Tag Archives: sciatica

The Consequences of Stress

Experts estimate that 80 percent to 90 percent of disease is stress-related. Massage and bodywork is there to combat that frightening number by helping us remember what it means to relax. The physical changes massage brings to your body can have a positive effect in many areas of your life. Besides increasing relaxation and decreasing anxiety, massage lowers your blood pressure, increases circulation, improves recovery from injury, helps you to sleep better and can increase your concentration. It reduces fatigue and gives you more energy to handle stressful situations.

Massage is a perfect elixir for good health, but it can also provide an integration of body and mind. By producing a meditative state or heightened awareness of living in the present moment, massage can provide emotional and spiritual balance, bringing with it true relaxation and peace.

 

The Physical Benefits of Massage

~~Increases circulation, allowing the body to pump more oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs.~~Stimulates the flow of lymph, the body’s natural defense system, against toxic invaders. For example, in breast cancer patients, massage has been shown to increase the cells that fight cancer.

~~Increased circulation of blood and lymph systems improves the condition of the body’s largest organ – the skin.

~~Relaxes and softens injured and overused muscles

~~Reduces spasms and cramping

~~Increases joint flexibility

~~Reduces recovery time, helps prepare for strenuous workouts and eliminates subsequent pains of the athlete at any level.

~~Releases endorphins — the body’s natural painkiller — and is being used in chronic illness, injury and recovery from surgery to control and relieve pain

~~Reduces post-surgery adhesions and edema and can be used to reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred.

~~Improves range-of-motion and decreases discomfort for patients with low back pain.

~~Relieves pain for migraine sufferers and decreases the need for medication

~~Assists with shorter labor for expectant mothers, as well as less need for medication, less depression and anxiety, and shorter hospital stays.

Source: http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php?article_id=468

 

Massage helps with these conditions: 

~~Headaches/ Migraines

~~Back Pain

~~Neck & shoulder issues

~~Carpal Tunnel issues

~~Edema- fluid retention and swelling

~~Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

~~Sciatica

~~Plantar fasciitis

~~Scoliosis

~~Arthritis

~~Premenstrual Syndrome

~~Asthma

~~Insomnia, Anxiety, and Depression

~~High Blood Pressure

~~Pregnancy Discomforts and Recovery

~~Athletic Event Warm Up, Cool Down and Recovery

~~Muscle Injury Rehabilitation

~~Scarring

~~Detoxification…

~~And there are many more reasons to get a massage!

 

Call and schedule a massage today and see how good you can feel!

 

 

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The “Quasimodo” Posture

This posture looks much like the lead character from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with one shoulder up and one leg shortened, leading to a hobble of a walk.

Many women by mid-life experience scoliosis, sciatica, plantar fasciitis; it also leads to knee, hip and feet issues.  I’ve see men leaning back and sitting on one buttock.  This could pinch off nerves going down the legs over time.  There can also be issues with the shoulders.  Women can stick out their “sassy” hip, and put their hand on it.

As caretakers, it becomes easy to loose yourself in all the “Mommy, do this for me…” A young mother’s Baby on hip syndrome, where the hip juts out for a baby to ride, usually on the left hip (so you can work with the right hand) over time can lead to this.

I have heard Chiropractors admonish that if you sleep on your side, you need shift to sleeping flat on your back to prevent the torque on your spine.  I have figured out, upon questioning, that many of these “twisted” people are sitting in a contorted posture like sitting on your foot/feet with knees to the side, that eventually the posture compensates.

Life can get complicated as you go on through time.  I think mentally, this could be an aversion to dealing with things as they truly are, instead of standing in your own truth, and squarely standing on your own two feet, stacking the joints above evenly.

In dealing with the Quasimodo posture, I’ve seen that working the whole body has helped straighten out the whole posture.  So even if you only have a hurt leg or shoulder, getting a massage for the whole body structure will help straighten things out.