go beyond them, or channel them productively.
- Stress reduction – Detox and early rehab can be stressful. Stress triggers psychological cravings because people with SUD are accustomed to turning to drugs or alcohol to numb unpleasant emotions. Extreme pressure is generally hard on the body’s systems and mind. Regular massage therapy in rehab—and beyond—can replace stress hormones with feel-good hormones like endorphins while relaxing the body deeply in readiness for a healthy, lower-stress recovery experience.
- Pain reduction – For those who deal with chronic pain, self-medicating with narcotics and alcohol is not uncommon. Many of those people end up addicted. In addiction treatment, finding treatments for chronic pain is essential to help clients avoid relapse. One natural way to significantly reduce pain is massage therapy. When combined with acupuncture and meditation, the effects are amplified.
While massage won’t remove addiction, massage therapy is beneficial to an entire treatment plan.
Why We Offer Massage Therapy Programs
In the treatment plan a team of caregivers created for you, you will see more than one approach reflected. Your daily schedule might include group therapy, individual therapy, 12-step meetings, mindfulness or meditation, life-skills classes, experiential therapy, and massage therapy. As part of the overall plan for your time in treatment, massage will help you understand the links between stress and disease.
Your body gives you away. Tension is held by your muscles, and in massage, your therapist will point that out to you and help you release it.
Many people with SUDs who enter addiction treatment suffer from past trauma and may even be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since massage is based on touch, and some people with unresolved trauma are triggered by touch, the massage therapy process must be engaged very carefully.
Similar to some forms of psychotherapy, such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, massage therapy can help rewire the brain away from being easily activated with fight or flight responses to a more balanced and grounded place. This can help with past trauma, as well as people with anxiety disorders, as well as being triggered by touch.
The fact that body and mind are inextricably linked is a founding principle of massage therapy and many of the most tried-and-true psychotherapies.
Find Massage Therapy and Addiction Recovery at Apex Recovery
Apex Recovery in Nashville proudly offers a range of treatment modalities that work together in the best interests of our clients. Massage therapy can be life-changing during early and ongoing recovery. Reach out to learn more about massage therapy and addiction recovery. Simply call 615.703.4639 or complete this form to connect with us.