All you need to know about the benefits of Massage

Massage has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and for good reason! Essentially the manipulation of soft tissue, Massage is thought to aid recovery, injury prevention, relaxation and mobility (Hemmings, 2001).

How does it work?

Massage stimulates blood flow to the area it is performed, which allows more oxygen and nutrients to be brought to the muscle. Likewise, it facilitates the removal of toxins to aid recovery.

Alongside this, horses have been seen to relax with massage too. The testing on the Equilibrium Massage Pad not only demonstrated an increase in relaxation, but it also saw an increase in back flexibility of 46%.

Massage is quite commonly used alongside heat, which encourages all the same responses of aiding circulation, muscle relaxation, and flexibility. The Equilibrium Massage Mitt Hotspot offers owners the choice of using 2 types of massage and/or heat and is designed so you can use it on yourself too!

When to use Massage.

Massage is great to incorporate into your horses’ daily routine. This is where the Equilibrium Massage Pad really comes into its own. Hours can pass quickly at the yard, so this time-saving solution allows your horse to have a massage, while you get on with other daily tasks such as mucking out. The clinical trials* suggest using massage 6 times per week for 20 mins for best effect.

Perfect to help in so many scenarios, here’s just a few reasons you might want to use massage:

For horses on box rest to promote blood flow
After exercise to help with toxin removal
Before exercising as part of warm-up
At a show to help recover from travelling
On your horse’s day off as part of a maintenance programme
Anytime as a reward

Using something smaller, like the Equilibrium Massage Mitt, allows you to target specific areas like the poll, neck, shoulder, hindquarters, and hamstrings.

Massage for you!

Evidence suggests that massage is beneficial for a variety of musculoskeletal and health conditions in people, such as:

Lower back pain (Furlan, 2017).
Neck and shoulder pain (Kong, 2013).
Pain from osteoarthritis (Cortés Godoy, 2014).
Headaches (Happe, 2016)
DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
Increasing range of motion

Similarly to horses, heat is also great to use for people to aid vasodilation. Studies have also shown a short-term reduction in pain in people after using a heat wrap (Malanga, 2014).

There are 4 common areas horse riders tend to suffer: