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 “
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 “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 T cell count this is a blood test that measures the number of T cells in your body. A 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.
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.
