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.

What is Massage? Part 1: Introduction

Most people see massage as a luxury; something that makes you relax and feel good. This is true to an extent, but it is much more than that. There are many benefits to massage therapy and in this series of posts/articles I will explain them. The first step in this journey is simple. We ask the question:

What is Massage?

It may seem silly and simple to ask this question. But how many of us really look at massage as nothing more than an expensive rub down? I know I did before I took my course. Once I learned exactly what it was and its effects on the body, I was fully convinced that massage is not a luxury, but a necessity to any hard working or competitive creature.

So, what exactly is massage?

Dictionary.com defines it as “the act or art of treating the body by rubbing, kneading, patting, or the like, to stimulate circulation, increase suppleness, relieve tension, etc”. Merriam Webster defines it as “manipulation of tissues with the hand or an instrument for relaxation or therapeutic purposes”. Both of these definitions are much more detailed than I found even six months ago. This tells me that massage is making a positive headway in the rehabilitation and therapy of the everyday person, and that’s exciting!

Massage has been around for quite a long time. It originated in ancient China with the first texts written around 2600-2700BC. In 1949 the information was compiled and translated to English in the book titled “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine” which is still used as a textbook in human massage courses today. Within those texts it was recorded that massage of certain injuries was the most effective means of recovery.

You may be thinking, “well sure, but that’s for human massage, not horse massage”. True, but science has proven that muscle is muscle is muscle. It does not matter the animal; all muscle works, reacts, and recovers exactly the same way. Because of this, massage can be applied to every being that will accept it.

One of the first books ever written on the subject of equine massage was “Beating Muscle Injuries in Horses” by Jack Meagher, Sports Therapist. Published in 1985, Meagher goes over techniques to find and release tension for many common problems in the horse world. He also explains his stress point therapy, which will be address in a later post.

In 1997, Mike Scott, CSMT, wrote and published “The Basic Principles of Equine Massage/Muscle Therapy”. Originally a human sports massage therapist, and one of the first students of Meagher’s techniques, Scott has a unique take on the world and benefits of multi-species massage therapy. He defines massage as “the manipulation of the soft tissues of the body, such as muscle fibers, fascia, tendon, and ligament” (Scott, 69).

In 2007, “Equine Massage: A Practical Guide” was published by Jean-Pierre Houdebaight, LMT. This is one of the most in-depth, yet easy to read, ‘how-to’ books I have ever picked up. It has a logical flow that helps the reader follow such a complicated subject. I kept this book beside me throughout my course and time again, when I was stumped on a bit of information or technique, this book would have the answer. He defines massage therapy as “the manipulation of the soft tissues of the body in order to achieve specific goals of drainage, relaxation, or stimulation and of resolving muscle-related problems such as trigger points and stress points” (Houdebaight, 2).

In each of these books one thing is repeated multiple times: in order to fully understand massage and what it does, one has to have a basic, if not in depth, understanding of anatomy and musculature.

So, with that in mind, this blog series will begin with the basics of Equine anatomy and work its way through to the problems.