What is Massage? Part 4a: Soft Tissue

What is Massage? Part 4: Soft Tissue

Now we will discuss soft tissue. Just like there are four main shapes of bone, there are four main types of soft tissue:

1. Epithelial
2. Nervous
3. Connective
4. Muscle

In this post, we will briefly address the first two types.

Epithelial tissue is the tissue that lines organs, the surfaces of vessels, and any cavities of the body; it also makes up all of the glands in the body that produce and distribute hormones.

Two well-known system of the body that is made of epithelial tissue are: 

 The Skin. It is the largest organ of the body and it interfaces with the environment serving as a barrier. It also provides sensory information, offers flexible support, controls loss of water and immunological responses, regulates blood pressure, and controls body temperature.

 And the Digestive System:

This is the source of all energy and nutrients that feeds every other system in the body. It can be extremely sensitive to extreme changes in diet and has evolved to process many types of plants, including grasses, weeds, and some grains.

 

One of the most important systems of the body to massage is also mostly made up of this tissue:

The Circulatory System.

This is a very important system and is a combination of two parts: The Cardiovascular and The Lymphatic systems.

The Cardiovascular system consists of the heart and all the blood vessels; arteries and veins.

The main mover of this system is the heart. It uses blood to distribute oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the stomach to keep the other systems fed and working properly. The beating of the heart pumps blood through the arteries to arterioles, through capillaries in other tissue, through venules to the veins, into the lungs, and finally back to the heart. It also removes toxins. The entire body depends upon this system working properly. 

The Lymphatic system consists of the lymph nodes and lymph vessels:

It keeps the body safe from sickness and infections. The lymph nodes create immune cells called lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that produce antibodies and attack any of the body’s cells that have become contaminated by bacteria or viruses. Unlike the cardiovascular system, this system only flows one way: from the outer parts of the body towards the heart; and because there is no pumping mechanism like the heart attached to the system, the fluid is slow to move through the vessels. What moves this liquid is muscle activity which squeezes it through the vessels past valves that prevent back flow and keeps everything moving in the right direction.

The Nervous System:

 The nervous system is made up of nervous tissue. Nervous tissue is made up of filaments that are extremely sensitive to pressure. When pressure is applied, peripheral nerves, consisting of sensory and motor nerves, send information from the body to the central nervous system. Often compared to a high powered, complex computer, the central nervous system consists of the spinal cord and the brain. Its functioning is ensured by what we call the autonomous nervous system. It ensures a stable environment and is made up of two divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic.

The sympathetic division is responsible for the horse’s fight or flight response. In response to stimuli, this system increases the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing volume, and blood flow to muscles. The parasympathetic division is responsible for everything else: for the body’s functions during times of rest, sleep, digestion, and elimination. Stimulation of this division promotes relaxation and smooth functions of the involuntary systems of the body like breathing and circulation.


These two systems are not only important for the body's proper function, but knowledge of these systems can help a massage therapist promote the best response to get the needed release of tension.