I massage Gold Medalists!

No it wasn't an Olympic Athlete but a Show-Me State Games Athlete.

Last year I watched my friend Rod Brownell compete at the Show-Me State Games weight lifting competition.  This year he asked if I would give him a sports massage the night before.  As a physical therapist and owner of a PT clinic and gym he massages his clients and knows hows the over all benefits. Of course I said yes and  he tied a record and won 2 gold medals. Coincidence?  Hmmm.......

Read Rods full article Here
  

What is Sports Massage?

Massage has become an integral part of the new athletic regimen from sports medicine clinics, to college training rooms, to professional locker rooms to Olympic training. Growing number of trainers believe that massage can provide an extra edge to the athletes who participate in high performance sports. Massage has become a necessary ingredient for a complete workout. More and more people are realizing that a complete workout routine includes not only the exercise itself, but also caring for the wear-and-tear and minor injuries that naturally occur with strenuous movement. The physiological and psychological benefits of massage make it an ideal complement to a total conditioning program.

Anyone who routinely stretches their physical limits through movement such as running, cycling, hiking, swimming, dancing, tennis and other racquet sports, strength training and aerobics can benefit from a massage. There are others who does strenuous activities in a day that is not normally classified as exercise. Examples are mothers with small children, gardeners, and others who use their bodies strenuously in their work.
Incorporating massage in your conditioning program has many benefits. It helps you get into good shape faster, and with less stiffness and soreness. It helps you recover faster from heavy workouts, and relieves conditions which may cause injury.

Regular sports massage can:

	reduce the chance of injury, through proper stretching and event preparation, and through deep tissue massage;
	improve range of motion and muscle flexibility, resulting in improved power and performance;
	shorten recovery time between workouts;
	maximize the supply of nutrients and oxygen through increased blood flow;
	enhance elimination of metabolic by-products of exercise.

Lance Armstrong travels with his massage therapist.  Why shouldn't you?  Or at least incorporate it into your routine.  There are 3 areas of sports massage.  So no matter if you are training for a 5k, marathon or chasing your kids around the kitchen, sports massage can help.  Call to schedule your pre or post event sports massage.

Onsite Chair Massage

I am doing 3 Chair Massage events this week.  One as a booth vendor that benefits a local charity, another at the country club where I massage for the ladies golf association and yet another at my chiropractors office for patient appreciation day.  Onsite or Corporate Chair Massage is a great way to get clients for my business and showcase a little of what I do as well as raise money or reward employees. 

Onsite or Corporate Chair Massage

One of the main contributors to our everyday stress is our workplace. 70% of workers surveyed by a national survey stated that their job is very stressful. Stress is the #1 cause of disability. It costs employers billions of dollars a year on lost productivity and healthcare costs.  Since workplace is stressful, it seems commonsense to provide some means of stress relief at the workplace. More and more employers are recognizing that a regular massage can reduce the physical and mental effects of stress, thus reducing burnout and stress related diseases.

"More and more companies offer massage therapy not only as a perk, but also to increase their employees' productivity and morale," said E. Houston LeBrun, president-elect of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). "You get immediate results — the employees experience stress reduction and greater satisfaction with their jobs."

  

Every year, more companies are heeding the call. There are no statistics on the number of companies that offer massage therapy onsite, but those that have offered it include law firms, hospitals, manufacturers and major corporations, such as Boeing, Apple Computer, PepsiCo, Sony Music and United Airlines.

Most companies contract with massage therapists who schedule appointments with employees during breaks. The recipient is seated in a specially designed chair which allows the therapist to work on the back, neck, shoulders and arms addressing the common problem areas of today's workers. There is no oil used and the worker is fully clothed. The massage session usually lasts 10- 15 minutes, the time for a coffee break.

Some of the Benefits of Corporate Chair Massage are:

• Increases work place morale
• Reduces work-related stress
• Promotes health
• Decreases repetitive injuries such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Reduces Workers Compensation claims
• Reduces Employee sick time, and absenteeism
• Improves thinking and awareness
• Boosts energy, alertness, and productivity
• Increase job satisfaction and loyalty to employer 

See Onsite Chair Massage to set up a Wellness Program for your Business!! I have a portable massage chair, and can travel to your work location to assist your workers with their work related stress! Call or email to learn more about setting up chair massage at your next event.  

 

Baby Your Back

Tame The Pain With Massage

By Karrie Osborn

Originally published in Body Sense magazine, Spring/Summer 2010. Copyright 2010. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.

Anyone with recurring, unyielding back problems knows the beast that is called back pain. While most of us have experienced back pain that comes from overexertion or muscle pulls, the effects of back pain for many can be debilitating, excruciating, and life changing. Experts say back pain accounts for $100 billion in lost productivity and health-care costs each year and is one of the primary causes of work-related disability. Managing back pain can be a daunting and exhausting proposition. One natural avenue for finding relief is massage therapy.

Whether you've pulled a muscle in your yoga class or afternoon basketball game, or you suffer from long-term pain caused by an injury, back pain affects us all. In fact, when it comes to low-back pain specifically, researchers say that 70-85 percent of the population will experience it at some point in their lives. It is estimated that 95 percent of clients get massage for some sort of back pain. 


What Causes The Pain?
Back pain is an especially debilitating condition because every movement your body makes depends on the spine functioning optimally. When back pain shows up, your whole body knows it, and sometimes exacerbates the problem by compensating in other ways to avoid the pain. It's not unusual for sufferers to have secondary problems related to those compensation patterns.

Experts say the cause of back pain can be the result of several factors. High on the list is stress. Hunched over a keyboard, late on a deadline, bogged down in worry--many are familiar with this life. When our body is stressed, we literally begin to pull inward: the shoulders roll forward and move up to the ears, the neck disappears, and the back tightens in the new posture. "It's an armoring effect," says Angie Parris-Raney, a Denver-based massage therapist who specializes in deep-tissue massage and sports therapy. She says this natural response to pain can create more problems when left unchecked. "That protective mode, with the muscles in flex, can even result in visceral problems," she says, where the pain also affects internal organs.

In addition to stress, poor posture, bad ergonomics, lack of exercise, arthritis, osteoporosis, a sedentary lifestyle, overexertion, pregnancy, kidney stones, fibromyalgia, excess weight, and more can spark back pain.


Massage Offers Hope
Those who suffer with back pain know there are no easy answers for chasing the pain away. Physical therapy has proven effective for some sufferers, as has chiropractic and acupuncture, but massage therapy is also making a name for itself when it comes to providing relief. In fact, research has shown that massage can be a great friend to the back-pain sufferer.

"Massage therapists have long treated low-back pain safely and effectively," says Les Sweeney, president of Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals. "They have done so less expensively and less invasively than is possible with other treatments."

Another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that massage significantly reduced the pain of moderately severe chronic back pain sufferers. After an hour of massage, once a week for 10 weeks, clients reported that their pain had decreased by nearly 50 percent.

 Getting on a regular massage schedule, however, has really helps clients manage the back pain. When they go past their normally scheduled appointment, "their bodies know it's time to get a massage again." Whether it's just helping clients get through the day, or reminding the stressed-out office worker to breathe, massage can play an important part in back pain relief.


Massage Works 
Massage can help relax the body, relax the psyche, and improve a client's range of motion and circulation to the affected tissues. Not only can massage help directly with the pain, but it can also make life a little easier, too. Massage lets you tap into the parasympathetic system and tap into all the good hormones that help you sleep better and help you handle stressors along the way. And that all helps in building a healthier back and a happier you.

What to do After a Massage?

Drink Water After A Massage

You have just finished a therapeutic massage session or treated yourself to a relaxing massage with your favorite Massage Therapist. You are feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and healed!

After booking your next appointment, your therapist gives you a water and gives you a few reminders.

After leaving and your post massage haze clears you think  “What did my therapist tell me to do again?”

 

Important Things To Do After A Massage

Drink Water

Why?

Over half our body is made up of water (depends on age, gender and overall health). So it only makes sense to drink water right?
Drinking water helps to flush out toxins released from the muscles and  properly re-hydrates your muscles therefore reducing muscle aches and pains after a massage.
A glass or two of H2O can also help to center your body/mind since a massage treatment can sometimes leave us feeling a bit spacey.

Stretch

Why?

Especially with a Deep Tissue Massage, your muscle fibers need to realign and be flushed of the toxins released from the muscle. Stretching can help to do this realignment and improve proper muscle recovery therefore reducing post massage muscle pain when the muscles want to tighten up again.

Hydrotherapy

(Epsom Salt Bath/Whirlpool/Infrared Sauna)

Why?

Similar to the effects of drinking water and stretching, hydrotherapy can also prolong the sense of relaxation to your body/mind and induce a deeper sleep that night  while promoting healthy muscle recovery.

Eat

Why?

Massage Therapy has a big effect on circulation and stimulates digestion among other systems of the body. Keeping a small snack with you to eat after a massage will provide your body with an instant electrolyte boost (especially if you tend to feel light headed after massages)

Also, it is important to avoid any strenuous activities after a massage and avoid negative people who create stress for you!