thewi thai massage

History of Foot Massage in Thailand
A La Loubere's Chronicle, written in the reign of King Narai (1656-1689) mentioned the popular use of massage in ancient Siam: "In Siam, when one fell ill, his or her cousins would have him or her massaged." Furthermore, it was said that King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868-1910) was so fond of this method of rejuvenating that whenever he went out to visit his subjects in remote areas, at least one masseur was included in his entourage.Thus, the art of massage has been practised and developed for centuries in this country. And Thai foot reflexology massage* has been enhanced by comparison with other varieties such as Chinese massage, Korean massage and Japanese massage to bring out the supreme benefits of this modality. Nowadays, Wat Pho Thai Traditional Massage School is the centre of massage services and study in Thailand.

If you’ve relied on massages to soothe pain and promote well-being, new research finds that massages after a good workout may offer even more positive benefits.

According to a small study by Canadian researchers, people who worked out for 70 minutes and then had a massage had a marked increase in their muscle cells’ energy production and a decrease in inflammation in the muscles. The study was published last week in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

For many years, people have gotten massages "without a huge amount of scientific underpinning," said study researcher Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, head of the division of neuromuscular and neurometabolic disease at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. "Our work raises the very interesting possibility that endurance exercise may be enhanced, or at least the benefits may be enhanced, for those who have a massage following their exercise."

In the study, eleven young men exercised to exhaustion, which took about 70 minutes, and then after a brief rest had one leg massaged for 10 minutes while the other was not. The researchers then analyzed tissue samples from both of the subjects’ leg muscles, finding signficant changes in the massaged muscles, including an increase in the production of mitrochondria, which are the "powerhouse of the cell, and increases of mitochondria are at the heart of the benefits of endurance exercise," Tarnopolsky said.

Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find evidence that massages reduced lactic acid, which builds up in muscles during exercise.

Another study published last year found that a ten-week massage treatment reduced pain more than medications and exercises, and the effects lasted for six months. The research, appearing in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, involved about 400 patients aged 20 to 65 with chronic low back pain.