Growing old is not fun as bodies start slowing down, muscles lose mass and flexibility, and the pain creeps into different body parts. Even if an aged person has no medical ailments, they struggle to stay up with regular physical activities. Thus, older adults experience issues with flexibility, mobility, and mental health. 

While there is no universal solution to avoid ageing or its pitfalls, massage therapy can significantly help. It's a good way to promote a sense of calmness and relaxation. The healing touch can help aged individuals wind down after a long week when their muscles or mind are feeling stressed. Moreover, regular massage therapies can provide older adults benefits ranging from better blood circulation to pain relief, improved digestion, and overall well-being.

Here, you can discover the benefits of incorporating different massage therapies into your elderly care routine.

What are the Benefits of Massage Therapy for Elder Care?

Beyond the obvious aesthetic advantages like calmness and relaxation, the healing touch of therapeutic massages can also decrease stress in older people's bodies and lessen the effects of anxiety, digestive disorders, and depression.

The following points highlight the benefits of incorporating massage therapy into the elder care routine:

• Promotes a sense of calm and relaxation

The most immediate benefit an aged individual can avail of at the massage table is a feeling of well-being. A professional massage therapist can make seniors more relaxed and calmer in just a single session.

• Ease muscle and joint pain

Massage for older adults involves understanding their body and various systems, especially the musculoskeletal system. Massage therapy can relieve elders from the discomforts of ageing, muscle and joint pain, and injury by focusing more on relaxing tensed muscles and unyielding joints. 

Undergoing massage therapies each week can help soften those tough spots and increase blood flow, contributing to chronic pain relief and healing.

• Improves blood and lymph circulation

Massage stimulates blood movement through seniors' bodies and lymph nodes, especially through congested, injured or tensed body areas. The movement of new blood through their veins can quicken the healing of damaged and tense muscles.

• Reduces stress, anxiety, and depression

Older adults tend to feel lonelier and, thus, easily get stressed, anxious, or depressed. Massage therapy is an excellent solution for stress reduction for elderly individuals.

Elderly massage signals the brain to release endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. These hormones in an individual's brain produce feelings of well-being and happiness while reducing the stress hormones and feelings of anxiety and depression. 

• Improves balance and gait

Accidental falls are one of the top concerns for older adults, as their bones tend to lose density and firmness as they age. 

Massage therapies can help improve proprioception, or the sense of the relative position of seniors' body parts, by improving blood flow to the limbs. It further enhances aged individuals' balance and gait, reducing the chances of tripping or falling.

• Improves sleep

The relaxation benefit of massage therapies extends beyond the massage table for older adults. Instead, therapeutic massage can promote deep, restful sleep even for elders who have dementia. 

• Boosts immune system

The immune system starts deteriorating as an individual ages.  Seniors need a strong immune system to avoid medical ailments and infections. Going for massage therapy can enhance immune/boosting cell production in older people's bodies, further improving the body's defence mechanism. 

• Stimulates digestive system

Constipation is one of the most common and frustrating issues many aged individuals face. Sometimes, even medicines don't work for constipated older adults. It's when massage therapy comes across as a remarkable solution.

Massage therapy stimulates muscle movement that can further enhance the digestive system, making it easier for elders to pass stool. In fact, many studies show that aged individuals receiving massages each week tend to have good digestive health and, thus, experience fewer constipation issues. 

Exploring Different Types of Massage Therapies for Elders

Any aged individual can avail of the above-discussed benefits by undergoing these different types of massage therapies:

• Swedish massage: Swedish massage is a gentle full-body massage which you can incorporate into the elder care routine to provide your aged loved one with multiple therapeutic and health benefits. It's excellent for older adults who are new to massage, desire gentle touch, and look forward to releasing muscle tension. The massage therapist combines various techniques, from kneading, vibration, and tapping to long strokes and circular movements.
• Hot stone massage: If your elderly loved one has muscle pain and tension or just wants to relax, you should enrol them for a hot stone massage. Using heated stones, the therapist focuses on easing the individual's muscle tension, alleviating pain, relieving stress, promoting relaxation, and improving blood flow.
• Deep tissue massage: This massage therapy uses more pressure and is suitable for seniors with muscle problems like soreness, imbalance, tightness, injury, and chronic pain.
• Aromatherapy: This massage is best for older adults who enjoy the scent and seek emotional healing. Using essential oils and combining soft, gentle pressure, aromatherapy massage can help reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression, boost mood, and relieve muscle tension and pain.
• Trigger point massage: It's best suited to reduce the tightness in particular areas that can affect other body parts. If your senior has migraine headaches or tensed muscles, recommend trigger point massage to them.

Concluding Words

Ageing comes with a unique set of body limitations and health concerns. Coupling the healing touch of massage therapy with other relaxing and preventive measures can help your elderly loved one with chronic pain relive, stress reduction, improved digestive system, and more.