Could Massage Boost Your Immune System

While watching the TV program Trust Me I’m A Doctor” my ears pricked up and really wanted to know about one of the sections in the program.

Could massage boost your immune system?

He went on to say “Massage is one of the oldest therapies in existence.

Well we already knew that one , but guess what,  they should have replaced the words.

 “Could Massage with the words Massage does “

Bio Nuropulse in action

It seems that General Medicine has taken it’s time to catch up with us Massage Therapist.

When you have a patient that comes to you after an injury and you work on them using massage, you notice the difference, you are spending time with them, you notice them healing.

 We know that restoring them back to fitness is the aim.

We know Massage releases the “feel good factor” and there is a reason for that  it is not all about just relaxing, massage helps release Endorphins and  Dopamine, it is the physical input that the therapist applies to the patient  and how it is applied that makes the difference.

In the program they next , teamed up with Professor Fulvio D’Acquisto, an immunologist from the University of Roehampton and the Bodyology Massage School, to show a basic trial

Professor Fulvio had come across research which had found that massage boosted the number of white blood cells, the main interest in this case  being in the  “cells,  a certain  type of white blood cell” and the reaction and results to massage,  for  patients suffering from HIV, this a disease that causes a reduction in the white blood cells known as T Lymphocytes.(I have added the link to the HIV Study.) there is so much to look at and take in that the links are worth a read to put things in perspective.

Professor Fulvio had come across research which had found that massage boosted the number of white blood cells, the main interest in this case being in the “T cells, a certain type of white blood cell” and the reaction and results to massage, for patients suffering from HIV, this a disease that causes a reduction in the white blood cells known as T Lymphocytes.(I have added the link to the HIV Study.) there is so much to look at and take in that the links are worth a read to put things in perspective.

There were  two different types of T Cells, helper cells (CD4 T Cells and Cytotoxic or CD8 killer cells, that they were mainly of interested  in the study. 

T cells are matured in the Thymus,(Hence the name T Cells) this is an organ situated under the breastbone, that does most of it’s work when we are children, before puberty it  then turns into fatty tissue, but  T cells are originally produced in the bone marrow, they later move to the Thymus, then when they have matured and the Thymus changes, they are on the move again, they then migrate to the lymph nodes (these are groups of immune system cells) throughout the body, where they work to aid the immune system in fighting disease, clever hardworking little guys these T Cells.

There are also Effector cells and Memory T cells these  may be either CD4+ or CD8 but work differently ( I have also added a link on T Cells to give a bit more information)

Taking blood samples from  Volunteers, before and after massage, so they could do a  cell count this is a blood test that measures the number of T cells in your bodyA T cell is a type of white blood cell they  then  analysed the blood test, for the number of T Lymphocytes present, this  became the  baseline reading, they  then checked them again,  comparing  the baseline results, to the results after an hour’s massage.

This  showed a 70 per cent boost in white blood cells after massage.

We all love to have good results

This was also a higher reading than they had from the volunteers simply relaxing, the other factor evident, was that in the group that had the massage, their T Cells remained higher after the test.

As T-lymphocytes  perform a wide array of functions in the body involved with growth and repair, both the Killer and Helper  Cells, when   “Thymosin: The Hormone of the Thymus is released,”  this will  help the killer Cells to destroy any bugs in the system, while the helper cells will then go on to then build up the immune system.

This has been of great interest to both myself when using the Bioneuro because of it’s ability to be used during massage and how it effectively  preforms  in boosting recovery, along with its ability to enhance Massage and Neuromuscular Therapy techniques used when treating a patient and the team at Biosysco in further developments of The Bioneuro.

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