couples massage

How Massaging Your Partner Can Strengthen Your Relationship

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Over the past few months, I have written extensively about the myriad benefits of massage. A few examples include: 8 Main Benefits of Massage Therapy Massage Therapy for Back Pain Massage Therapy for Headaches Giving your partner a massage can open new doors in your relationship Anyone who has received a massage from me can […]

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Massage for back pain

Massage Therapy for Back Pain

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If you have ever suffered from low back pain, then you know how uncomfortable it can be. Simple everyday things such as putting on socks, sitting in a chair, sleeping in bed, and walking upstairs can become big challenges. Today I will explore how massage therapy can help relieve back pain symptoms.

Over 75 percent of adults experience back pain at some point in their lives. Those who are older or overweight are at a greater risk for developing back pain. This is not just something that impacts athletes or people who have physical jobs. Over 50 percent of Americans who have low back pain spend the majority of their workday sitting in a chair. Sedentary lifestyles are one of the main initiators of chronic back pain.

In addition to physical pain, back problems carry serious economic consequences. Low back pain is the second most common cause of disability in adults in the U.S., and the leading cause of missed workdays. Americans spend approximately $60 billion each year in medical expenses related to back issues.

What Causes Back Pain

Research is still being done to understand the root causes of back pain – however, we already know a lot today. First, let’s start with the symptoms.

Back Pain Symptoms

Back pain often takes the form of muscle aches. This is when muscles release a steady stream of throbbing that a person perceives as painful. A more serious symptom of back pain is muscle spasms.  A muscle spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of one or more muscles. A spasm results from an abnormally sustained muscle contraction and is often painful.  Muscle spasms can be acute or chronic, meaning that they can come on suddenly without warning (also known as a cramp or charlie horse) or be persistent and long-lasting, respectively.

Another symptom of back pain is shooting or stabbing pain.  These can often be related to a ruptured disc or impinged nerve in the spine, but a person must consult a doctor to get a full evaluation.

Finally, a symptom of back pain can be what is called piriformis syndrome. This is a condition in which the piriformis muscle, located in the buttocks region, spasms and causes hip pain. The piriformis muscle can also irritate the nearby sciatic nerve and cause pain, numbness and tingling along the back of the leg and into the foot (similar to sciatic pain).

Back Pain from Stress and Inflammation

Today, a large percentage of back pain cases are due to excess inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the body’s response to injury and a vital part of the immune system’s response to injury and infection. It is the body’s way of signaling the immune system to heal and repair damaged tissue, as well as defend itself against foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria. However, poor nutrition, excess alcohol, and increased stress levels can all contribute to inflammation and also back pain. Stress is a significant concern. When the body is under long-term, low-level stress, it creates a hormone called cortisol, which triggers the body’s immune response which often leads to back pain caused by inflammation.

Back Pain from Strain or Injury

Another common source of back pain is injury or muscle strain. The most common is strained muscles and ligaments in the back area. Lumbar (lower back) muscle strains and sprains are the most common causes of low back pain. Muscle strains and sprains are common in the lower back because it supports the weight of the upper body and is involved in moving, twisting and bending. Lumbar muscle strain is caused when muscle fibers are abnormally stretched or torn. A lumbar sprain is caused when ligaments (the tough bands of tissue that hold bones together) are torn from their attachments. Both of these can result from a sudden injury or gradual overuse. Lumbar strain or sprain can be debilitating.

A more serious condition is herniated or ruptured disks. Herniated disks are also called ruptured or bulging disks, or slipped disks, although the whole disk does not rupture or slip. Only a small area of the disk is affected. Compared with a bulging disk, a herniated disk is more likely to cause pain because it generally protrudes farther and is more likely to irritate nerve roots.

Finally, overworked or stiff and tight muscles can also lead to back pain. Back pain can have causes that aren’t due to underlying disease. Examples include overuse such as working out or lifting too much, prolonged sitting and lying down, sleeping in an uncomfortable position, or wearing a poorly fitting backpack. When muscles that are connected to the back are stiff or overworked, such as the hamstrings and psoas muscles, this can create tension and pain in the back.  Massage is especially helpful and important to help relieve symptoms in this final category which will be the topic of discussion in the next section.

How to Treat Back Pain

Each year, more and more U.S. health care dollars are spent treating back and neck pain than almost any other medical condition, but much of that money may be wasted, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle found that the nation’s dramatic rise in expenditures for the diagnosis and treatment of back and neck problems has not led to expected improvements in patient health. Their study appears in the Feb. 13, 2018 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. After adjustment for inflation, the total estimated medical costs associated with back and neck pain increased by 65% between 2007 and 2015, to about $86 billion a year. That is in line with annual expenditures for major conditions, including cancer, arthritis, and diabetes.

Yet during the same period, patients reported more disability from back and neck pain, including more depression and physical limitations.

What does this say? It’s saying that traditional Western treatments are not being effective for back pain and that we need to look to other treatments such as massage therapy.

Traditional Treatments

Traditionally, back pain has been treated with western medications such as Over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers like NSAIDS, muscle relaxants, narcotics such as opioids and antidepressants.

NSAIDs. NSAIDs are often the go-to drugs for back pain relief. They can be purchased over the counter (or, in higher doses, by prescription) and include ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen (Aleve).

NSAIDs help reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation in muscles and around damaged spinal discs or arthritic joints. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is also a pain reliever and often sold alongside NSAIDs, but it’s not an NSAID and does not help with inflammation.

Because NSAIDs are easy to get, people tend to overuse them, which can expose them to possible side effects like stomach pain, ulcers, bleeding, or even kidney damage.

Opioids. When back pain becomes more severe, a doctor may offer a stronger prescription drug like an opioid. Opioids, such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and an acetaminophen/ hydrocodone combination (Vicodin), interact with receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain to reduce pain.

Opioid pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but because they produce a euphoric effect, there is a chance of addiction. They should be considered a last resort after careful consideration with your doctor due to the possible risk factors and addictive qualities.

Muscle relaxants. Prescription muscle relaxants act on the central nervous system to reduce acute pain for the short term and are often recommended when muscle spasms are present. However, many make you drowsy, so you have to be careful about how you use them.

Antidepressants. Doctors prescribe certain antidepressants off-label to help manage pain, including chronic low back pain, even if the person is not depressed. Some research has found duloxetine (Cymbalta), which is used to treat depression and anxiety, to be one of the more effective antidepressants for treating pain.

Keep in mind that the traditional medical solutions to back pain only treat the symptom and very often have adverse effects on long term health. When it comes to soft tissue injury or pain, western doctors tend to be at a loss, sending you off with prescription drugs, but not leaving you with a true remedy for your suffering, and feelings of hopelessness and depression. Medications also do not get at the source of the problem whether it is stress, an underlying injury or another issue.

Alternative Treatments

Massage therapy

As anyone who has ever enjoyed a soothing spa massage might testify, bodywork can relax the muscles and undo tense knots. Beyond that, researchers are still identifying the precise ways that massage can alleviate long-term pain. One possibility is that regular massage can reduce the body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol and a neurotransmitter linked to pain, and it boosts the level of mood-enhancing serotonin, according to the Arthritis Foundation. This can mute pain caused by both skeletal issues, such as the typical disc degeneration of aging, or spasms in the muscles caused by overuse and poor posture.

Massage Therapy helps release tight muscles, release surrounding muscles (QL, glutes, hamstrings, psoas, hip flexors, neck, etc.).  A good massage therapist also works with your body’s fascia. Fascia is the biological fabric that holds us together. It is a thin, tough, elastic type of connective tissue found between the layers of muscle fibers, between muscles, around organs and connected in a web throughout the entire body.

Many people hold stress in their muscles, causing the muscles to become contracted or inhibited. It is believed that fascia can create tight knots or adhesions that act as trigger points, constrict muscles, and decrease blood supply, causing pain and decreased range of motion.  And yes, quite often, back pain!

Therefore, regular massage is a great tool to help decrease your back pain while avoiding powerful medications.

Additional Therapies

If your back pain is associated with misalignment of the spine, I do recommend also seeing a chiropractor in conjunction with regular massage. Please speak to me as I have several recommended chiropractors in the area. Don’t just go to anyone!

And finally, as with most issues related to healing, it’s very important to have good nutrition, rest, and self-care routines. These are all things I am happy to speak to you about and hopefully, I will blog about in the near future.

 

Benefits of massage

8 Main Benefits of Massage Therapy

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In today’s blog post I will focus on the many benefits of massage therapy. Many people are aware that the practice of regular massage helps reduce stress, but often people are unaware that massages can do much, much more, such as improving our sleep, reducing chronic pain, and even reducing the effects of anxiety and depression.  Read on to discover the eight biggest benefits of massage therapy and to understand the more integrative benefits of regular massage.

Benefits of Getting a Massage

As mentioned above, there are numerous benefits of getting a massage, more than I can talk about now.  I’ll focus on the main categories of stress reduction, toxin elimination, improved sleep, and flexibility.  Be aware that massage can also help with anxiety, sports injuries, headaches (as discussed in my previous blog), and things like sports injuries and strains.

Reduces Stress

One of the major health crises today has to due with the increased amount of stress that people are experiencing on a daily basis. Stress leaves us with a lowered amount of energy, and it may contribute to headaches, poor digestion, insomnia, more frequent illnesses like colds, a loss of sexual desire and even create excess nervousness and shaking limbs.

Massage is widely used in all cultures to evoke feelings of deep relaxation and reduced anxiety. The anxiety-reducing and mood-enhancing benefits of massage are probably related to changes in EEG activity, decreased levels of cortisol and increased activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which acts automatically to calm the body and brain during stress. Numerous studies show that moderate pressure massage is more effective than light pressure massage for reducing pain associated with different medical problems including fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. Moderate pressure massage also improves attention and enhances the body’s immune response by increasing the activity of natural killer cells. Functional brain imaging studies show that changes take place in many areas of the brain involved in regulating emotions and stress response including the amygdala and the hypothalamus. For an excellent review of the research evidence for massage therapy see “Massage Therapy Research Review” by Field (Field 2014).

Eliminates Toxins

Massage therapy can play a major role in helping remove toxins from our physical bodies. High levels of stress can create acid in the body and if this acid builds up over time, it can lead to a variety of health issues such as an increased heart rate, fever, nausea and it can cause excess stress on the lungs, kidneys, and liver. The physical stimulation created through massage therapy treatments helps dissolve and eliminate toxin buildup in the tissues. They are released into the bloodstream, which then works to transport them out of the body through excretion.

In addition to the physical and psychological benefits of massage, toxin removal can further enhance your health and long-term well-being. It supports the body’s natural detoxification systems by helping reduce or prevent future toxicity in the body.

Improves Sleep

Massage therapy has been shown to be better for sleep because it helps people relax, relieves pain, and it can also stimulate hormones that are conducive to sleep. Over 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders and many of them would benefit from regular massage. One of the reasons is that massage helps increase serotonin, otherwise known as the ‘happiness hormone’ as well as melatonin, a naturally occurring chemical in our body that helps us maintain a regular sleep schedule. Many sufferers of insomnia are found to have decreased levels of serotonin. Research has shown increased serotonin levels are associated with better sleep.

Improves Flexibility

Massage therapy is one of the best and most beneficial treatments for improving and maintaining your flexibility and motion. By working on tendons, muscles, connective tissues, ligaments, and joints regular massage can improve flexibility, keep your joints more fluid and help you prevent future injuries.

Massage Therapy for Injuries

Massage is a popular treatment choice for athletes, coaches, and sports physical therapists. There is a lot of researching indicating that massage is a great choice for improving one’s recovery from an injury.

Improves Circulation

One of the first benefits of massage related to injury recovery is that massage improves the overall circulation in the body.  This helps reduce inflammation and increase nutrient flow. According to Eileen Cahalane of Alive Magazine: A person with poor circulation can suffer from a variety of discomforts including pooling of the fluid in the extremities (like the toes), cold hands and feet, fatigue and achiness created by an accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles. Good circulation brings damaged, tense muscles the oxygen-rich blood they need to heal.

Reduces Pain

According to Harvard Health, Therapeutic massage may relieve pain by way of several mechanisms, including relaxing painful muscles, tendons, and joints; relieving stress and anxiety; and possibly helping to “close the pain gate” by stimulating competing nerve fibers and impeding pain messages to and from the brain. Massage used to be considered an indulgence, but it’s now recognized as a legitimate therapy for some painful conditions.

Reduces Post-Surgery and Post-Injury Swelling

One of the biggest issues facing us after a surgery or injury is swelling and inflammation. Surgery can often result in swelling and inflammation around the surgical site. Using manual lymphatic drainage techniques, such as nodal pumping, passive range of motion and directional massage towards the heart, massage therapy can aid in reducing the amount of lymphatic and interstitial fluid at the surgery site, thereby helping to decrease pain and tightness, helping you recover.

Integrative Massage Benefits

What is Integrative Massage?

Integrative massage therapy is a treatment that involves the integration of therapy techniques from a number of different massage modalities including Swedish, deep-tissue, Lymphatic Massage, myofascial, trigger point, and Shiatsu. In integrative massage, the client and therapist will work closely together to determine the appropriate treatment in each session. The massage therapist, in integrative massage, is looking at the entire mind-body system to treat injuries, pains, and discomforts. They aren’t just treating the specific area of pain. For example, there is a concept called referred pain. Referred pain is pain perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus. Integrative massage can be very effective in working with referred pain.

Alleviate Depression & Anxiety

Depression and anxiety are two of the most common issues facing people today. Many people are unaware that massage can be part of an overall treatment plan for both conditions. As mentioned above, integrative massage is looking at the entire mind-body system of the client, not just treating the specific area of tension or pain. When looking at the person as a whole, rather than a collection of muscles or joints, a massage therapist can help a client not only with physical issues but with psychological issues such as depression and anxiety. While massage should never be considered a replacement for proper psychological care, it can be a great accompaniment. Research shows that the simple act of being touched by another human being helps release hormones such as dopamine and serotonin, thereby stimulating our parasympathetic nervous system (the one responsible for resting and relaxing), and reducing cortisol levels.

What is Cortisol and How Does It Relate to Anxiety?

Cortisol is a hormone that’s secreted by your adrenal glands, which are located on top of your kidneys. Often called the fight or flight chemical, cortisol acts as an overall stimulant, causing your heart to beat faster, your blood vessels to constrict, and your muscles to tense in preparation to meet a real or imagined threat. Healthy cortisol levels are important for overall energy levels, and for dealing with healthy life stressors such as getting a new job or meeting the demands of daily life.

However, when the seemingly endless stressors of modern life, coupled with our generally sedentary lifestyle, conspire to raise cortisol levels to unhealthy extremes, we experience anxiety and poor health.  Increased cortisol levels give us the energy to cope with life’s problems, and that’s generally a good thing, provided it’s temporary. It’s when our cortisol levels are permanently elevated that we run into trouble. High cortisol produces excess anxiety, among other negative health concerns. That’s why it’s very important to lower your level of cortisol.

Conclusion

Fundamentally, integrative massage can be a great way to bring together mind, body and even spirit. So, how does the body, mind, and spirit fit together? Our emotions are connected to our mental state.  If we are tense and anxious, it will affect our minds. In turn, it will translate to our body, possibly creating muscle tension and high blood pressure, for instance. Therapeutic massage will use this process in reverse; it will relax the body and reach into our mental and emotional state. This cycle, over time, eases both the mind and body.

The body, mind and spirit work as a system of energy. We connect our body, mind, and spirit to keep energy flowing within us. This energy flow can be abundant or restricted, depending on our ‘state of being’ in each moment, as it changes constantly. A professional massage can do wonders for your stress levels and overall well-being.

Consider honoring yourself by getting a regular monthly massage. The perks of monthly sessions go far beyond one relaxing afternoon. Health, peace, time, silence, warm touch and relationships are all amazing benefits of massage.

Massage Therapy Research Review, Field 2014 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5467308/

massage for headache relief

Massage Therapy for Headaches

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Massage has long been a treatment for a variety of ailments and symptoms, but did you know that massage therapy is also a very helpful tool for dealing with common headaches?  Read on to understand how you can help decrease the frequency and strength of headaches.

Common Types of Headaches

Every headache is not the same. You are probably aware of this as headaches feel differently depending on where they are located around your head. Before I discuss how massage therapy can help relieve headaches, first let me explain and differentiate the most common kinds of headaches, divided into three main categories.

Tension-Type Headache

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. Tension headaches are often described by people as if they were wearing one of those sports headbands that is slowly tightening around their heads. Other people will say it is like having a ‘vise’ around their heads. They are divided into infrequent (less than 12 a year), episodic (occurring less than 15 days a month over 90 days) or chronic (which occur more than 15 days a month over 90 days). Symptoms of tension headaches often also involve pain in the shoulders, the neck and in the surrounding muscles. Because of this, people who experience them often have difficulty sleeping. Unfortunately, the causes aren’t completely understood, but we will discuss below how massage therapy can help. What is understood is that these headaches are likely triggered by emotional stress and muscle tension and in part caused by how the brain is interpreting the signals sent from the muscles of the head and neck.

Vascular Headache

A vascular headache is an outdated term to describe certain types of headaches which were thought to be related to blood vessel swelling and hyperemia as the cause of pain.  Today, vascular headaches are described by more accurate sub-categories such as cluster headaches, migraines and sinus headaches which I will discuss below.

Classic Migraine

First, the classic migraine, or sometimes called the migraine with aura, is a recurring headache that strikes after or at the same time as sensory disturbances called aura. These disturbances can include flashes of light, blind spots, and other vision changes or tingling in the hand or face.

Migraine aura symptoms include temporary visual or other disturbances that usually strike before other migraine symptoms such as intense head pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine aura usually occurs within an hour before head pain begins and generally lasts less than 60 minutes. Sometimes migraine aura occurs with little or no headache, especially in people age 50 and older. People who have migraine with aura develop temporary visual signs and symptoms which tend to start in the center of the field of vision and spread outward. These might include:

  • Flashes of light
  • Blind spots, which are sometimes described as geometric designs
  • Zigzag lines that gradually float across your field of vision
  • Shimmering spots or stars
  • Changes in vision or vision loss

Aura-less Migraine

­Migraines without auras are much more common than any other kind. You can get them as often as several times a week or as little as once a year. Auras show up in about 1 in 3 people with migraines, but you’re not likely to get them every time. So, it’s possible you might have both types of migraine, with auras happening here and there.

Unlike aura migraines, aura-less migraines do not cause pain. However, they may produce other debilitating symptoms, including upset stomach, dizziness, and sensitivity to light or sound. Migraines are a prevalent health issue worldwide. A 2015 study reported that 14.3 percent of adults in the United States had experienced a migraine or a severe headache within the previous 3 months.

Cluster Headache

Cluster headaches are often described as the most painful form of headache. While they are rare, when they do happen, they come on quickly and often include migraine-like symptoms of auras and even nausea.  Fortunately, they are not life-threatening, and they usually go away as quickly as they came, and can be treated. Common signs and symptoms of cluster headaches are:

  • Excruciating pain that is generally situated in, behind or around one eye, but may radiate to other areas of your face, head, and neck
  • One-sided pain
  • Restlessness
  • Excessive tearing
  • Redness of your eye on the affected side
  • Stuffy or runny nose on the affected side
  • Forehead or facial sweating on the affected side
  • Pale skin (pallor) or flushing on your face
  • Swelling around your eye on the affected side
  • Drooping eyelid on the affected side

Cluster headaches usually only last 30 to 90 minutes. They can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 3 hours, but then they disappear. Some people get one to three of these headaches a day. But some people have as few as one every other day, while others get them up to 8 times a day. They have been found to be connected with our circadian rhythm, the internal clock that regulates our sleep. Therefore, they often happen at the same time each day.

Sinus Headache

The sinus headache often feels like there is an infection of the sinuses like sinusitis, and people who get them describe pain and pressure around their eyes, cheeks, and foreheads.

Sinusitis usually occurs after a viral upper respiratory infection or cold and includes thick, discolored nasal mucus, decreased sense of smell, and pain in one cheek or upper teeth. Headaches due to sinus disease often last days, much longer than typical migraine headaches

Traction-Inflammatory Headache

Traction or inflammatory headaches can be a warning sign for a more severe condition. A traction headache can occur when the pain-sensitive parts of the head are pulled or stretched (such as with eyestrain). Inflammatory headaches are those that result from diseases of the sinuses, spine, neck, ears, and teeth. Both traction headaches and inflammatory headaches can be signals of serious disorders, such as brain tumors, strokes, and head trauma.  They require immediate medical attention

Headache Relief Massage Techniques

Now that I have discussed the various forms of headaches, let’s talk about relief! I will discuss several massage techniques as well as lifestyle changes that you can make to decrease the frequency and severity of headaches that you may experience

Deep Tissue Massage

Deep tissue massage is a type of massage therapy that focuses on realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. It is especially helpful for chronic aches and pains and contracted areas such as stiff neck and upper back, low back pain, leg muscle tightness, and sore shoulders.  Deep tissue massage uses long, deep strokes that help relax strained muscles, muscles that are often the cause of the various forms of headaches described above. There is a lot of research available that suggests that head pain is connected with muscle tension in the rest of the body.  Deep tissue massage can also include the facial, neck and shoulder muscles to help relieve pain.

Trigger Point Massage

Trigger point massage focuses on releasing tension points, which are small, bound up adhesions that develop in muscles and connective tissue that may cause pain in other areas of the body.  When pain occurs in another area than it is caused, this is called referral pain. Trigger point massage can be uncomfortable and even painful, and not as relaxing as a traditional Swedish massage. However, regular sessions are very likely to help reduce the frequency and severity of headaches and with regular treatment, it may also help improve your alignment, your posture and even range of motion

Other Headache Relief Ideas

Finally, there are a few options to reduce the pain and severity of headaches that you can do completely on your own – stress management and self-massage. Both are low cost and important tools for headache relief.

Stress Management

Research has shown that high levels of stress contribute to a wide variety of health issues, including increased headaches. Stress is often responsible for tightened muscles in the body causing the different forms of headaches described above. We all live very busy lives. Headaches are more likely to occur when you’re stressed. Stress is a common trigger of tension-type headaches and migraine, and can trigger other types of headaches or make them worse. But stress doesn’t have to go end up in a headache! There are some simple things you can do to help break the stress cycle, such as relaxation techniques like meditation, tai chi, deep breathing, and yoga.  Getting more sleep helps, along with regular exercise, a healthy diet, and a slower pace.  Try finding something you really enjoy doing that is relaxing for you – walking in the morning, reading a book, spending time with children and animals. Anything that helps relax you and reduce your stress will help keep tension out of your system, thus reducing headache frequency and severity.

Self-Massage

Below is a simple set of self-massage exercises you can use to help with headache relief:

Technique # 1:

Use your thumbs to press firmly onto the bridge of your nose just below your forehead. Hold firmly for 15 seconds while taking deep breaths, repeat 3-5 times.

Technique # 2:

Use your thumbs again to press firmly above the bridge of your nose towards your forehead. Hold firmly for 15 seconds while taking deep breaths, repeat 3-5 times.

Technique # 3:

Use both hands to lightly pinch your eyebrows for 15 seconds. Repeat 3-5 times while taking deep breaths.

Technique # 4:

Use your fingers to press firmly into your temples in a circular motion for 15 seconds. Repeat 3-5 times while taking deep breaths.

Foam Roller

With a foam roller or two tennis balls taped together, roll along your upper back to reach your upper trapezius and rhomboids.

These are a good tool for getting connected with your body, relax, and minimize the stress patterns causing headaches. In addition to self-massage, regular monthly massage that is focused on the areas of tension causing headaches will keep your stress levels manageable, and reduce the headache pattern.

 

 

 

 

swedish massage and deep tissue

Swedish Massage vs. Deep Tissue Massage: Which is Right for You?

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One of the most confusing questions my clients have is what their preferred type of massage is. Although there are many different styles and types of bodywork, most people are only given the options of Swedish Massage and Deep Tissue Massage when they go to a spa. What exactly is the difference between the two? Before I was a massage therapist, I thought it was light pressure versus deep pressure, but there is much more than that.

Comparing Swedish Massage Vs. Deep Tissue Massage

What is a Swedish Massage?

Swedish massage was developed by a Swedish doctor and physical therapist named Per Henrik Ling, and is known for its therapeutic and relaxing benefits through the use of specific types of strokes and movement techniques. In a Swedish massage the therapist targets the superficial layers of muscle using a lighter pressure in the beginning and eases their way in through kneading the muscles, long, sweeping strokes, range of motion, rhythmic tapping and tapotement, friction, and shaking.

Kneading the muscles is similar to preparing baking dough. The therapist lifts the muscles, decompressing them, and moves them, giving space between the muscle and bone. This manipulates the muscle in a gentle way, preparing it for different Swedish massage techniques.

Long strokes, or effleurage, are what you are used to feeling in the beginning of a massage. The long, gliding strokes typically begin lighter and gradually get deeper as the knots and tension get broken up. The therapist will typically use the palm of their hand or fingers with these strokes.

Passive range of motion. The client allows the therapist to guide the movement of their limbs to lubricate the joints, loosen adhesions, and increase flexibility through bending and stretching.

Rhythmic tapping and tapotement can be done using soft fists, the sides of the hand, cupped hands, or the tops of the therapist’s fingers. This Swedish massage technique helps to loosen and relax the muscles, as well as energize them.

Friction brings heat and circulation to the muscles and is typically used to warm the muscles up in preparation for deeper massage. The palms or the sides of the therapist’s hands rub the client’s skin vigorously, in opposing directions, to produce heat by friction.

Shaking or vibration is a Swedish massage technique where the therapist uses any part of their hands to move in a back and forth motion over the skin to create a vibrating sensation in the muscles. The vibrations loosen and relax the muscles and is especially useful for clients who are feeling anxious, stressed, or overworked.

These techniques are meant to loosen and manipulate muscles, stimulate nerve endings, and increase blood circulation and lymph drainage. The goals of a Swedish massage are to help clients get into their parasympathetic nervous system and attain a level of deep relaxation.

Swedish Massage Benefits

Since the goal of Swedish massage is to relax the entire body, the benefits are both physical and mental, affecting the mind, body, and spirit. These benefits include:

  • Pain management
  • Increased nutrients and oxygen to muscles and removal of toxins
  • Rehabilitation to injured muscles
  • Increased flexibility and range of motion
  • Reduced stress and anxiety by lowering cortisol levels in the body
  • Reduced tension headaches
  • Improved sleep
  • Improved immune function

What is Deep Tissue Massage?

Deep tissue massage uses similar techniques to Swedish massage, but rather than working with the superficial layers of the muscles, it focuses on realigning the deeper layers of the muscles and connective tissue. The purpose of massaging deeper into the muscle layers is to release chronic muscle tension that develops through overuse, poor movement or postural patterns (sitting at a computer for long hours, breastfeeding, looking at your smartphone), muscle soreness, and athletic injuries.

Although many of the strokes and techniques are similar, deep tissue massage involves slower movements and deeper, more concentrated pressure on areas of pain or tension. This allows the muscles to open up in order for the therapist to get into the sub-layers of the muscle and fascia (the connective tissue surrounding the muscle fibers).

These deeper layers of the muscle are where we usually find the “knots” that most people complain about. Knots are typically found where there is chronic tension in muscles and tendons and are bands of painful, rigid tissue adhered together. Deep tissue works to release these adhesions, realign, and smooth out the muscle fibers in these areas. These areas are typically found in a stiff neck and upper back, between the shoulder blades, sore shoulders, leg muscle tightness, and low back pain.

Where there is pain or muscle tightness, there will most likely be adhesions. These adhesions can limit range of motion and movement, causing overcompensation in other areas of the body, which can result in pain, blocked circulation, and inflammation.

The goals of deep tissue massage are to facilitate healing through reducing the amount of adhesions in muscles, releasing contracted muscles, increasing circulation to soft tissue in areas of pain or tension, and to reduce inflammation.

Deep Tissue Massage Benefits

Deep tissue massage is usually applied to specific areas of the body. Although you may experience some pain during the massage, the goal is to maintain a level of relaxation, while working out the adhesions causing pain. Deep tissue massage can be used to treat several conditions and has many therapeutic effects, including:

  • Lowers high blood pressure
  • Reduced back pain
  • Reduced arthritic pain and symptoms
  • Rehabilitates muscles after a strenuous workout
  • Rehabilitates injuries
  • Breaks down scar tissue
  • Reduced stress and anxiety
  • Increased joint mobility and range of motion
  • Reduced chronic pain

When receiving deep tissue massage it is important to communicate with your therapist in regard to pain. Massaging areas of chronic tension and pain can be very painful. As a rule of thumb, never let yourself go above an 8 out of 10. The goal is to release the adhesions, as well as keep your body in its parasympathetic nervous system, so you feel relaxed and the muscles are able to let go. You do not want to feel like jumping off the table. This can cause tension in other areas of your body as well as raise cortisol levels in the body.

Which Massage is Right for Me?

Now that you know the difference between Swedish massage and deep tissue, how do you know which one to ask for? You will have different options depending on if you go to a spa or a private practice massage therapist. The best way is to ask yourself what is your intention for the massage? What are you hoping to gain, and how do you want to feel after the massage?

Choosing the Right Massage

When you are choosing which massage is right for you at the time, talk to your massage therapist. Tell them what you are feeling and needing for the session. If you are at a spa and are unsure, it is always safe to choose one, and if you find that your needs change when you are on the table, let the therapist know. It is never too late to change what the therapist is doing. If you are in a spa, the massage therapist can always have the front desk charge you differently after the session ends.

In my practice, and with most massage therapists who work for themselves, I do a combination of the two styles, along with other techniques such as myofascial release, neuromuscular, and trigger point therapy, which are other forms of deep tissue massage. Working in this way, without having to stick to one style, helps the therapist work intuitively on what is needed in different areas of the body.

What can be confusing in this decision is if you want deep tissue in one area of your body but a relaxing, Swedish massage on the rest of your body. If you are at a spa, consider getting a deep tissue massage, and explain your needs to the therapist.

The most important thing to consider is what your needs are and what you want to gain. Consider the benefits of each style, as well as what you are feeling in your body at the moment. Massage therapy is a great way to get more connected with your body. Communicating with the therapist during the massage about what you feel and how much pressure is necessary is an integral part of creating a relationship and a deeper connection with your body. Massage therapy is a beautiful way of connecting one’s mind, body, and spirit, making one feel more whole and in tune.

 

 

 

 

massage to improve posture

9 Ways to Improve Your Posture

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Do you feel like you are slowly growing a hunchback, or you are turning into a turtle? As a massage therapist I work with many clients who struggle with this type of poor posture due to sitting at a computer all day, looking at their phones, and moms who are always looking down at their little ones and constantly picking them up. Having poor posture can create imbalances in your body that can lead to tension and discomfort in your shoulders and neck, tension headaches, pain in your back and arms, and can be detrimental to one’s success in sports and athletic activities.

9 Great Ways to Improve Your Posture

Exercise for Better Posture

There are many reasons why the majority of us walking around have poor posture, but what are we doing about it? Most of us just accept it and move on. One of my goals is to help my clients gain a better understanding and awareness of their bodies so that they have better posture and in turn, feel better in their bodies and about themselves. Have you ever heard the saying, “how we hold ourselves reflects how we feel.”

The best way to feel our bodies and improve posture is through exercise. But there are many forms of exercise and not all support good posture. So focus on your core.

Strengthen your Core to Improve your Posture

Your core muscles are your foundation. These support the natural S-curve in your spine, and keep your body properly aligned in order to have functional movements and healthy range of motion in your joints. Having a strong core helps you stand upright, rather than slouch, without effort.

Your core is not just your 6 pack, but rather a group of muscles supporting your spine and thorax.  So sit-ups are not going to cut it. Yoga and Pilates are great way to strengthen your core because they work with the whole body system, including strengthening and lengthening the core muscles. You don’t have to spend money on a membership, go to YouTube and look up yoga for core strengthening or Pilates for posture improvement.

Other Ways to Improve Posture

We spend most of our days in the same positions, doing the same movements repetitively. This overworks certain muscles, leaving them tight and shortened, while over-stretching and weakening the opposing muscles that maintain balance. So if you sit at a computer all day with your head and chest hunched forward, finish your day lying on a yoga ball with your arms up opening your chest and neck, or lie on a foam roller with your arms out in a T and your head hanging back for five minutes.

Rolling on a foam roller is also helpful, but it is important to give the muscles that have been turned on all day a chance to let go, so take your time. Other ways to improve posture include getting a stand up desk and avoid sitting for long periods of time, spending less time looking at your smartphone, standing with a straight back, or lying on the floor and pushing your back into the ground. If you have kids, it is important to be aware of your body. Don’t sacrifice your health for your child! If you are always looking down at them, pull your shoulders and chin back, and avoid constantly picking them up.

Massage for Better Posture

Exercise, body awareness, and stretching are important to keeping good, healthy posture. In addition, massage is an exceptional way to aid in reversing and preventing the hunchback by loosening, broadening, and stretching the muscles and connective tissue that are chronically tight, and getting circulation to the muscles that are stretch weakened.

Muscles Connected to Posture

Your core is an integral piece to maintaining good postural alignment, but what about the hunchback. This postural tendency, also known as kyphosis, is especially common amongst teenagers, moms, drivers, and people who work long hours sitting at computers. Hunching over to look at smartphones, low self-esteem, picking up babies and toddlers, breast-feeding, and staring at a computer screen in deep concentration for hours on end all do the same thing – shorten the muscles in your chest, and stretch weakening the muscles in your upper back. The common denominator is tension in between your shoulder blades.

The confusion lies in where you feel tension. The muscles in between your shoulder blades that are constantly aching are actually tired from being stretched and pulled. They are not strong enough to endure this stress. So not only do you want to strengthen your core, but you want to strengthen these muscles in the back, and stretch out the muscles in your chest.

Strengthen Trapezius for Posture

Your trapezius, or traps, is a diamond shaped muscle covering your upper back. It attaches to the bottom of your head, your neck, your shoulder blades, all the way down to T12 on your spine (located at the last rib). It has multiple functions, from extending the neck (looking up), and moving the scapula up and down, and rotating it upwards and inwards. The fibers of the traps run in three different directions making all of these movements possible.

This is a confusing muscle because it does so much. Basically, if you sit at a computer with your arms extended forwards, the upper fibers of the muscle are turned on. If you stand upright, with your shoulders pulled back and down, the middle and lower fibers are turned on. If the upper fibers are on for too long, they get tight and pull on your neck causing tension, which can create headaches and neck pain. Also, if you are hunched forwards all the time, the lower and middle fibers that help you stand upright stop working and become weak (as well as other muscles like the rhomboids and lats). So, you need to do specific exercises to strengthen them and create balance.

Pec Minor Strength for Improved Posture

The Pecs are located in the front of the chest. Pec Minor attaches to your coracoid process (on the scapula) and your 3rd through 5th rib. Its main function is to pull the scapula forwards and downwards, and assist in rotation. It also elevates the ribs during inhalation. The brachial plexus, the nerves and blood vessels that run from your neck to the upper arm, runs underneath the pec minor.

This muscle is overworked and shortened when our shoulders are hunched forward. If not stretched out regularly, it will become chronically tight, which in turn will pull on your rhomboids, and middle and lower traps, causing them to weaken, creating an imbalance. Having a shortened pec minor not only leads to kyphosis, but also can cause many issues including decreased range of motion in the shoulder joint, pinched nerves – tingling in the hands and fingers, arm pain, and difficulty breathing.

Pec Major Strength for Posture

The Pec Major is responsible for flexion (lifting the arm in front of you), extends the arm (opening the arm outwards), adduction (bringing the arm across the front of you), rotates the shoulder joint, and assists in inhalation. It attaches to the clavicle, the sternum from your 1st through 7th rib, and your humerus (upper arm bone). When we are hunched forward the pec major is shortened, pulling the shoulders forward, and rotating the arms inward.

In order to keep your pecs healthy and your upper body balanced, stretching and opening the chest is necessary. This will also help you breathe better, keeping you more in touch with your body and feeling good.

Massage Helps to Ease Tension in Tight Muscles

Now that you know a little about some of the muscles contributing to poor posture, let’s talk about how they can be addressed in massage. First, most people come in complaining about tension between their shoulder blades and in the back of their neck. As addressed before, this is due to the muscles being stretched weakened, and therefore not getting enough circulation and nutrients. Massage helps to bring all the good stuff back to those muscles, giving them freedom to move, creating balance, and helping to activate them so they can function properly.

Working on the specific muscles of the chest that were discussed previously as well as the connective tissue surrounding those muscles will bring about balance. Lengthening and broadening the connective tissue and pecs will help open up the chest, bring circulation to those muscles, and increase range of motion.

This will make the work you do on your own easier and more doable. If you are not able to open up your chest to comfortably lie with your arms in a T on your foam roller or yoga ball, then chances are you won’t do it. But if you get regular massage, with a focus on these areas, and your chest is able to open, then you will be more motivated to do the work yourself.

Find what works for you. Experiment. Eventually you will come up with a self-care routine to end your day that you are motivated to do, that makes you feel good, and supports healthy posture.

Have fun, breath, open your heart, and let go.

Cupping

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Broadly speaking there are two types of cupping: dry cupping and bleeding and/or wet cupping (controlled bleeding), with wet cupping being more common.[citation needed] The British Cupping Society (BCS), an organization promoting the practice, teaches both. As a general rule, wet cupping provides a more “curative-treatment approach” to patient management whereas dry cupping appeals more to a “therapeutic and relaxation approach”. Preference varies with practitioners and cultures.

Dry cupping. The cupping procedure commonly involves creating a small area of low air pressure next to the skin. However, there are varieties in the tools used, the methods of creating the low pressure, and the procedures followed during the treatment.[5]

The cups can be various shapes including balls or bells, and may range in size from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76 mm) across the opening. Plastic and glass are the most common materials used today, replacing the horn, pottery, bronze and bamboo cups used in earlier times. The low air pressure required may be created by heating the cup or the air inside it with an open flame or a bath in hot scented oils, then placing it against the skin. As the air inside the cup cools, it contracts and draws the skin slightly inside. More recently, vacuum can be created with a mechanical suction pump acting through a valve located at the top of the cup. Rubber cups are also available that squeeze the air out and adapt to uneven or bony surfaces.[citation needed]

In practice, cups are normally used only on softer tissue that can form a good seal with the edge of the cup. They may be used singly or with many to cover a larger area. They may be used by themselves or placed over an acupuncture needle. Skin may be lubricated, allowing the cup to move across the skin slowly.

Depending on the specific treatment, skin marking is common after the cups are removed. This may be a simple red ring that disappears quickly, the discolouration left by the cups is normally from bruising especially if dragging the cups while suctioned from one place to another to break down muscle fiber. Usually treatments are not painful.

Fire cupping. Fire cupping involves soaking a cotton ball in 99% alcohol. The cotton is then clamped by a pair of forceps and lit via match or lighter. The flaming cotton ball is then, in one fluid motion, placed into the cup, quickly removed, and the cup is placed on the skin. By adding fire to the inside of the cup, oxygen is removed (which is replaced with an equal volume of carbon dioxide) and a small amount of suction is created by the air cooling down again and contracting. Massage oil may be applied to create a better seal as well as allow the cups to glide over muscle groups (e.g. trapezius, erectors, latisimus dorsi, etc.) in an act called “moving cupping”. Dark circles may appear where the cups were placed because of rupture of the capillaries just under the skin, but are not the same as a bruise caused by blunt-force trauma.

Acupuncture

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine.[2] It is commonly used for pain relief,[10][11] though it is also used to treat a wide range of conditions.[3] The majority of people who seek out acupuncture do so for musculoskeletal problems, including low back pain, shoulder stiffness, and knee pain.[33] Acupuncture is rarely used alone but rather as an adjunct to other treatment modalities.[12] Published guidelines recommend the use of acupuncture for the management of non-specific low back pain, among other treatments.[12] For example, the American Society of Anesthesiologists states it may be considered in the treatment for nonspecific, noninflammatory low back pain only in conjunction with conventional therapy.[34]

Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific acupuncture points along the skin of the body using thin needles.[4] It can be associated with the application of heat, pressure, or laser light to these points.[4] Classically, acupuncture is individualized and based on philosophy and intuition, and not on scientific research.[35] In modern acupuncture, a consultation is followed by taking the pulse on both arms and inspecting the tongue. This initial evaluation may last up to sixty minutes.[36] Subsequent visits typically last about a half an hour.[36] The number and frequency of acupuncture sessions vary, but most practitioners do not think one session is sufficient.[2] A common treatment plan for a single complaint usually involves six to twelve treatments, to be carried out over a few months.[36] A typical session entails lying still while approximately five to twenty needles are inserted; for the majority of cases, the needles will be left in place for ten to twenty minutes.[36] There is also a non-invasive therapy developed in early 20th century Japan using an elaborate set of “needles” for the treatment of children (shōnishin or shōnihari).[37][38]

Clinical practice varies depending on the country.[9][39] A comparison of the average number of patients treated per hour found significant differences between China (10) and the United States (1.2).[40] Acupuncturists generally practice acupuncture as an overall system of care, which includes using traditional diagnostic techniques, acupuncture needling, and other adjunctive treatments.[41] Chinese herbs are also often used.[41] There is a diverse range of acupuncture approaches, involving different philosophies.[8]Although various different techniques of acupuncture practice have emerged, the method used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) seems to be the most widely adopted in the US.[2] Traditional acupuncture involves needle insertion, moxibustion, and cupping therapy.[17] Traditional acupuncture may be accompanied by various ancillary procedures, such as palpation of the radial artery and other parts of the body and examining the tongue.[2] Traditional acupuncture involves the belief that a “life force” (qi) circulates within the body in lines called meridians.[42] The main methods practiced in the UK are TCM and Western medical acupuncture.[43] The term Western medical acupuncture is used to indicate an adaptation of TCM-based acupuncture which focuses less on TCM.[42][44] The Western medical acupuncture approach involves using acupuncture after a medical diagnosis.[42] Limited research has compared the contrasting acupuncture systems used in various countries for determining different acupuncture points and thus there is no defined standard for acupuncture points.[45]

In traditional acupuncture, the acupuncturist decides which points to treat by observing and questioning the patient to make a diagnosis according to the tradition used. In TCM, the four diagnostic methods are: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiring, and palpation. Inspection focuses on the face and particularly on the tongue, including analysis of the tongue size, shape, tension, color and coating, and the absence or presence of teeth marks around the edge.[46] Auscultation and olfaction involves listening for particular sounds (such as wheezing) and attending to body odor.[46] Inquiring involves focusing on the “seven inquiries”: chills and fever; perspiration; appetite, thirst and taste; defecation and urination; pain; sleep; and menses and leukorrhea.[46] Palpation is focusing on feeling the body for tender “A-shi” points and feeling the left and right radial pulses.[46]

Rolfing

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rolfing is based on the proposition that “a human is basically an energy field operating in the greater energy of the earth”.[7] In practical terms, Rolfing is delivered as a type of hands-on physical manipulationattempting to align the body in the earth’s gravity.[2][3] Rolf said that “Rolfers make a life study of relating bodies and their fields to the earth and its gravity field, and we so organize the body that the gravity field can reinforce the body’s energy field.”[13][3]

Rolfing also incorporates a number of ideas from other areas including osteopathy,[14] (including cranial osteopathy),[15] yoga,[15][16] and Alfred Korzybski‘s general semantics.[14] The Rolfing Institute describes Rolfing as “a form of bodywork that reorganizes the connective tissues, called fascia, that permeate the entire body.”[17]

The manipulation is sometimes referred to as a type of bodywork, or as a type of massage.[4][18][19][20] The massage tradition has drawn significantly from Rolfing, with some of Ida Rolf’s students leaving to become prominent teachers of massage.[15][21]

Rolfing is typically performed in a progression of 10 sessions, sometimes called “the recipe”, which is claimed to provide a systematic approach to achieving body alignment.[22][23][24] Rolfers claimed that the human body contains a layer of tissue that interconnects every organ.[17] Rolfers manipulate this supposed layer until they believe it is operating optimally.[25][26] The manipulation process can be painful.[27][28] In addition to physical manipulation of tissue, Rolfing uses a combination of active and passive movement retraining.[23]

Rolf claimed to have found an association between emotions and the soft tissue, writing that rolfing is an “approach to the personality through the myofascial collagen components of the physical body”.[27][7][8] Rolf claimed that rolfing could balance the mental and emotional aspects of subjects, and that rolfees had shown “amazing psychological changes”.[7] Rolfers say that their manipulations can cause the release of painful repressed memories.[29] Rolfers also hold that by manipulating the body they can bring about changes in personality so that, for example, teaching somebody to walk purposefully will make them a more purposeful person.[30] The connection between physical structure and psychology has not been proven by scientific studies.[3]

Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD).[1] Its intent to address MDD specifically distinguishes MBCT from other mindfulness-based therapies such as mindfulness-based stress reduction which is applicable to a broad range of disorders, and mindfulness-based relapse prevention which is used to treat addiction.[2]

MBCT uses traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about depression.[3] Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.[4] This process is known as “Decentering” and aids in disengaging from self-criticism, rumination, and dysphoric mood that can arise when reacting to negative thinking patterns.[2]

Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode.[5] The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and observing them without judgment.[5] This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection. It is theorized that this aspect of MBCT is responsible for the observed clinical outcomes.[2]

Beyond its use in reducing depressive acuity, research additionally supports the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation upon reducing cravings for substances that people are addicted to. Addiction is known to involve the weakening of the prefrontal cortex that ordinarily allows for delaying of immediate gratification for longer term benefits by the limbic and paralimbic brain regions. Mindfulness meditation of smokers over a two-week period totaling five hours of meditation decreased smoking by about 60% and reduced their cravings, even for those smokers in the experiment who had no prior intentions to quit. Neuroimaging of those who practice mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase activity in the prefrontal cortex, a sign of greater self-control.[6]