The Therapeutic Element of Touch

The Therapeutic Element of Touch:

CoViD-19 Edition

Touch as Physical and Psychological Medicine

Without meaning touch, the past couple of months have been hard, and for some of us it has been down right excruciating.  Therefore, this has taken a deeper and, frequently less than well talked about toll on all of us.

We are on the precipice of reopening at an increasingly larger scale, we are excited to be on the list of businesses that can. Anyone who loves what they do as much we do would be just as excited.

Our excitement, however, has a far deeper purpose and meaning.

Absolutely everyone has been in quarantine, even if you are an essential worker or chose to not participate.  Living in a community at large that has mostly been on lock-down and continues to practice social distancing, everyone has noticed a change in the amount and quality of interactions.

We have collectively gone through contact withdrawal

This extensive distancing from society, community and each other is having a devastating effect. We are social creatures by nature and design. Our nervous system is literally wired for touch and close proximity.

In fact, our closest genetic relatives, primates, still practice social grooming as part of their activities of daily living. Social grooming requires touch and proximity.

I recall one mentor saying that social grooming is quite possibly the origin of massage and possibly medicine.

Anyone who banged a knee as a child can recall a caretaker ‘kiss it to make it better’, or you instinctively rubbed the sore spot to make it hurt less. This is an example of a personal experience on the power of touch.

Simple touch.  There are entire courses on why these work.

The point is that our nervous system was designed/evolved into one that needs input to make sense of the world.  At it’s most basic level, is it safe out there? Or not?

While our higher brain can rationalize quarantining and social distance, our older brain is wondering… what the heck is going on?  Why aren’t we getting our handshakes, the high fives and where are the almighty hugs?  Why do I feel so alone?  Is it safe out there?

The importance of touch is so profound there are special volunteer program for newborns to receive skin-to-skin contact, because otherwise they would not thrive.  Without touch, newborn immune systems would then be compromised and suffer detrimental long-term health effects.

At worst, newborns give up.

 

Even in the current phase of reopening, we are discouraged from close proximity to others, from hugging our best friends, and if we haven’t seen family, them either.  And if you are caring or are in contact with an elderly or immuno-compromised person, you aren’t touching anybody else.  Closed loop for sure.

What can touch do for us?

Research has shown us that a 20 second hug produces some wonderful benefits.  Even if it’s the same person you saw last night that has been the same person for the the past couple of months.

We suggest closing your eyes and going in for that hug.  Make sure you are both in it, works way better like that.  It’s immediate givers gain.  When you give a hug you get a hug back.

What happens in those 20 seconds of hugs?  Oxytocin is released.  This hormone is responsible for feelings love, social bonding for and well being. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure.

All that from 20 seconds. This is how important touch is!

And guess what else releases Oxytocin?  Massage therapy.

Just one reason we are so excited and why it is imperative massage reopens.  We feel massage therapy is the perfect vehicle to reduce the effects of isolation and social withdrawal.

We believe therapeutic touch practitioners will be the front line to healing the effects of social distancing.

For your nervous system, getting a massage, is like getting a hour long hug, and we already know what a 20 second hug can do.

A massage by a skilled bodyworker talks to your nervous system in a way that nothing else does.  They literally “talk” to your brain via a number of sensory receptors in your skin muscles and joints.  These receptors send a signal upstream to your spinal cord and brain. Those signals communicate deep or light pressure, lateral stretch, vibration, movement, position in 3-Dimensional space and time.

Our brain and nervous system perceives these signals to answer, am I okay or am I in danger, and do I need to pay acute attention to this?

Does our brain talk back?

Yes, differently than we think as talk.  It communicates by saying things like more pressure, less pressure, the almighty relief-exhale/sigh-of-relief, or quick run for your life!

As a result of receiving therapeutic grade touch, our nervous system will then move from sympathetic arousal (fight, flight, freeze) to the parasympathetic response (alright, alright, alright… let’s chill and take a nap.

Something else that happens during a massage is you may tune out of your active mind and ‘drop’ into your body.  You will experience Interoception, information on the internal state of your body.

And if you ask us, that is pretty darn cool.  Then again, we are just a merry crew of body positive nerds!

In the coming days and weeks, we should expect more restriction to be lifted.  But in the meantime, go outside and get some fresh air, take a walk in a nature trail.

I have heard from friends and clients saying there is an inherent anxiety to reintegrating to society.  So, reconciling the effects of withdrawing from a touch rich life is imperative to our physical and mental health.

What can I do?

Do yourself a solid, call your massage therapist and book an appointment.

So, the sooner your start the better off your future will be.

If you don’t have a regular massage therapist, search local google and Yelp!, read reviews, and have a conversation over the phone.  If you live in the Greater Austin area, consider our new client special.

Feeling super ready?  Here are links for a 60m or 90m sessions. Use code ’15$’ for $15 discount of your!  We have openings, and we are taking the necessary precautions to keep everyone happy and full of the goodness, even if you need is to talk it out and have a phone chat.

In addition to getting a session from you favorite massage therapists, here is a resource on stress and anxiety management.  Try our Conscious Breathing blog post or give our Qi Gong videos a try!

In good health,

Alejandro

 

Here are a few of external links that talk more in depth about the subject we covered

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/born-love/201003/touching-empathy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23251939

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00743/full