Therapeutic Alternatives

Medical Massage meets the Spa Massage for your Body, Mind and Soul

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Your Massage Therapist

Massage therapists have extensive training that includes massage technique, anatomy and physiology, and a knowledge of when massage is and is not appropriate. A growing number of local, state and provincial governments license massage therapists. Many massage therapists are certified by schools or have specialized training which they gladly explain.

Therapeutic Massage, How Can It Help You?

Does pain or restricted movement keep you from living the life you want?  Sports injuries, household accidents, 
repetitive actions on the job and tension from everyday stresses can all cause problems that, too often, take up 
permanent residence in our bodies.

Massage can help.  Massage is a gentle therapy that can relieve pain and, in combination with other appropriate health 
care measures, can help heal certain conditions and prevent their return.  In some cases massage can reduce or even 
eliminate the need for medication or surgery.

MASSAGE CAN HELP WITH...

Stress
Massage is one of the best known antidotes for stress.  Reducing stress gives you more energy, improves your outlook on 
life, and in the process reduces your likelihood of injury and illness.  Massage can also relieve symptoms of conditions 
that are aggravated by anxiety such as asthma or insomnia.  Because it relieves stress, massage is an excellent supportive 
therapy for people in psychological counseling or treatment for addiction.

Painful or tight muscles
Massage can relieve many types of muscle tightness, from a short term muscle cramp to a habitually clenched jaw or tight 
shoulders.  Some massage techniques release tension directly by stretching and kneading your muscles and their connective 
tissue coverings.  Other techniques work less directly, but quite powerfully, by stimulating your nervous system to allow 
your muscles to relax.

Delayed muscle soreness
After vigorous exercise, a buildup of waste products in your muscles can leave you feeling tired and sore.  Massage increases circulation, which removes waste products and brings in healing nutrients.

Pain or tingling in your arms or legs
Muscles can become so contracted that they press on nerves to the arms, hands and legs, causing pain or tingling.  If this happens, a massage to release muscle spasms in the shoulder or hip can bring relief.

Injuries
Massage can help heal injuries such as tendonitis that develop over time, as well as ligament sprains or muscle strains caused by an accident.  Massage reduces inflammation by increasing circulation, which removes waste products and brings nutrition to injured cells.  Certain massage techniques can limit scar formation in new injuries and can reduce or make more pliable, scar tissue around old injuries.

Secondary pain
Massage can relieve secondary pain that can outlast its original cause.  Some examples are headaches from eyestrain, a low backache during pregnancy, or the protective tensing or a healthy muscles around an injury.

Prevention of new injuries
By relieving chronic tension, massage can help prevent injuries that might be caused by stressing unbalanced muscle groups, or by favoring or forcing a painful, restricted area.

Pain or restriction in joints
Besides releasing tight muscles that restrict joint movement, massage works directly on your joints to improve circulation, stimulate production of natural lubrication, and relieve pain from conditions such as osteoarthritis.

Posture
Massage releases restrictions in muscles, joints, and surrounding fascia, freeing your body to return to a more natural posture.  Massage can also relieve the contracted muscles and pain caused by abnormal spinal curvatures such as scoliosis.

The effects of forced inactivity
There are many reasons you may be forced to limit physical activity including injury, surgery, paralysis or even normal aging.  When this happens, massage can relieve your aches and pains and improve circulation to your skin and muscles.  Even when an immobilized area cannot be massaged directly, the relaxation and increased circulation from a general massage can give you relief.

Fluid retention
Massage increases your circulation, which in turn drains tissues of excess fluid caused by recent injury, surgery, or pregnancy.

The History of Massage:

Massage maybe the oldest and simplest form of medical care.  Records show that massage has been practiced sine 2,700 BC.  Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, said "The Physician Must Be Experienced in Many Things, but assuredly in rubbing....for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid."

During World War II patients suffering from nerve injuries or shell shock were treated with massage.  St Tomas Hospital, London, had a department of massage until 1934.  However, later breakthroughs in medical technology and pharmacology eclipsed massage as physiotherapists began increasingly to favor electrical instruments over manual methods of stimulating tissues.  Massage Therapy has been recognized as valuable to healing and pain management.  It has taken the massage community many years to be recognized as medically beneficial and to change the social view of the "massage parlor" image.  Massage is increasing being recognized for its benefits in pain management and rehabilitative qualities.

What massage can do or you.
The benefits depend on the type of massage you receive.  All massage will induce a relaxing quality to the Central Nervous System.  Regular massage can have the effect of strengthening and toning the entire body mechanism, and so help to prevent unnecessary strains and injuries that might otherwise occur due to excess tension and any resulting structural weaknesses.  Massage can stimulate or calm the nervous system depending upon what is required by the individual-and thus help reduce fatigue, leaving the receiver with replenished energy.  Growth spurts in children sometimes result in slow bone growth at the growth plate.  At its best, massage has the potential to restore the physical, mental and spiritual balance.

On a more medical note, when a person feels pain the nerve that supplies the tissues has already been compromised by approximately 80 to 90%.  If the nerve is not relieved of the pressure, permanent damage may occur.  Muscles are very strong and pull bones out of position putting pressure on the nerves.  Release of the joint will release the nerve compression.  Chiropractic and massage go together.  Receiving massage and chiropractic simultaneously may offer complete relief of symptomatic pain.

The body is a complex organism with multiple systems that work together.  Sometimes the muscles can indicate internal dysfunction of an organ and rebound the pain from the organ to the muscle, via the nervous system.  Massage may help to detect the root cause of pain.

In short, massage is so beneficial in our society today.  Stress is our number one killer and our fast paced culture demands that we slow our selves down and reset our internal clocks.  Massage is not just for relaxation, but it is an important part of what all massage can do for you. Most people feel that it is a luxury, but it is much more than that.  If you don't have your health, what do you have?

Chiropractic and Massage Therapy:

MASSAGE SUPPORTS CHRIPRACTIC…
You can benefit in a number of ways by adding massage therapy to your chiropractc care program.

- Recovery is normally faster and more complete when you address multiple components of your pain.
- Chiropractic treatment often proceeds more easily, with less discomfort, when soft tissue has been relaxed with massage
- You may be less anxious and more ready to receive chiropractic adjustment after a relaxing massage.
- Adjustments frequently last longer when muscle tension is released that might otherwise pull your joint out of alignment again.

AND CHRIPRACTIC SUPPORTS MASSAGE
If you are seeking massage therapy for pain but find your pain persists, recurs or even worsens after your massage, chiropractic could help in these ways.

- If your pain involves a subluxation, chiropractic adjustment may give immediate relief as your joint is restored to alignment and mobility.
- You may find that surrounding soft tissue heals quickly once it is no longer subjected to the stress of misaligned joints.
- The joint movement in chiropractic adjustments can sometimes relax deep layers of soft tissue that can be difficult to reach with massage.
- Your chiropractor can use x-rays and manual diagnostic techniques to evaluate other possible causes of your pain and can make appropriate referrals if necessary.

Back pain, neck pain and headaches are just a few of the painful and distressing conditions that affect most of us at some time.  Chirop[ractic and massage therapy, used in combination, form a powerful healing approach that addresses your pain on many levels.  Whether your pain is the result of traumatic injury, overuse or stress, chiropractic and massage combined can greatly speed your return to a pain-free, productive life.

CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR YOUR PAIN	
Both long-term muscle tension and sudden impacts, such as a fall or car accident, can pull and hold your joints out of normal alignment.  These misalignments, called subluxations, can disrupt nerve transmissions, especially in the spine which houses nerves affecting the entire body.

Your chiropractor uses manipulations to return your joint to its normal position and restore joint mobility.  Often, this restores balance withing your body, allowing a return to optimal, pain-free health.

SOFT TISSUE COMPONENTS OF YOUR PAIN
Joint subluxations, troublesome enough on their own, are almost always accompanied by tension or injury in your soft tissue:  muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia (connective tissue that permeates muscles and forms protective sheets throughout your body.)

Soft tissue pain can actually spread because it causes protective muscle tightening in surrounding areas.  Over time, tight, inflamed muscles and fascia (together called myofascia) suffer poor circulation and can develop glue-like myofascial adhesions which prevent muscles from lengthening completely.  Painful trigger points can also develop, often referring pain or tingling to other areas in the body.  In extreme cases, tight muscles can compress nerves just as painfully as a subluxation.

WHY SOFT TISSUE IS IMPORTANT	
Addressing soft tissue problems is an important complement to chiropractic care.  This is because muscles move joints, while ligaments and fascia support them.  If a subluxation is adjusted without addressing related soft tissue problems, you may still experience pain.  In addition, your tight muscles and shortened fascia can pull your joint out of alignment again.

MASSAGE FOR HEALTHY SOFT TISSUE
Massage therapists use a variety of techniques to address soft tissue problems.  Gentle kneading and streatching lengthens contracted muscles an dfascia.  Techniques such as sustained pressure, ice massage and streatching can release trigger pints.  Painful sprains and strains, as well as myofascial adhesions, can be addressed directly with massage techniques that improve circulation and stimulate healthy separation and realignment of injured fibers.

In general, massage increases circulation.  This reduces painful swelling and inflammation, and promotes healing by removing waste products and bringing nutrients to your tissues.  Like a sponge absorbing water, both fascia and muscles begin to soften and lengthen.
  
MAINTAINING EVERYDAY GOOD HEALTH
Both massage and chiropractic offer preventive care to support your ongoing good health and well-being.  A timely visit to your chiropractor can reestablish normal alignment and mobility before secondary soft tissue problems develop.

Regular massage can release chronically contracted muscles and fascia, improving the balance among muscle groups and promoting healthful circulation.  Your body will be more resilient in the face of daily stresses, less prone to injury and subluxation.

Finally, massage triggers the body's relaxation response, interrupting a cycle of stress and muscle tension that can build in response to life's challenges.  Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated after a massage, you are less likely to slip into patterns of tension that can contribute to soft tissue problems and subluxations.

SUPPORTING YOUR HOME CARE
To the extent that both chiropractic and massage therapy help resolve your pain and improve mobility, you may find it easier to stretch and exercise.  This can help you maintain and even improve the flexibility, strength and balance needed to prevent tension, injury and new subluxations.

Massage is also a powerful tool for helping you to become aware of areas of chronic tension or postural problems, and to understand how these affect your body mechanics.  You can then take preventative measures on your own before pain develops.

WHICH SHOULD I DO FIRST
Chiropractic and massage therapists generally agree that your adjustment and massage should be schedule as closely together as possible.  Consult your chiropractor to determine his or her preferred order.  Whatever the order, the two therapies will build on each other over time to resolve problems, and support your general good health.

YOUR TOTAL WELL-BEING IS THE GOAL
Massage and chiropractic are compatible holistic therapies that share the goal of your total well-being, not simply an absence of illness.  Both offer natural, hands on, drug-free techniques.  They can be used as preventive as well as restorative therapies.  Both work to resolve the cause of your pain rather than treat isolated symptoms.  Used in combination, they can help you maintain you optimum health and enjoy life to the fullest.

Breast Massage:

BREAST MASSAGE:  Why breast massage?  Breasts have meanings in our lives.  They are symbolic of our femininity, our sexuality, and our ability to nurture children.  This symbolism, and the experiences and sensitivities that result from it, can cause us to overlook the fact that our breasts are body tissues with ordinary tissue needs.  We can be uncomfortable seeing to these needs, or uncertain how to go about doing so.  Society around us often helps reinforce ambivalent feelings about our breasts and breast care.

Yet most women at some time experience symptoms like congestion and tenderness in our breasts.  Many of us have breast trauma or medical procedures for cosmetic, diagnostic, or treatment purposes.  Life cycle changes are associated with a variety of breast discomforts.  Massage therapy is a gentle and effective way to promote breast health and help relieve breast tissue symptoms.

We are all concerned about monitoring for breast tissue changes.  The massage therapist is also a skilled palpator who can support the routines of medical breast monitoring.

WHAT TO EXPECT: Breasts are often compressed in tight clothing which is not ideal for the flow of blood and lymph, and they do not have inherent structure like muscles to help them move.  Breast massage involves hydrotherapy and gentle hands-on-techniques to enhance circulation and drainage.

Many women have scars which cause breast pain, "pulling", and the development of pockets of swelling.  Massage therapists employ specific techniques, along with applications like hot packs and castor oil, to soften and improve scar quality.

As a client of massage therapy you have the right to consent to any treatment you are receiving.  This involves being informed about all aspects of the treatment plan, including goals and priorities, positioning, draping of the body, and modalities being used.  You can say yes or not to components of the plan and at any time make adjustments you need to feel comfortable.

When you are considering breast massage, make sure your questions are answered and you have a clear picture of what is involved.  Your perception of the professionalism and integrity of your practitioner will be hey - how your concerns are listened to and addressed is an important indicator of this trustworthiness.

Massage therapists are trained to be versatile and flexible.  Breast exposure can be a sensitive issue for some women.  Although uncovering the breasts is usually most effective for specific treatments like scar work,, there are always options available if your uncomfortable about having your breasts undraped.

INDICATIONS FOR BREAST MASSAGE:  
Congestion and swelling
Discomforts of pregnancy, breastfeeding, weaning
Premenstrual and menopausal tenderness
Breast pain
Breast injuries
Post-surgical symptoms
Discomforts of cancer treatments
Client likes the holism of including breast treatment in massage
Client has a personal goal of becoming more comfortable with having her breasts touched
Assistance with breast monitoring

2111 Templeton Gap Rd, Colorado Springs CO 80907 phone (719) 635-8809