Why and How to Use Massage Oils for Best Health Benefit

Nowadays massage oils have become an important part of any massage therapy business. Massage is great on its own, but using oils it makes the massage experience not only more pleasant and relaxing, but it also gives them additional health benefits.

One of the main reasons why massage oils are increasingly used is that it allows the practitioner’s hands to glide smoothly over the areas to rub, making massage much easier to perform. Furthermore the oils moisturize and tone the skin which helps skin care greatly. Several oils have healing properties, particularly if we’re looking at adding essential oils to the mix. And sometimes, oils make massage simply more enjoyable for both parties.

Some of the oils with healing properties that are successfully used in massage are:

• Almond oil, known for its skin care properties
• Apricot is mostly used to soften and moisturize the skin
• Aloe Vera is well known oil with therapeutic properties. The fact that it also lubricates the skin makes it perfect for massage, particularly when combined with essential oils.
• Jojoba oil is a great skin moisturizer and it also works best in conjunction with essential oils. It has great antibacterial properties, so it can be used particularly well for back massage (if you have back acne, for example).
• Pure Vitamin E oil is great for massage as it is absorbed very easily by the body through the skin.
• Sunflower oil is useful because it is rich in the essential fatty acid linoleic acid, palmitic acid as well as stearic acid, which are all an important part of healthy skin. Caution needs to be exercised with sunflower oil as it does get rancid fast, so one should buy only smaller amounts of this oil at a time.

Most of these massage oils can be used combined with aromatherapy oils. Essential oils are known for their healing and relaxing properties, which make it an important part of modern massage therapy. Several of the oils mentioned above are also called ‘carrier oils’, as they are needed to dilute essential oils before applying to the skin. Essential oils cannot be used on the skin on their own as they are too potent in their concentration and can harm the tissue.

Aromatherapy massage has a triple healing effect: first, the act of massage itself is healing, relaxing the muscles and easing the tension out of the body. Second, the oils are inhaled during the massage session, which fire a chemical message to the brain to trigger the desired emotional response (calmness, relaxation, rejuvenation, etc) as well as to evoke pleasant memories from the past. And lastly, the oils get also worked into the body through skin absorption. This enhances the natural healing benefits of the herbal plants for the whole body and mind.

When essential oils are used during a massage session, the massage therapist usually combines a blend of 5 complementary essential oils to increase the beneficial effects