To tell you the truth it ‘aint what you do, it’s the way that you do it’, It is important to ask your therapist if they can combine different treatment approaches for different clients, or the same client at different points in their pain cycle or are they just a one trick pony? Sometimes you need deep therapeutic work and other times very light touch. I know as a client myself that I need something different every treatment I have. (Which is every 2 weeks, by the way!) More importantly I think, is to ask, how often does your Therapist have a treatment? I am constantly amazed, certainly here in the UK, when asking that question, that the therapist often admits to ‘not as often as they would like’ to ‘never’! So if they never feel it, how can they have any idea how you feel on that table or how good this stuff is? Come on, do you ever see a hairdresser with a birds-nest hairdo, beautician with bad skin, or a nail technician with chipped nails? This is serious stuff, so please leave Massage Therapy to those few serious solely dedicated professionals, who can bring it the professional courtesy it so obviously deserves.
Your back isn’t supposed to be straight.
Backs are ‘S’ shaped, so pick a chair that gives lumbar support or use a cushion to maintain the natural curve. If you sleep on your back, a pillow under your knees helps support the lower spine.
Checking your pulse can prevent a stroke
Place the pads of your first 2 fingers on the inside of your wrist, beneath the thumb – the beat should be regular. If it’s not see your GP. An irregular pulse may mean your heartbeat’s jumpy too, which can put you at risk of a stroke.
Try Standing on 1 Leg!
Standing on one leg could help you live longer! Good balance could stop you from falling and breaking a bone. Practise standing on one leg while you clean your teeth and balancing on your tiptoes with your eyes closed. Go on give it a try you may be surprised how sturdy, or wobbly you are!
Muscle is an Orphan Organ!
MUSCLE is an orphan organ! No medical speciality has adopted it. No medical speciality is funding research into it and the daily aches and pains associated with it. And yet thousands upon thousands of people are suffering unnecessarily and in the western world, taking prescription and over the counter painkillers/drugs to manage their pain and are getting hooked on them! Medical students rarely receive training in location of and treatment of myofascial trigger points. Fortunately some truly professional and solely dedicated massage therapists are sufficiently trained in how to find and treat myofascial/pain/trigger points skilfully. Professionally qualified and medically insured Massage Therapists know, that myofascial trigger points are at the root of most common cause of musculoskeletal pain. And, as much as I will always be open minded, believe in and have practiced other ‘complementary’ methods, from the hundreds of clients that have passed through my clinic I can confidently say that, no amount of positive thinking, stretching, meditation, hot/cold therapy, electrical stimulation, reiki, hopi ear candling (random!) crystal therapy, wafting a feather over it, biofeedback, progressive relaxation, butterfly wing, colour and regressional hypnotherapy, shiatsu, craniosacral, swedish massage, acupressure and even deep tissue massage just doesn’t do it where trigger points are concerned! (Travell & Simmons 1999, Clair Davies 2004, Jayne Driver 2010)