Massage therapy, while not technically a medical practice, can have a therapeutic and healthy effect on the human body.

Massage is thought to be one of the oldest forms of therapy and treatment for overall health. From ancient cultures, including Greece, Rome, India and China, we get different types of massage techniques that are still effective today. Ancient Chinese cultures practiced massage to heal ailments like labor pains and paralysis, and images of massage have even been discovered in Egyptian tombs.

Therapeutic essential oils have been used in massage for centuries; traditional Indian medicine called Ayurveda used oils for their healing properties. In Western cultures, Swedish massage is probably the most well-known form of massage - it is a blend of older techniques and practices combined with other therapies like aromatherapy, reflexology and osteopathy. 

Massage for Health Maintenance

Massage is more than a "treat" for yourself.  Massage for regular "tune-up" maintenance is important.  

If you have an active lifestyle, massage provides relief to muscles that are tired, stiff, and sore, enabling a speedier recovery from strenuous workouts.  Correcting muscle imbalances and postural strains will improve performance and energy level.

Help to prevent injury with massage and bodywork.  If your job, hobby, or sport puts you at risk for a repetitive use injury, treat those aches and pains before they become an injury.  

Receiving bodywork regularly also helps you to stay in tune with your body -- to notice things that you may have tuned-out.

If you have sustained an injury, such as tendonitis, muscle strains, or ligament sprains, massage can aid in your recovery.  Massage eases movement restrictions and reduces pain.  Massage is also a great way to help you manage your stress and stress-related physical and emotional health problems.  Studies have shown that massage decreases stress and anxiety, lowering your risk of developing a stress-related illness.

Relax and revitalize.  Make massage and bodywork part of your health maintenance plan today!

Treating Pain and Injury with Massage and Bodywork

How Massage Helps

Massage helps relieve your pain in two ways:  

• Addressing the physical cause of pain by treating the injury
• Breaking the cycle of chronic pain

Physical Causes of Pain

Massage is an important part of the continuum of care for strains, sprains, tendonitis, and other soft tissue injuries.  Massage helps people recover from soft tissue injuries in several ways.  Massage can decrease excess neurological activity, decreasing spasm and restoring proper muscle tone and length in the area of injury.  Reducing muscle spasm will increase the flow of blood and nutrients to the area, which supports healing.  

Adhesions and excess scarring after injury can limit movement and functioning.  This can cause muscle tightness and compensations that, in turn, cause further pain and dysfunction.

Massage therapy is very effective in managing the development of scar tissue.  In fact, doctors often instruct patients to massage their scars after surgery.  There are specific techniques that help your body create the most functional scar possible.  By functional scar, I mean a scar that offers both mobility and flexibility in the injured area.

Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is exhausting.  It's stressful.  Massage helps to interrupt the patterns that make your pain worse.

You hurt, so your muscles tense up, which makes you hurt more, which makes you anxious, which makes you more tense, which makes you hurt more...

Studies have shown that massage reduces pain and anxiety.  Scientists have measured lowered stress hormones after massage.  Massage can also help to relieve pain by improving your sleep.  Lack of quality sleep makes your pain worse by causing an increase in the production of Substance P, a neurohormone linked to pain.  Massage has also been shown to release endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. 

Back Pain Relief with Massage Therapy

At some point in our lives, 80% of us will experience back pain.  It is also the most common cause of work-related disability.

Massage therapy can help!  Massage can reduce or eliminate your back pain and increase your range of motion, helping you to move better, sleep better, and live more fully.

Research has shown that massage is a safe and effective way to treat your back pain.  How does it work?  In many cases, massage therapy goes right to the source of back pain, addressing its physical causes.

Massage relaxes tight muscles and releases weak muscles from their strain patterns.  This increases circulation to the affected areas, which promotes healing, reduces swelling and irritation, and flushes out toxins.

Massage also increases your flexibility and range of motion, reducing stiffness and fatigue.  This makes exercise more comfortable.  Strengthening your back, abdominal, and other postural muscles will protect you against further injury and pain.

There may be other factors involved in your back pain, including postural or lifestyle habits, arthritis, trauma, or injury.   If you have persistent back pain, please see your physician for diagnosis and medical treatment.  

Massage can support your healing in many ways. Research has shown that massage reduces pain, even when it cannot affect the source of the pain (as in cancer pain, for instance). 

Studies have also shown that anxiety and depression can have a significant effect on back pain.  Massage reduces stress, anxiety, and depression, providing support you need to relax and heal.  Massage also improves the quality of your sleep, an important factor in both healing and pain management.  

Massage Supports Emotional Health & Recovery

Injury and pain affect each aspect of who you are: body, mind, emotions, and spirit.  I believe healing (of all kinds) is best achieved by working with each of these aspects.  Your body is not simply a machine that your mind and spirit inhabit.  You are an embodied being.  

Because of this, massage and bodywork are a wonderful support to professional counseling for emotional healing.  This includes recovery from trauma and abuse, eating disorders, and addiction.

Studies have shown that massage therapy decreases depression and improves body image.  Scientists have measured increases in dopamine and serotonin after massage.  Studies have also shown that massage reduces stress and anxiety.  This, in turn, improves your sleep.  Physically feeling better makes the whole you feel better.

Another way that bodywork can help is by easing postural strains.  This is energizing!  Walking taller reinforces positive feelings about yourself.  Releasing muscle tension allows you to use that energy for other things.

Most importantly, massage provides a way for you to nurture yourself with safe and comforting touch.  Each session is under your control.  Reclaim your body as your own.  Feel at home in your skin.

Manage Stress with Massage

Chronic stress has been connected to every leading cause of death, including heart disease and cancer.  Stress related problems account for 75 to 90% of visits to primary care physicians. 

Stress has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, muscle pain, acid reflux, impotence, irritable bowel syndrome, the list goes on and on.  It causes changes to the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to illness, infection and disease.  It also affects mental health and can lead to depression.

Chronic stress is dangerous to your physical and mental health.  What does it do to your body that’s so harmful?

A shot of adrenaline is part of a cascade of physical preparations to give you a heightened alertness and response to danger.  But you cannot respond to stressful or threatening situations the way your body prepares you to.  Consider a stressful situation at work.

When your boss, employee or customer is a real jerk, your body reacts the same way as it would to the physical threat of a hungry lion.  Really!  When your computer crashes and you lose that huge spreadsheet, your body is readied for “fight or flight”.  Your bloodstream is full of hormones and neuro-transmitters to prime you for battle.  But you can neither run for your life, club the computer to death nor punch your boss in the nose.  

If this stress response becomes chronic – if you are living with stress because of your job situation or a loved one’s illness for example – it can lead to all sorts of breakdown.

It is critical for your physical and mental health that your stress is managed.  A good stress management program should include  massage therapy.

Studies have shown that massage relieves stress.  This may seem intuitive to you, having experienced how relaxing massage can be.  But it’s important to note that in these studies, people not only scored their stress levels lower, but their levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) were also lower after massage.  Tests have shown increased serotonin and dopamine, decreased depression and pain.  Research has also shown that massage boosts the immune system.           

Massage research is now turning from the effects of massage therapy to its mechanisms – how massage does what it does.  I believe what they’ll find is this:  that massage directly affects the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest & digest” system), which calms the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” system), thereby thwarting the stress response and averting its potential dangers.  I believe that these benefits of massage occur as a direct result of the powerful effect of massage on stress.

Chronic stress is serious business.  Protect yourself from its harmful effects.  Make massage therapy part of your stress management program. 

Your First Session

Please arrive a few minutes early for your first appointment.  I will ask you to fill out a brief, confidential health history form.  We will then spend some time discussing your reasons for seeking bodywork and your expectations.

I ask that you undress only to your comfort level.  I want you to know that your feelings of comfort and safety are extremely important to me.  You will be completely covered with a sheet and blanket.  I use professional draping, only uncovering the area of your body that I'm massaging.  If you feel uncomfortable at any time, it is important that you communicate this to me.

Each session is unique; tailored to suit your individual needs.  You may receive homework (stretching or breathing exercises) to help maintain what we achieved in session.  This gives you control over how good you feel.