Massage therapy can not only be used for the relief of tension in adult but can also be useful in the development of infants. Studies have shown that premature infants have been helped by massage therapy. This shows that massage therapy can be just as useful as such medical technologies as the incubator. Massaging a newborn also has been known to strengthen the bond between mother and child and make the infant more responsive to physical contact. Massage is not just the rubbing of the skin but is much more complicated.
Massage therapist have over eighty different varieties of massage to choose from today.
The most common massage technique used on infants is effleurage. Effleurage is characterized by long strokes and can use knuckle strokes or circular strokes of the palm of the hand. Effleurage is not restricted to any part of the body and muscle. It can be used anywhere on the body and includes a great deal of variation with the strokes. Effleurage is helpful in breaking up the scarring which tends to occur in the muscles as tension builds up.