MassageFreek

Thoracic outlet syndrome - often confused with Carpal Tunnel syndrome

Friday, March 14th, 2008 | Deep Tissue, Featured, Massage, Myofascial Release, healthly living, injury treatment | No Comments

symptoms:
1. hands go numb in the pinky, ring and half of middle fingers
2. “fat” or full tight feeling in the forearm
3. in severe cases - whole arm is swollen and numb and some poor fucker needs to visit the ER

often confused with:
Carpal tunnel syndrome - the symptoms of which are primarily in the hand proper and numbness usually in the thumb, index middle finger and palm.

THe difference between these two sydromes is this:
carpal tunnel syndrome is IN the carpel tunnel - ie - too much scar tissue in the space just proximal to the *wrist* - often due to too much masturbation, video game playing and computer/mouse use

Thoracic outlet syndrome is the impingement of the ulnar nerve at the *shoulder area*, clavical or (sometimes but not often) the neck muscles where the brachial plexus comes out or at misalignment at the cervical vertebral bones.

Often Doctors are stupid.

They operate in the wrist for something that’s all fucked up in the shoulder.

Regardless of which disorder you may have - don’t trust your doctor unless your doctor tells you to get massage therapy treatment for either one. They are both better treated with massage than surgery.

Funny thing I’ve found…
People often have a bit of both and mostly… people have the shoulder issues and symptoms in the hands.

Key areas to massage in the case of Thoracic outlet: rotator cuff, arm, neck and chest
Best stretch: door stretch (a chest opening stretch)

Recovery from injury - insurance vs. cash

Saturday, November 10th, 2007 | Deep Tissue, Featured, Massage, Myofascial Release, healthly living, injury treatment, stress | 3 Comments

I worked in clinics with other massage therapists on staff as well as chiropractors. I have treated the injuries of hundreds of people in the last 7 years and I have seen some interesting things.

The one things I wanted to point out in this little post was this: I have found that it takes longer for my patient to heal when they are getting their massages paid for by insurance.

Since I have had my cash-business for the last 3 years, I have found that the recovery rate for my patients is amazingly short compared to my experience in insurance clinical work. › Continue reading

Deep Tissue Massage Masters are hard to find

Monday, October 22nd, 2007 | Deep Tissue, Massage, Myofascial Release, healthly living, stress | No Comments

I have had many conversations with bodyworkers and normal people alike on the subject of a good deep tissue LMP. The conversation is the same: a good deep tissue massage therapist is hard to find.
I have the good heart to be humble most of the time but I must toot my horn on this account. I am one of the very best deep tissue and myofascial release massage practitioners in this region.
It takes a bit of dedication and talent, I believe, to become a very effective, gentle yet deeply impactful deep tissue expert.
A master of this art refines their skill to give both the felt experience of “deep” muscular therapy as well as having effective depth-control and specificity skills so that they accomplish repair and re-organizing of soft tissues goals while also doing well to not leave their clients feeling bruised all over. › Continue reading

Car Accidents, MVA’s and dealing with them

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 | Deep Tissue, Massage, healthly living, stress | No Comments

I have seen many people with car accidents in their history come to my massage table. A common issue is the pain and how it just seems to stay for so long. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a client say to me “When is this pain going to go away? I have been waiting for it to dissipate since my accident but it only seems to be getting worse!”

I have had to break it to people so many times. When you get into a car accident the soft tissue damage to your body is diffuse (in a spread out area of your body) it is also almost impossible to see on your skin - there’s often no bruising. Because the pain caused by diffuse soft tissue injury seems to have no seeable cause, this situation can lead the person experiencing pain to feel somewhat out of their minds and a bit like a big fat baby.

One should just be able to bounce right back into life, right? The body has healed itself in the past real quick -why not now? Though it is hard to explain - the logic behind lots of soft tissue damage is easy to understand. With the activities of life - the body moves alot. When you have the diffuse soft tissue injuries caused by a car accident - those little breaks in the fibers of soft tissue continue to get pulled and broken again even after the initial insult to the fibers of the soft tissues.

The whole idea of this sort of injury is downright controversial. It’s kind of a bitch considering the involvement of insurance companies and the “hard proof” needed to justify payment of claims.

Get a good lawyer to fight for your right to get your massage, chiropractic, physical therapy and acupuncture paid for by the insurance companies (regardless of fault). Keep your claim open the full 3-year max and get the treatment you need to treat the injuries that you will live with for the rest of your life.

Getting in to an accident will leave a permanent mark. The injuries will become chronic and you will have to maintain your soft tissue health for the rest of your life - if you want to keep those injuries from getting harder and harder scar tissue that will leave you “feeling old” and creaky later on.

The Spine - Part one: stretch it slow!

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 | Deep Tissue, Massage, healthly living | No Comments

Spinal talk.
Can I “buzz” that? probably not - wouldn’t be interesting to nearly enough people.
(I love bodywork humor)
OK! Now that I’ve lost 90% of my audience - let’s throw out a bullet point list!

In this article I will talk about the spine. I will cover these things in no particular order and all scrambled together, no doubt:

1. The health and good maintenance of your spine
2. The beautiful structures and anatomy of the spine
3. The embryology of the spine
4. How people’s lives shape their spine
5. My unbridled opinion of all the above mentioned points

Ah! The spine is so beautiful. The bones involved are esthetically pleasing while my heart loves the beauty of the nervous system it protects.
Just today (September 15th) I was in my cranio-sacral class at the location that was once known as the Brian Utting school of Massage.
This afternoon’s lecture was on the development of the embryo in the womb and how the spine, or the midline, is the first thing to form after conception.
While the egg is still in it’s round shape - inside of it there is a division in the middle of the egg created by a linear collection of cells. These cells will form the spine and, from this central structure, all things will come while the baby grows.
Geez, that makes me think of my posture while I write this!

Anyway. The Trauma of birth as well as every day following birth, our spines will form and shape according to genetics and the stresses we place upon them.

What I really love about the spine, if I can choose one thing I like to talk about, are the little muscles close to the vertebrae. They are called the paraspinal group of muscles. They have names like “rotatare” and “intertransversari” (try saying that 3 times! or spelling it with confidence, for that matter)
These little muscles are rad. They have different “ways” than the more superficial muscles or the body. They are called “slow- fire” muscles. They are very deep red in color and need quite a good blood supply because they are almost always in flexion.
They hold up the spine on the deepest level that a muscle can.
The only other soft tissue acting as the duct tape that keeps the spine from falling apart are the ligaments.
The paraspinals are the muscles that those yoga lovers are going for when they do the super-slow twists, stretches (sit-there-and-breathe-for-a-while poses) and bends that limber up the spine. Because of the nature of these little guys - they hold and contract for a long time and they do not contract slowly - it would make sense that they also release and let go at a slow pace as well.

So when you want to loosen up your spine in deep and profound ways, you need to stretch really slow, breathe deep and slow and stay in the spinal stretch (comfortably) for a good, long time. Chances are, if you stay with that sort of deep long slow stretch you will increase your body awareness, your relaxation level as well as the flexibility of your spine.

This is where I will stop my post for now. I will probably have a part 2 and 3 to the spine because there’s just so much to say and I need to post something on my blog or else I’ll look like a liar: she said she would post something about the spine and she still hasn’t done it!

None of that!
I just want to post this and add more over a non-defined amount of time. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions if you have any specific things about the spine you may want me to address in my posts on the spine.
Also! If you have trouble posting or your comments doesn’t show up in a day or two, just shoot me an email because my blog might be “buggy” and I might not be getting your comments. Sorry for the hassle! oh! this technology!

Massage Blues - What happens after a massage?

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 | Deep Tissue, Massage, healthly living | No Comments

I just had a new client come in and tell me that after every massage she’s ever gotten, she’s felt crappy the next day. I responded to her with this:

It rather depends on what it means to you to feel “crappy” because it is true that massage often leaves one feeling tired or worn out. Many people say that the next day - a deep massage will feel like they worked out the day before.

Even very “light” techniques like Cranio-Sacral (which I am getting certified in this year - yay!) and Reiki can leave a person feeling emotionally and physically “crappy” as well.

A classic Swedish massage is like 7 miles of hiking to the circulatory system because of all the stuff that gets all loosened up during the massage. Later on, all that released lactic acid, waste products, chemicals and “other” just get processed out of the body for the next day.

During deep tissue - deep pressure is applied to sore spots and so the area can feel sore and “worked”

It is a common concern how the body feels, reacts and how the emotional state of a body will be after receiving massage. It is very common to have the experience of cold-like symptoms, fatigue, irritability and even crying or emotional release after the massage.

I always suggest to my clients that they drink water - lots of water - the following 24 hours after their massage. That way the circulation of fluids and the healing process, in general, is helped along because it dilutes and flushes the entire system.

It is often a good idea to avoid coffee, alcohol and heavy greasy foods after a massage.

Always check in with yourself after a massage, for emotional disturbance. I find the most common “emotional” stuff that comes up after a massage is just irritability and sadness for no reason. This is totally natural. It’s just the combination of the chemicals and hormones that were sitting in your tissue that have been released to be cleaned out AND the emotions that may have been “stored” in places that were released and relaxed during the massage.

If you ever have issues after a massage, call your massage practitioner. They know what’s going on and they will have the information to help you understand what’s happening.

Don’t let the downside of massage keep you from getting one. The freedom from pain, pattern and holding is far worth the 24 to 36 hours of slight discomfort that comes after a massage.