2024 has arrived and many of us make resolutions to improve some element in our lives: Our jobs, homes, social life, and the most frequent ones: Fitness and health.
One way to give yourself a physical boost that supports your fitness regime and decreases the tension in your entire nervous system is to incorporate regular massage into your routine. It doesn't have to be more than once a month, but it does bring added benefits. It increases circulation to the major muscle groups in your body. When you work out, micro muscle tears occur that help you build more muscle as your body repairs them. Increasing the circulation to these areas that have been overworked speeds up that healing process. Massage around the knee, shoulder, and hip joints can increase your range of motion by increasing the pliability of your tendons, especially the IT Band and attachment sites of your hip and shoulder rotator muscles. IF you have noticed that you're not able to reach higher than your shoulders to grab something from a high shelf or you are having twinges in your low back when you tie your shoes, it might be a good time to schedule a massage. Massage will also help you have time to just relax for an hour, calming your mind and helping you to stop focusing on multiple things at once. One of the nicest things you can do for yourself is to just concentrate on yourself, even if only for a few hours. I'd like to encourage you to add massage to your new year's resolutions. Make this the year you take some time to make a new you!
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Anyone who has received a professional massage knows that one of the first things you do beforehand is fill out the intake form. This form is designed to give your therapist an overall, brief overview of the following:
- Name and other personal information - Reason for visit - Medications you are taking - Things that exacerbate your symptoms - Where you are experiencing discomfort Knowing these things, they can then start to work on customizing your session for you that day. This isn’t all the information that is needed, however, so during the initial interview you’ll be asked more questions, which are designed to help the therapist assess the best way forward to address your symptoms quickly and efficiently. You may be asked questions while you are on the table, too, especially if you have come in for post-operative massage or are in acute pain. These can be anything from “Is this where you feel the pain?” to “Do you feel this anywhere else other than where I am working?”. These kinds of questions help your therapist pinpoint exactly where the pain may be originating from. We have a saying “The problem isn’t where the pain is”, meaning that pain can originate in an area that is on the opposite side of your body, or further up along the line of fascia and nerves which is causing pain to radiate to a specific area. Your therapist may also ask you what you do for work. This seems to be a more personal question, but it lets them know if you have any kind of activities at work that are repetitive and that can cause your body to tighten in specific areas. Examples: Someone who works at a desk 8-10 hours a day will most likely have tension in their neck, shoulders, and arms. A mechanic will have tension in their neck, shoulders, pectorals, and lower back. Someone who works in retail will have tension in their lower back and will have sore calves and feet from standing all day. A dental technician will have pain mainly in the neck and shoulder of their dominant hand, as they sit at an angle above and to the side of their patient for an hour or more. Alternatively, if you come in and talk about your skiing or hiking trip, your therapist can quickly figure out why your legs are feeling sore and tight. During the outtake interview, you’ll again be asked questions about how you are feeling after the massage, and your therapist will most likely make suggestions to you about stretches or the use of heat or ice to complete the relaxation of the area you’ve had worked on. If you’ve come in for a relaxing massage to ease your stress, you’ll be sent off with a friendly reminder to rebook. This ensures that you remember that spending time on your self-care is important, and to make sure that you can come back to destress once more. Once your therapist has worked with you several times, often just a quick “Has anything changed?” or “What would you like me to focus on today?” are sufficient to help bring you where you want to be. Please remember that if you don’t tell us something, we can’t help you as well as we can. |
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AuthorI am a Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner level II. ArchivesCategories |