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While practicing Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork for the past sixteen years, it's been my good fortune to have seen the transforming benefits of touch, eliminating pain and body dysfunctions causing the pain, and my clients subsequently living a more active lifestyle. I'm blessed with a career that provides me the opportunity to be of service.
I was fifty-nine years old before I first experienced massage therapy, a memorable life-changing one at the half way point of an MS 150 bike ride, my first long trek over 30 miles, from Minneapolis to Duluth. My quadriceps (thigh muscles) were screaming for a rest when we reached seventy-five miles, the half way point and overnight stop at Hinckley.
That afternoon, a volunteer massage therapist made a believer out of me, working my painful legs for twenty minutes, erasing the pain with, what seemed to me, a magical unbelievable healing touch. The experience was also the first of two others that were catalysts for my choosing Massage & Bodywork as my second career.
In the morning I felt energized, and the ride into Duluth was completed with pain free legs, thanks to the massage therapist and the power of touch.
Fifty-nine years is a long time before reaching out for help, pretty typical for guys like me, procrastinating and minimizing our condition ad infinitum before considering the possibility of seeking outside help. Finally when our dysfunction/pain interferes with what we want or need to do, we throw in the towel and become receptive to getting some help.
Women on the other hand are more inherently sensible than we are when it comes to personal wellness and responsibility for it, and usually seek help sooner than later.
Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, one of several alternative therapies available, is the most effective conservative approach to relieving and eliminating soft tissue pain and body dysfunctions.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
- How often should I come in for treatment? It depends on your condition and how well your body responds to the treatment, and of course, how motivated you are to get well. Generally, if the pain returns 2-3 days after our session, it would be good to get back in for some additional work.
- Does deep tissue bodywork need to be painful to achieve good results? Absolutely not! In my early days practicing, I'm sure that more than a few of my clients suffered through painful sessions because I, like so many new therapists and clients, believed the adage: No Pain No Gain. It is, in fact, counterproductive, causing the muscles to contract and tighten up to protect the tissue from further damage.
- What can I do between sessions to maintain my pain free status? I usually encourage my clients to get in the habit of doing daily therapeutic movements and stretches tailored to their specific needs in addition to a regular exercise program.
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The Power of Therapeutic Touch
The simple power of being touched crosses all time and cultures. The healing power of human touch is ever present.
Studies of infants have shown the dramatic and often fatal effects of touch deprivation on the biological and psychological health of human beings. The need for nurturing touch is not limited to infants and children, basic geriatric massage is also bringing the healing power of touch to our elderly by reducing their anxiety levels and satisfying their need for nurturing touch.
A recent study among breast cancer patients found that massage therapy increased their overall coping skills, from depression and mood disturbances to fatigue and weakened immune system. Some MDs are recommending massage prior to and after surgery to help reduce stress and facilitate healing because of its positive impact.
Another recent study shows that a simple hug can reduce levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, in women. The power of human touch with good intentions is phenomenal.
The benefits that healing touch provides humankind cannot be denied--hands calm, comfort, nurture, and heal. Incorporating more touch into our lives and into the lives of others will go a long way to boosting our health and help others boost their ability to heal and to enjoy life more.
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Deep Tissue Therapy
...concentrates on the deep layers of muscle and fascia in our bodies, treats a variety of physical ailments, and is recommended by many doctors as a treatment because of its benefits.
It's an effective treatment for injured muscles, facilitates movement of toxins, lengthens contracted tissues, and generally promotes healing by increasing the blood flow through the body.
Deep tissue therapy is, in many cases, a more effective and affordable treatment than conventional medical remedies for relieving and eliminating chronic pain, reducing inflammation, and alleviating muscle tension, often a side effect of chronic pain.
Reducing stress and tension with deep tissue treatment can also improve blood pressure. According to a recent study by the University of Maryland Medical Center, subjects after deep tissue work saw their systolic pressure drop by an average of 10.4 mm Hg and their diastolic pressure drop an average 5.3 mm Hg.
Deep tissue treatment can also help promote happiness and good feelings by increasing the body's production of the hormone, serotonin.
Another benefit of deep tissue work is its effectiveness in breaking up and eventually erasing scar tissue by improving lymphatic circulation and drainage, and increasing flexibility and range of motion in the affected area. Muscle pain and stiffness, often symptoms of scar tissue are also reduced and/or eliminated as a result of the work.
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 Myofascial Release
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Fascia, the tough elastic connective tissue, forming a three dimensional network, webbing its way through your insides like spider webs from head to toe, surrounding muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and your organs, binding some structures together, separating others, while permitting others to slide smoothly over each other, and has been described as the most pervasive tissue in the body.
Trauma, inflammation, and poor posture can cause fascia to become solidified and shortened, and by organizing along the lines of tension imposed upon it, can then produce bizarre and seemingly unrelated clinical results, or symptoms in adjacent areas of the body.
The good news is that dysfunctional fascia will respond positively to a gentle sustained stretch or pressure into the restriction (barrier), and changes from a hard substance to a more soft gelatinous state.
Myofascial Release, a powerful treatment technique addresses soft tissue dysfunction that does not respond to other more traditional methods of treatment, is usually not used exclusively, but considered another option that allows more effective treatment of complex pain complaints, and helps clients avoid future re-injury to asymmetrical soft tissue stresses.
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Special Offer Through November
Add a complimentary 30 minutes to your regular session.
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Scope Of Treatment
Therapeutic Bodywork practices do not include the diagnosis or treatment of illness or disease, nor any service for which a separate license to practice is required by law, such as medicine, chiropractic, physical therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture, or podiatry. Anyone who is suffering from a medical problem, or suspect they are, should seek appropriate attention from a qualified medical practitioner.
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