Thinking of all of our client mamas, today! Enjoy your day!
Self Care is not Selfish!
Even adding one or two self-care activities to your life can make a drastic change.
We know that substance abuse disorders carry a stigma. But when is a stigma something even worse?
via Society’s Stance on Mental Health and Addiction Needs a Reboot — 800 Recovery Hub Blog
PART 2 OF 4: Geriatric massage takes into account physical, psychological, and socioeconomic factors. The elderly population presents us with unique challenges. There is an increased incidence of disease, medication use, impairment, and disability. This blog will help teach you about how to position your geriatric clients and provide maximum comfort during their massage.
via Geriatric Massage: Positioning & Techniques — Susan Salvo’s Massage Passport
Deep Tissue-That’s Not a Thing
The Problem with ‘Deep Tissue’
When I started working as a massage therapist in 2001, my training was in Swedish massage, anatomy and physiology, pathology, and a smattering of surface knowledge in massage modalities. I spent the first five years of my career studying modalities that I felt were most important at the time. This continuing education was time consuming and expensive, and exciting to be sure.
I have a resume on my desk, at this moment where the therapist claims to be proficient in “Deep Tissue”. For the record, that’s not a thing. Sometimes with better outcomes than others, massage schools started to offer more depth of training in advanced techniques. Yay! Maybe.
How this Happened
Sometime in the last ten years spas and massage franchises started differentiating between ‘relaxation’ and ‘deep tissue’ massage. They charge more for deep tissue and often pay the therapist more. Sounds okay, right?
What seems to have happened is a giant cross-section of massage consumers who equate deep tissue with massive amounts of heavy pressure and undertrained therapists trying to deliver results with inadequate knowledge of pain science risking injury. Not a week goes by where a new client explains to me that they only have the deepest work and I ‘can’t work too deep.’
Truth is, I can. Embarassingly, I have.
All health professions go through periods of great change where science and education trump old myths. Now is one of those times in massage therapy. To do our best as professionals, we have to remain current on research. We know that the human on our table does not give a hill of beans about Neuromuscular Therapy vs Myofascial Release vs Orthobionomy. What they want to know is, “Can you relieve my pain? “, “Is my range of motion or performance increasing? ”
Part of maintaining ethics in any field is transparency, education, and not working beyond our capabilities. Being willing to refer someone to a colleague with more in depth knowledge is not a bad thing. It’s a necessary thing.
Know your healthcare provider, understand their level of education, take a proactive approach to your pain relief. Long term results require planning and partnership.
The two main categories of surgery are major surgery and minor surgery. Massage was reported to benefit patients before and after surgery. Benefits were also found when massage was given to caregivers of patients undergoing surgery. Intrigued? Read on.
Chemotherapy and Massage
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. These chemicals can be administered intravenously, by injection, topically, or orally in pill or liquid form. The most common method of administration is intravenous by various vascular access devices.
Radiation and Massage
Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill or reduce the size of cancer cells & tumors. Radiation may be delivered externally by a machine or internally by a device that is surgically-implanted near the treatment area. Several studies have investigated the effects of massage on cancer patients who underwent radiation treatments, many of which were breast […]
via Massage & Radiation Treatments — Susan Salvo’s Massage Passport
Originally posted on Lady with the Migraines: Temporomandibular Joint (in short TMJ!) PAIN IN THE NECK? IT MAY BE CONNECTED TO YOUR JAW! We all suffer from neck pain from time to time. For some of us it is a regular problem & others it can be intensified when we are feeling stressed. Let’s take…
via PAIN IN THE NECK? IT MAY BE CONNECTED TO YOUR JAW! — living in stigma
Opiates are the MOST abused drug in the US today. In some people, addiction will begin in just 3 days or less. Most will be addicted within 4-6 weeks. After that, they will need detox to get them out of their addiction. The 6 week point is the point where doctors will escalate the addiction […]