Massage & Back Pain

 

Massage therapy as an effective treatment 

for back pain

Whether you’ve strained a back muscle in the garden, by playing golf, or by playing with our children, or if your back pain stems from a long term injury, you’re not alone. Figures indicate that the overwhelming majority of people will endure back pain at one point or another.

Most low back pain doesn’t last long, and lasts a few days to a few weeks. While it can be very disruptive to your normal day to day activities, It tends to heal by itself without any long term damage.  Most cases of this type of low back pain are mechanical in nature, meaning that the components of the back (the spine, muscle, discs, and nerves) aren’t working together properly because one or more are injured or traumatized.

What Causes Back Pain?

Back pain is debilitating because each movement of your body requires the spine to function smoothly. When back pain exists, the problem is complicated and multiplied by compensating in ways that avoid the pain. It’s common for sufferers of back pain to have secondary problems related to the movements they’re making due to back pain.

But what’s the cause of most back pain? Unfortunately, given the required cooperation and involvement of the muscular, nervous and skeletal systems, there are many possibilities.

Here are some of the most common:

• Poor posture accounts for, or contributes to, back pain in a staggering number of people.  Whether it’s due to wearing high heels, or a less than ideal position in front of a computer screen, on the phone or driving, the result is stress on the back as it attempts to compensate for the unusual loads placed on it.
• Sprains and strains account for most acute back pain. Sprains are caused by overstretching or tearing ligaments, and strains are tears in tendon or muscle. Both can occur from twisting or lifting something improperly, lifting something too heavy, or overstretching. Such movements may also trigger spasms in back muscles, which can also be painful.
• Intervertebral disc degeneration is one of the most common mechanical causes of low back pain, and it occurs when the usually rubbery discs lose integrity as a normal process of aging. In a healthy back, intervertebral discs provide height and allow bending, flexion, and torsion of the lower back. As the discs deteriorate, they lose their ability to cushion movements and shocks.
• Herniated or ruptured discs can occur when the intervertebral discs become compressed and bulge outward (herniation) or rupture, causing low back pain.
• Radiculopathy is a condition caused by compression, inflammation and/or injury to a spinal nerve root. Pressure on the nerve root results in pain, numbness, or a tingling sensation that travels or radiates to other areas of the body that are served by that nerve. Radiculopathy may occur when spinal stenosis or a herniated or ruptured disc compresses the nerve root.
• Sciatica is a form of radiculopathy caused by compression of the sciatic nerve, the large nerve that travels through the buttocks and extends down the back of the leg. This compression causes shock-like or burning low back pain combined with pain through the buttocks and down one leg, occasionally reaching the foot.
• A traumatic injury, such as from playing sports, car accidents, or a fall can injure tendons, ligaments or muscle resulting in low back pain. Traumatic injury may also cause the spine to become overly compressed, which in turn can cause an intervertebral disc to rupture or herniate, exerting pressure on any of the nerves rooted to the spinal cord. When spinal nerves become compressed and irritated, back pain and sciatica may result.
• Skeletal irregularities include scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that does not usually cause pain until middle age; lordosis, an abnormally accentuated arch in the lower back; and other congenital anomalies of the spine.

 

Not to be trivialized, poor posture, such as that while sitting, can lead directly to a number of painful issues, including back pain. If you spend a significant amount of time slouching over a keyboard, the shoulders roll forward and move up, and the back tightens to support the bent over posture. Perform a little self diagnoses as you’re reading this. If you’re like most, you’re not sitting in an optimal position.

In addition to poor posture, a lack of exercise, arthritis, osteoporosis, a sedentary lifestyle, overuse, pregnancy, kidney stones, fibromyalgia, excess weight, and more can also cause back pain.

Massage Therapy Offers Relief for Back Pain

Those who live with back pain know that many times there are no easy answers for making the pain go away. Alternative therapies such as physical therapy have proven effective for some sufferers, as have 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.

How effective massage therapy for back pain is depends on the primary cause of the pain. If it is primarily muscular in nature, then massage can have a great positive impact on muscle tightness and muscle spasms. If it’s caused by a joint alignment issue or one of the skelatal issues listed above, then the role of massage might be somewhat different, such as helping to address the biomechanical imbalances that make things worse, but massage won’t be able to get pressure off the nerve directly.

 

Hello Saturday - Let's Chat.

 

Hello Saturday 

Let's catch up 

Good Morning☕ -It has been a long time since I did an update. My apologizes. Things are going very well at the new location. Since we've been having weather in the 90's I can say - I LOVE THE AIR CONDITIONING!!😜 of my new location. for those of you new to this blog and me, the old location had no air conditioning and was very hot. 

 Be sure to check out the membership plans that are available on the online booking site. Make massage part of your routine self-care. This monthly membership plan makes it easy to keep up with feeling great. Save $10 per session when you enroll in the Maintenance Plan. Your monthly auto payment includes one 60 minute Custom Therapeutic Massage per month. An unused credit rolls over one month only. Membership commitment is month to month and can be paused or canceled at anytime. CANNOT be shared with friends/family, nor paid for in cash, or used for any other service.

 The online appointment system is now open for booking to the end of December. YAY!! Crazy to think we will quickly be moving into those holiday months. If you are one of those people the like a 5pm - 8pm time session I would recommend jumping on and getting your spots. Those fill fast. 

Health update: Back in February 2021, Rheumatoid arthritis hit my life like a wrecking ball. I went from a fit, healthy woman who worked full-time & hiked on the weekends for fun, to someone who limped crossing her living room and didn’t have the strength in her hands and wrists to wash dishes. I was introduced to a level of pain so unlike any I had experienced before that I think it deserves its own word. I woke up in the morning feeling 90 years old, and that was the good part of my day. Painkillers barely took the edge off. I was terrified and didn’t know how I could survive it. Crazy as this sounds I opted to take no medication for it as long as I can.

For the last 4 months, I have been working with a program to put it in remission and a functional doctor.  My life has been changed. I've lost over 30 lbs to date. I feel very small but I'm healthier then I've probably been my whole life. I am now following a AIP Lifestyle (Autoimmune Protocol) and Paddison Program along with exercising everyday.

Over the last 4 months, I regained use of my wrists, fingers and knees. YAY! I hit a road block last month with plantar fasciitis in both feet and a fractured toe on the right foot due to how horrible I've been walking due to the RA.  This month I think I'm back on track. The toe is mending and the plantar fasciitis has moved out. Thank goodness. 😰Now I am focused on getting the RA out of my Left Ankle. Overall, I'm doing very well -I think. This disease will not define my life. 

So that's where we are. I wish you the very best this Saturday.

The Power of Affirmations

Affirmations can help us in pretty much any and all areas of our life. These are positive statements that we can focus on and help shift our mindset to the positive along with holding the intention of our goal we want to carry out. When working with affirmations it is important to remember the affirmation do's and don'ts. Here they are for you below.

Affirmation Do: You want to make sure you keep your affirmation in the present tense! One's beginning with "I am", "I can", "I desire now" are good ones to start with.

 

Affirmation Don't: You do not want this to be in the past or future tense. Examples of this are such as, "I will someday" and "In the future I would like".

 

Affirmation Do: You want to keep them positive in their phrasing. Some forget this when they are writing their affirmations, as they already have a negative mindset. Examples, "I am now healthy.", "I am now successful", "I am now in a loving relationship."

 

Affirmation Don't: You want to avoid phrasing them in negative terms, even if you are thinking of a positive outcome. Examples, "I am not fat.", "I am debt free." or "I am letting go of negative people."

 

Affirmation Do: You want to be clear and to the point. Affirmations are about short positive statements that stick, so don't draw out the phrasing. Here is an wonderful example, "I am now healthy and strong."

 

Affirmation Don't: Dragging the statements out can lead to forgetfulness, confusion and frustration. Here are one's phrased this like you want to avoid, "I am physically healthy, with strong leg muscles, toned arm muscles and all of my clothes fit well." Way to long!

 

One of the biggest key points you want to remember is to have one that resonates with you. You can work with others you find online, one's you read in a book, or create one of your own. It is all about what resonates for you! If it does not resonate with you simply re-word it so it does, just remember to keep it positive, pretense tense and to the point. Now all you have to do is work with them every day, focus on your intention and allow the shifting to begin!

Massage Can Improve Posture

 Massage Can Improve Posture

 

Most people spend a lot of time sitting.  Whether it’s in a car, in a conference room, or at a desk, all those hours add up to a significant part of the day.  If you spend those hours sitting in a less than ideal posture, some degree of neck and back pain is almost guaranteed. Proper posture is not effortless however.  Muscles, ligaments and joints all must work together to properly support your body.

When you sit with hunched shoulders or lean forward too much, your body isn’t properly aligned. This forces some muscles to work hard all day long to support uneven loads while others that aren’t being used (but should be) get weaker.  Over time these imbalances become worse and worse, eventually leading to more serious skeletal issues.

Maintaining good posture requires adequate muscle flexibility and strength, and normal joint motion in the spine and other body regions. Symmetrical postural muscles that are balanced on both sides of the spine are a key requirement for a long term pain free back.

Massage improves posture

Massage helps by bringing unbalanced muscles back to a healthy state, allowing all muscles to work together in a balanced way to support your body, head and neck.  The good news is that through massage, correcting the effects of poor posture can be a relaxing experience.  Massage brings muscles back into balance by increasing circulation and reducing pressure on sensitive nerves.  Relaxed, pain free muscles allow your body to position themselves in a more natural and correct posture.

Consistent massage allows you to reap the greatest rewards from massage. Regular sessions keep  muscles loose and relaxed, giving joints greater freedom to move.  This balanced and relaxed state allows your body to position itself in a healthy and natural posture and avoid the movements and positions adopted over time as a response to the pain.

The benefits of massage are many, and postural improvements are only part of the holistic health benefits massage can offer.

 

Sacral Chakra and Related Health Issues

 Sacral Chakra and Related Health issues

Our sacral chakra is our second chakra, just above our root chakra. The root chakra is responsible for stability, physical nourishment, being comfortable in the body, and feeling secure in the physical world. The sacral chakra is much less about our physical bodies and being stable, and more about transition, movement, feeling, and change. It is through the sacral chakra that we experience a connection to our emotions and feelings, which allows us to experience joy and fulfillment in our day to day activities, foster relationships with others (along with the heart chakra), and expression of ourselves through art, creativity, and sexuality. 

The sacral chakra is governed by desire, your appetite to explore, experience, and engage in your own life. It fuels your fire to pursue pleasurable activities, and a healthy sacral chakra allows you to enjoy and be present in each moment. With a healthy sacral chakra, you are able to both enforce and respect healthy boundaries with other people and yourself. This means that you recognize the nature of your relationships with others and can identify how much is appropriate to share and can open up emotionally to those that are close to you.

When the sacral chakra is out of balance, we often see issues in the:

• Reproductive organs, such as menstrual issues, PMS, endometriosis, fibroids
• A decrease in the ability to form stable, healthy connections with others
• The ability to feel, understand and interpret our feelings and emotions
• Sexual dysfunction or issues within one’s own expression of sexuality (excessive or deficiency)
• Guilt and shame surrounding pleasurable activities (Thoughts of “I should…”) 
• Issues “letting people in” or being an “over-sharer” with lack of boundaries 
• Lack of joy or zest for life

Excessive Sacral Chakra

An excessive sacral chakra may lead to neediness and cause a person to overshare with others. A lack of firm boundaries characterizes an excessive sacral chakra. A person with an excessive sacral chakra may continually crave attention from others and need frequent validation. They may not have a solid sense of self, and their personality may seem to take on what they think others around them, such as their boyfriend or girlfriend, wants. Sexuality may be over-expressed and used as a means to connect deeply with others and move relationships forward quicker than what is appropriate. 

 

Deficient Sacral Chakra

With a deficient, or closed off sacral chakra, a person may struggle to feel joy, passion, and intimacy. S/he may struggle to understand her/his own emotions as well as express them to others. In this case, boundaries are too rigid, and connection with others is a challenge. People with a deficient chakra often feel that life is monotonous, do not enjoy sexual intimacy, and lack the feeling of flow and freedom. A deficient sacral chakra leads to feelings of apathy and feeling stuck.

 

 

 

The Cause of Sacral Chakra Imbalances

The sacral chakra can become imbalanced in a number of ways. Developing a balanced sacral chakra and maintaining a harmonious sacral chakra can be challenging in today’s society. The sacral chakra first develops in response to the modeling we have as children regarding boundaries, emotions, and sexuality. As you may guess, it is common for parents to encourage their children to suppress their emotions by saying things like “You’re fine, stop” when a child becomes sad or angry. Sexuality and sexual expression are also taboo in many cultures, and exploring sexuality in a healthy way is almost impossible to navigate without some judgment. You are either a prude or too loose – is there ever any in-between? 

Taking time to enjoy yourself and do things that are not necessarily productive but simply bring you joy is often met with guilt. Ah, capitalism, is productivity and working for the man all we are here to do?

Showing emotion can be seen as a sign of weakness if you are male, or if you are female, too much emotion or passion is seen as hysteria.

As you can see, the sacral chakra, for most people, could use some healing.  

Healing the Sacral Chakra

Healing the sacral chakra is relevant to many, if not all, people. This is because from the moment we are born into adolescence and into adulthood, our society has put in place “rules” that demonize pleasure and reward “hard work” and suppressing our emotions.

Our society has taught us to deplete, ignore, and suppress many vital aspects of our sacral chakra. 

As children, we are afforded more opportunities to play, have fun, and express ourselves. However, when a child cries, becomes angry, or becomes too excitable, it is not uncommon for parents to tell a child to “stop”, or say “you are fine, stop crying” or “calm down” etc. Instead of feeling his or her feelings of anger, sadness, or glee, are validated, a child is taught that emotional expression is not ok. This is especially true for male children. Being sad or crying breaks the unwritten rule that “boys don’t cry.”

As this child grows up, he or she will be less likely to understand his or her emotions and what they are truly feeling and why. As a result, this causes emotional suppression. To encourage the healthy development of the sacral chakra, parents should instead help their child understand what feelings they are experiencing, validate them, and help them understand why.

Taking the time to relax and take care of yourself, saying “no” to extra tasks and projects, answering emails only during business hours is essential for creating appropriate work-life boundaries and taking care of your own mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Unfortunately, in our society, these practices are not rewarded and are often frowned upon or judged as “lazy” or “selfish.”

Understanding what your needs truly are (and respecting them) is essential for a healthy sacral chakra. The first step is recognizing the signs and signals that your mind or body sends to you when they are in need of rest, downtime, laughter, relaxation etc. Once you have begun to pick up on these signs and signals, the next step in creating boundaries to enforce these needs. This can take work, and it does not always come easy. 

Things to ponder on - 

Nancy McShane

 

Hello Saturday ☕

It's been a while since I've done an update so let's get to it. 

The move to a new location went really well and really fast. It's taken me time to adjust to so much space and the peace and quiet. The counseling center is owned by a husband and wife. They work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. On those days they are in their offices in sessions so rarely do we see each other. I have truly enjoyed the space. I feel right at home. Feel free to make your way to the massage rooms once coming in the door. No need to wait out in the waiting area. There are signs on the doors now that say 'In Session.' So feel free to go sit in the other available room in the big comfortable chair. 

Some personal news: You may have noticed that I have lost a lot of weight and I will continue to be losing more in the next few months. I wish I could say I finally found the diet for all of us that works but that is not the case. For months now, I have been battling my own illness. I have been recently diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I don't wish this disease on anyone. December through February were my worse months. I've never experience pain like this. At this time I have no pain. So no worries.

Most of you have been my clients for many years and know that I talk a lot about eating right, water and exercise. My personal beliefs are that food is our medicine if we can figure out the code. So I made a very hard personal decision to NOT take any medication for this. I told myself that if you're going to talk the talk then this is my chance to walk the walk. I also based this decision on the facts that the medication they are prescribing for this disease DOES NOT address what is causing the disease. RA is categorized as an autoimmune disease but it's core cause is from our gut issues. Which I had not clue I had. 😖

It was just by chance that I came across a RA Support group that are using science based research to manage their RA. This program moves you into a lifestyle change and a plant based diet. That's right. My world has flipped upside down and my husband, who loves smoking meats, is besides himself. My diet for the last month has been Buckwheat, celery, cucumbers and lots and lots various lettuce families. No gluten, no sugars, no oils of any kind and no animal based products. Nothing. Everything I eat is steamed and plain. This is a baseline process. Next month I will be able to add one thing at a time to see if it causes issues. 

In the meantime, I'm in good hands. I have the support of my family. We've connected with a Functional Medicine Doctor here in the state that will work with me to help manage my weight, pain and process. This process may take months or years. We don't know. But I am hoping like many others that have taken this path before me that I will put this disease into remission. 

LIFE - it sure keeps us on our toes. 😂 I will keep you posted on my progress. Add me to your prayers and let's kick this in the butt. 

Have a great Saturday. ☕

Preparing for Your first Healing Session

 

Spiritual Healing is often considered to be a hands off therapy as it involves little if any direct contact between you and the therapist. It works with the body’s energies and seeks to balance and remove blockages to those energies. With this technique, I support the body’s ability to heal itself and to better cope with living in the modern world.

I will make no promises related to curing illnesses, and this form of therapy should not be used to replace anything suggested by your doctor. However, used in conjunction with modern medicine it can support body and mind and improve the effectiveness of the medication.

Preparing for your first session

Your first session needs to be approached with an open mind. Treatment affects different people in different ways, and the fewer expectations and misconceptions you have built up the better.

Sessions take place fully clothed, so loose-fitting, comfortable clothing is most appropriate. I prefer that you wear no jewelry, as it can become uncomfortable and interfere with the flow of energy.  The same is true of belts, perfumes, and colognes, all of which can mask things that are going on in the body and make channeling energy more difficult. You should wear shoes that are easy to remove, and tie back long hair so that I can access your neck.

Your first session

When you arrive, you are shown to a private treatment room. Treatment usually takes place on a padded bed or table, but can take place in a treatment chair if you are more comfortable sitting at an angle. The treatment room is designed to help you relax, I have low lighting, soft music, to help you feel relaxed and comfortable.

After talking to you about any concerns you may have and answering any questions, I begin the treatment by performing a body scan, this involves placing my hands over your body and feeling your energy field to find out where there are problems in the flow of energy around your body. 

Once the scan is completed,I will either places hands above, or lightly touches specific areas of the body called chakras. These are points on the body where energy flows through. By channeling energy through chakras, I can help it flow to the areas of the body where it is most needed.

During the session, you should feel relaxed and may even begin to notice subtle differences straight away. Some people feel lighter, as if their stresses are lifting during the session. However, it is not unusual to not feel anything for a few days after the session. The changes in the flow of energy around the body are different for everyone as is how they are perceived. Some individuals experience tingling sensations during sessions and even see bright colors or specific images. These can be discussed me at the end of the session. However, if they are of concern, you should speak up straight away.

Follow-up sessions

There is no specific number of sessions that you should attend. Spiritual Healing looks to cleanse and balance the body’s energy to support self-healing. This healing is not just physical, but also mental, emotional, and spiritual. Much depends on your lifestyle and individual needs. As Spiritual Healing is a safe and non-invasive treatment, you can have sessions as little or as often as your body and mind require. The more you listen to your body, the clearer its needs become and the easier it is to answer those needs, either through treatment or lifestyle changes.