Massage Therapy

I am excited to announce that Momentum will now be offering massage therapy! Kristen Chandler, LMT, will be accepting appointments beginning August 13th!

Massage doesn’t have to be an expensive luxury anymore. Momentum is offering massage therapy in a comfortable environment, by outstanding massage therapists, at reasonable prices.

Kristen Chandler, LMT was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and has lived in Memphis for 5 years. She has always been interested in sports and rehabilitation, and played tennis in high school and college. She periodically had physical therapy to keep her playing. She likes to listen to podcasts and drink good coffee. She will be a great addition to our team and allow us to provide the convenience of in-house massage therapy.

We all know that massage feels great, but a growing body of evidence suggests muscle therapy provides a long and varied list of health benefits. In fact, more people get their muscles kneaded and rubbed for medical purposes than they do for relaxation or pampering, according to a recent survey. You know massage helps reduce stress and tension; here are some more potential benefits, based on research compiled by the American Massage Therapy Association:

• Relieve chronic low-back pain. Nearly everyone at some point has back pain that interferes with work and daily activities; if it lasts more than three months, it’s considered chronic. One study showed people with long-lasting low-back pain who got a one-hour Swedish or structural massage once a week for 10 weeks experienced significant improvements in both their symptoms and functional abilities, and did so more quickly than those who received standard medical care; they also used less over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs. Other research found that massage helps with osteoarthritis of the knee pain, fibromyalgia, and nerve pain, among others.
• Ease anxiety. A review of studies that measured the stress hormone, Cortisol, in people before and immediately after massage found the therapy lowered levels by up to about 50%. Massage also increased serotonin and dopamine, two neurotransmitters that help reduce depression. That may play into why massage has been shown to help people with anxiety disorders, to increase calm before surgery, and to decrease stress and depression in cancer patients; in fact, a recent Turkish study found back massages given during chemotherapy significantly reduced anxiety and fatigue.
• Reduce blood pressure Women with prehypertension (or slightly elevated blood pressure) who received three 10-minute Swedish massages a week for 10 total sessions lowered their pressure more than patients who relaxed in the same environment but with no massage, according to a small study. Other more recent research on 35 older adults showed that therapeutic massage also helped reduce blood pressure, as well as improve stability.
• Boost immunity. Massage may give the immune system a boost by helping to increase activity levels of natural killer T cells, which fight off viruses and tumors. Past, preliminary science suggested full-body massage enhanced the immune function of women with breast cancer; a newer but also early study on premature babies came to a similar conclusion: Those who received massage therapy had more active killer immune cells (and gained weight faster), compared with infants in the control group.

Please cancel by 4:00PM the day before your scheduled massage or a charge of 50% of the cost of the massage will be requested.