Massage benefits you can learn firsthand

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National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is October 23-29. Oasis Massage and Spa is celebrating by hosting an open house Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 3 to 7 p.m. The spa, located at 689 N 132nd St., will be offering free samples of a few different kinds of massage.

“With Massage Awareness Week, we thought it would be a great opportunity to let the community know about some of the benefits of massage,” said Lindsey Carper, Oasis owner.

Helping people is why Carper got into this business.

“I remember one client a few years back,” she said. “She was in her seventies, and when she came in, she was hunched over and walking with a cane, in a great deal of pain. I had to set up a stool at the table for her to climb up, and I had to actually help her onto the table. After I worked on her, I don’t want to say she jumped off the table, but she walked out of here standing upright.”

That client called the next morning, just to report that she’d felt so great, she cleaned out her garage.

“She was so excited to have done this thing she hadn’t been able to do for years. That’s what I want,” Carper said.

Carper’s belief in the power of massage is backed by recent research. In its July 5 issue, Annals of Internal Medicine published a study that shows massage is an effective treatment of low-back pain.

In the study conducted by Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatments for their chronic low-back pain. Relaxation massage (similar to Swedish massage), structural massage (including deep-tissue and neuromuscular massage), and standard medical care (medication and physical therapy) were the treatments.

After 10 weeks, nearly two-thirds of the participants receiving either type of weekly massage reported that their back pain was significantly improved or gone altogether. On the other hand, only one-third of the medical-care participants experienced similar results.

Other benefits frequently attributed to massage include stress relief, lowered blood pressure, and an increased sense of wellness.

For more information about the open house or the benefits of massage, contact Oasis at 402-964-2267 or visit www.oasismassageandspa.com.