If You’ve Ever Suffered From Heartburn, You’ll Know How Awful It Can Be!

I’ve suffered heartburn through various points in my life. When I was younger it was far less severe and wouldn’t last long. As I grew older, my heartburn became a major annoyance. It started affecting my life and everything I was doing.

For example, I couldn’t do any physical activity without first taking an acid reducer! That meant I would consume a pill before every soccer game I played, and I played lots!

Over the last 1 year i’m glad to say that my problems with acid reflux have drastically reduced. That’s testament to the changes I’ve implemented in my life. I’ve become:

I’m not bragging about this, just simply stating that if you make changes to your life, you will for sure notice significant improvements. It’s really as simple as that. It doesn’t require any scientific reasoning either. Do the right things, and right things will happen to you!

So why am I writing this post?

Because a lot of people I know and love suffer from heartburn and are forced to take prescription meds to continue feeling well. It doesn’t have to be this way people.

Now I get that not everyone cares to do 3 hours of yoga daily, or even change their diet for that matter. That’s understandable. However, there are small things you can do that will make a difference. Massage might just be one of them!

Massage For Heartburn: A Quick Disclaimer!

Before we get into the thick of things, important for you to know this:

Now that we got that outta the way, let’s dive right into the weeds!

Can Massage Help Heartburn? Or Is This Just A Fanciful Idea Permeating The Web!?

Can massage help heartburn, or is this just another snake oil theory? Well there have been scientific studies done, and what they reveal might be particularly surprising to some, especially those who aren’t in favour of alternative forms of treatment such as massage!

One such study was conducted in Valencia, Spain.

A group of scientists conducted a study to determine the impact of a special massage called myofascial release (MFR for short) on patients suffering from heartburn or gastroesophageal disease more commonly known as GERD.

What they found was that patients who were subjected to the MFR treatment noted a significant improvement in symptoms.

However, it’s interesting to note that the MFR technique was delivered by a trained therapist who understood exactly what techniques and strokes were required. That’s interesting to me because it probably means that not everyone is capable of performing this massage for themselves.

Obviously the study did come with its own limitations. I won’t go into those details. If you’re interested to know more about the study, please check out the link above. It’s well worth a read!

Reflexology May (Or May Not) Help!

For those of you who are new to massage, you probably haven’t heard of reflexology. Reflexology is stimulation of pressure points to satisfy a certain intent. This intent could be pain relief, a means to aid indigestion, and improving overall blood circulation. I won’t get into the details of reflexology, and that’s mainly because there isn’t much science to back it up.

Is it worth trying out reflexology? Or should you avoid it altogether since there’s no strong scientific evidence?

Well that’s really your call to make. Those who have tried reflexology have mostly positive things to share. Is this bias or actual truth? Hard to say really. I’ve tried it a few times and found it to be mildly therapeutic. Again, that’s just my opinion. You must experiment for yourself! Below is a video demonstrating how reflexology can be applied to relieve indigestion problems (Source: Howcast).

So Can Massage Help Heartburn Or Is This All Just A Myth?

Well hard to make a final judgement given all the data presented. There does seem to be some scientific backing as we’ve seen earlier in the post. That to me means there is a valid argument that massage can help with heartburn. But we can’t say this conclusively of course….

I think a fair conclusion to draw is that massage may help with heartburn, but the theory is still lacking from a scientific standpoint.

So how do you go about it? How can all of this be useful to you? If you’re a sufferer of heartburn, the first thing you need to understand is that this is a medical condition. For any medical condition you must consult your physician. That’s your best bet and the primary means to attack the problem. Massage is something you can investigate in parallel as a secondary after discussing with your physician.

If you do decide to utilise massage as a means of treatment, be sure to seek the advice of a trained therapist.

In order for massage to work, the technique needs to be spot on!

That’s All From Me!

I hope this post provided some perspective on massage and heartburn. I know it’s not as “nailed on” as most of my other posts, and that’s because there was nothing in my research that really convinced me one way or the other. If you have any questions, please leave them down below and i’ll be sure to get you the answers. Take care and we’ll see you in the next one!