Archive for March, 2008
Chronic Headache Relief With Massage Therapy
Posted by: | CommentsChances are if you are like most Americans you have had a headache, as a matter of fact when it comes to the rate of chronic headaches in America, studies have shown that roughly 45 million Americans suffer from headaches each year. While I would suggest that seeking the service of a professional massage therapist, many times you can utilize self massage techniques. These techniques can be used for everyone who is suffering from a migraine or headache but results will vary from individual to individual.
Men suffer slightly more from headaches than females, 25 million men on average, compare to females who average about 20 million who suffer from headaches. This statistic represents roughly 1 out of every 6 Americans. Here are some more startling statistics that might be alarming to you, do you suffer from headaches or migraines?
Headache statistics according to the American Headache Society:
- Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine.
- More than $1 billion is spent on over-the-counter medications to treat headaches and Migraines.
- The lost work due to migraine disease costs more than $13 billion every year in the U.S.
I have listed here some very effective self massage techniques that are great for you if you happen to be suffering from a headache, please share these massage techniques with a friend. Follow these self massage techniques that are listed here and you will diffuse the severity of your headache or migraine, until you can see a professional massage therapist or Reiki Master.
1. Drink plenty of water before and after doing these massage techniques (most important)
6. Sinus suffers can press into the sides of their nose and move fingers firmly away from their nose towards their cheekbones. Working both sides at once and working multiple points along the ridge of your nose. Direction of pressure is in towards your face and moving away towards your cheekbones.
I have tried and used these massage therapy techniques many times in the past with great results; most times headaches disappear almost immediately. If you have any other techniques I would love to hear about it, thank you.
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Online Massage Scheduler | Highly Recommended
Posted by: | Comments“Our Online Massage Appointment Scheduler, Has Been a Time and Stress Saver”
Our massage business has seen a dramatic increase in our massage services, which is great, but I could not help to think, “wow, what if we did not have our online scheduler? Would we be able to keep up with the massage appointments?” And I know that answer is, “no we could not.” I recently wrote a blog post about the 7 essential things a massage therapist needs in their massage business. I briefly mentioned the online massage scheduler within it.
Before my partner and I signed up with Appointment-Plus offer of a free 15 day trial, we were making all our massage appointments by phone and re-booking after each session. This was driving us crazy as you may imagine. When you don’t have a receptionist, phonme tag was a big problem as you cannot answer the phone when you are working on clients. So in between massage clients we went to our phones to check messages, returned calls, schedule clients, canceling appointments and rescheduling them. When we should have been resting and clearing ourselves for the next client, we were running around like crazy. Not very good for a massage business that is supposed to be promoting relaxation.
If that sounds like allot of work and time, you’re right. Time that could have been spent on marketing, time spent that could have been used for resting; time being spent that could have been used to grab a bite to eat, stretch or emotionally disconnect from your last massage.
If you are a massage therapist and/or bodyworker and taking on all that responsibility after each massage session you cannot give your body the proper downtime that it needs emotionally or physically. You will wear yourself out prematurely. More importantly think about all those missed calls? How many of them do you think were missed potential massage appointments that called some place else?
Appointment-Plus (15 day free trial)
Appointment plus has been such a time saver for us. It has allowed us to book our existing massage clients online as well as book new clients without us having to answer the phone. The other great thing for us is that Appointment-Plus also requires new clients to sign in with their information (pre-screens clients for you):
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Email address (great for building your list to send future promotions and specials)
- Date of birth (great for sending out birthday cards)
- How they heard about us (great for tracking marketing efforts)
Appointment-Plus more than pays for itself, it saves paperwork and time. Like I mentioned above, it does the pre-screening process for you. Clients with wrong intentions will NOT go through the registration process. This also means less paperwork for your clients to fill out when they come in for their massage appointments. It sends out appointment reminders. It will notify your clients that have not been in for some time to come back and book another massage appointment with you.
You can keep notes on each client as well as each massage session to track their progress. And when your massage clients booked their massage appointment they could inform you of any “special issues or concerns” this gives you time to prepare yourself accordingly or refresh your knowledge of that “issue” before your client comes in.
As you can see I have found many ways of getting the most out of appointment plus and I suggest that you do the same. The most recent feature that I discovered is tracking where clients are hearing about our massage services, this is huge, as I can see what marketing efforts are paying off and which that are not. And I can run reports as to what our most popular services are and create special promotions that highlight these services.
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SF Bay Area Massage Therapist Starts Social Networking Massage Site
Posted by: | CommentsSan Jose Massage Therapist Robert Vignoli, Starts A Social Networking Website, Called Massage and Bodywork. Now San Francisco Massage Therapists And Bodyworkers Can Make New Friends, Share Business and Marketing Idea’s, As Well As Massage Techniques With Other Massage And Bodyworker Professionals.
If you love Myspace and enjoy making connections and building relationships through social networking, this website is for you. As you may have heard social media websites are huge right now for many different reasons, but mostly social networking websites allow for you to “connect” with other people, who share the same likes as you, Massage and Bodywork has all the features that make social networking so fun.
- Members can invite new members, meet new people, and make new friends on your network.
- Full message center with address book importing from Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail.
- See which members of your network are online now.
- Customizable profile pages.
- Photo slideshows, video players, music players, and network badges, that can be embedded anywhere on the Internet, seamlessly funneling new people to your network.
- Members can set different privacy settings for every photo, video, group, or blog post they contribute.
- RSS feeds of your network’s features, such as members, discussions, photos, videos, music/podcasts, and blog posts.
“I started Massage and Bodywork as a simple and easy way for San Francisco Bay Area massage therapists to learn and to connect with each other, locally”, says Robert. I am a massage therapist who understands the power of technology and relationship building and there is a huge population of bodyworkers here. My goal is to bring this platform to other bodyworkers so that, they will have a place to interact with each other th, like that of a Meetup, Myspace or Facebook.
Photo Sharing
- Upload photos from a computer, mobile phone, or Flickr account.
- Add photo comments, ratings, tags, locations, favorites, and share via email.
- Create, organize, and view albums.
- Create, view and “embed” photo slideshows branded for your network.
- View all photos across the social network.
Video Sharing
- Upload videos from a computer, mobile phone, or any video service on the web.
- Add video comments, ratings, tags, locations, favorites, and share via email.
- Create, view and “embed” Flash video players.
- View all videos across the social network.
Discussion Forum
- Start and tag a discussion.
- Add discussion posts and reply to those posts.
- Organize discussions by categories.
- Click through the personal profile pages of other members engaged in the discussion.
- View all discussions across your social network.
Groups
- Enable members of your network to create groups.
- Enable members of your network to make groups public or private.
- Add group descriptions, images, discussions, and members.
Music & Podcasting
- Create music and podcast playlists for both the network as well as for each individual member of your network.
- Create, view and “embed” Flash music and podcast players.
San Francisco Bay Area Massage Therapists and Bodyworkers Sign Up Now.
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We Wish You A Happy Birthday Mom
Posted by: | CommentsToday is your birthday and we are going out to celebrate you, just as soon as you are off from work not just for today but everyday. It is my wish that today, you take pride in the person you are. I have come so far because of your unconditional love, mom and I have you to thank.
I know at times you blame yourself, for not doing more for us, especially when I get into so much trouble. I am here to tell you mom that you have done everything that a mother could possibly do. I am here today to celebrate not only your day and your life but also my day and my life, it is because of you and your love that I am here today wishing you a happy birthday.
I know that your health is not where you would like it, and I hope and pray that you find the spirit not to give in and take that plunge to living a healthier lifestyle. Your spirit is as strong as it needs to be mom but you need to make some changes in your life and get control back. Strip the emotional baggage and live your life, I need you to be around a little bit longer 
I am very close to figuring this thing that I do, out, and when I do, Doreen and I are taking you on a long vacation, so ask yourself do yo want to take that vacation on a respirator and a wheelchair? No you don’t. I am here for you mom no matter what, I will take care of you, but please make me very happy and take pride in your health. I want you to see me grow into a mature, responsible, successful, handsome businessman (ok maybe that is too much to ask, on 3 of the 4, the handsome part…no problem the other three?) I don’t know.
My birthday wish for you mom, is for you to take care of your health and enjoy the job that you had done here, I turned out alright. I love you mom.
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Muscle Spindle Cells and Golgi Tendons
Posted by: | CommentsAs a massage therapist it is vital to know the various parts of the human body and understand their significance. Two terms that you should know and understand are Golgi tendons and muscle spindle cells. As a massage therapist it is important to know these two sensory neuron proprioceptors and know what they do. The muscle spindle, for instance, is a proprioceptor that relays information regarding changes in the length of muscles. The Golgi tendon is a different type of proprioceptor that relays information regarding muscle tension changes. These two proprioceptors are important for stretching muscles and conditioning muscles.Together they help to protect the muscles from overstretching and becoming injured. First, though, it is important to know what each is and its particular function.
What are Sensory Neurons
Neurons are cells that work to carry messages through the body. The neurons are responsible for telling you to bend your finger or flex your foot. They also make sure that you don’t overstretch your muscle or apply too much tension to a tendon, thus avoiding injury. Every neuron is comprised of a cell body and nerve fibers. It is the nerve fibers that receive impulses from other neurons and then send that information to the cell body. The fibers then send the impulses away from the cell body to other neurons.
The Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle cells are both sensory neurons called proprioceptors. These sensory neurons are located in nerves and tracts but their cell bodies are found just outside of the spinal cord. They move messages from sensory organs in the tendons and muscles to the spinal cord. Some of these neuron fibers are called proprioceptive fibers. These fibers monitor the way that a muscle contracts and stretches as well as measures the tension that is in a tendon and transmit’s that information to the spinal cord so that the information can be processed. This feedback allows the body to know positions and postures of the limbs even when they cannot be seen.
What are Golgi Tendons
Golgi tendon organs are located in the collagen fibers of the tendon at the point where the tendon fibers merge with the muscle fibers. While they function in a manner that is similar to muscle spindle cells in that they measure muscle changes, they only become activated when there is contraction of the tendon. They also monitor changes in the tension of the muscle that comes from a change of the muscle length. When the tendon or muscle is overstrained, it sends a message to the muscle which causes it to relax. This is important for preventing injury.
What are Muscle Spindle Cells
Muscle spindle cells are located in the muscle fibers, parallel to them. Their function is to monitor and measure muscle length on a continual basis, both when the muscle is at rest and when it is stretched as well as the speed of changes in muscle length. The muscle spindle cell is located inside the muscle while the Golgi is located at the end of the muscle.
How do the Golgi Tendon Organs and Muscle Spindle Cells Work Together
The muscle spindle cells have a very effective working relationship with the Golgi tendon organs. The muscle spindle monitors the changes in length and the speed of those changes within the muscle. It sends the message to the spine to convey the information to trigger the stretch reflex. This stretch reflex, for which the Golgi tendon organs are a part, tries to stop the change of the length of the muscle. This is a protective feature of the human body that prevents injury. The more the muscle tries to stretch and the faster it tries to stretch, the more the Golgi tendon organs cause it to contract. Over time, the muscles can be trained so that the stretch reflex allows for more and more of a stretch before contracting.
As a massage therapist it is important that you understand how the Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle cells work together to prevent injury to muscles. As you work and stretch the muscles of your client, you must pay attention to the response of their body. Learn to detect the muscle spindle cell’s span and ability to stretch, but also learn how to detect when the Golgi tendon organs begin to work to prevent injury. Then learn how to work with that push-pull action to help lengthen the muscle and increase the muscle spindle cell’s ability to stretch the muscle until the Golgi tendon organs attempt to stop the stretch. This will help you prevent injury to your client and help them work with sports injuries.
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San Jose Massage Therapist Considers a $3600 Offer
Posted by: | CommentsTo advertise on Yelp.com,
Ok be honest how of many of you thought this would be an offer for sex?
Yelp.com is a great service our massage business has seen a tremendous increase in business in the last 2 months. I recently wrote a blog post personally thanking everyone on yelp.com for all their great comments. I was recently contacted by a representative from yelp.com, with an offer of $3600 for the year to advertise with them.
So my question is this, is anyone paying this rate right now and what kind of returns are seeing to your business?
At $300 a month minimum for their annual contract, it is not easy just to write a check, I will be locked in that contract for a whole year whether it is working or not. Especially when all the free stuff is doing so well for us, I say free but honestly it is not free, we work very hard for the positive comments on yelp.com. As far as I know we are the first massage business in the Bay Area with a 100% guarantee on all their therapeutic massage services. And we also take most of our competitors gift certificates, and donate them to individuals who cannot afford to get a massage and really need one. Yes you read it correctly we do accept gift certificates from other massage businesses, in trade for getting your massage work from us.
In these times where foreclosures are at an all time high, gas prices sky rocketing at almost $4.00 a gallon, and talks of us hitting a recession daily in the media. I would like to hear from someone who has some experiences with the pay options on yelp, please share with us.
P.S. Please if you have some time create a free acct. it only take a couple of minutes and if you look below you will see a place to stumble, del.icio.us and add us to mixx we would appreciate it if you choose 1 or 2 of them and bookmark us, thank you.
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Get Your Local Massage Business Online Now For FREE
Posted by: | CommentsI am a massage therapist who co-owns a small massage (brick and mortar) business, and I am an entrepreneur, who is studying internet marketing strategies. Not only for positioning my massage business online but also as way for creating a supplemental revenue stream that will support my business whether I am working or not.
I had recently connected with a massage client named Corinne Phipps; who also owns a small business called Urban Darling, and I know that this is not proper, but during our massage session we started to talk about our businesses ( I hope that she didn’t mind ). During our talk, I mentioned to her that I am a blogger studying internet marketing strategies for my massage business. I suggested ways for her to use her blog to gain more interest in what her purpose of the business was and those simple pointers, she recognized to be valid points. Anyways not to get off topic too much, she emailed me a list of “Free Internet Marketing” sites that were given to her by a friend, in which she can join to increase her SEO ranking and she wanted my opinion on them.
As I looked over the list I knew of all of them in one form or fashion. There was the Google’s and the Yahoo’s, MSN’s and even InfoUSA, but there was one in which I had heard of before but did not pay attention to it until now. It’s Merchant Circle.
Merchant Circle is one that I personally believe to be the best choice out there for someone like a massage therapist or any small brick and mortar business who does not have the resources to get a $500 or more website built and/or have the knowledge to get that website positioned on the internet. And let’s face it that just getting your business on the internet will not help you if you do not target your local traffic. Local traffic is the most important thing for a small business owner, especially in the service sector as we do not have products or services that we can sell to the online community. Our revenues come through from actually providing a service to our potential clients. You can check out the ad/website that I created on Merchant Circle here.
I will not get into all the details of why I think that Merchant Circle is the best choice out there but I will say that creating a free ad that is more like a website was very easy. Here is a small list of the free benefits which Merchant Circle offers…
- Your title tags keywords are specific to your local community
- You can offer coupons to potential customers
- You can upload a company logo, and your website address
- You can blog directly from their website without installing any software or paying for hosting services fees
- They have a great Alexa rating (this measures overall web traffic to a website or blog)
- You can tag your website with keywords that are relevant to your website.
I was actually really surprised to see all the free offerings. They also have paid options as well, that will not only give you more resources but clicks for even more web traffic exposure. Merchant Circle is not paying me for this; I am only sharing this with you for your benefit as well as Corinne Phipps. They have allot more features and video tutorials that you can take a look at. I would be interested in hearing from you as well should you have another great resource or comments. If you are already using Merchant Circle and have some strategies that you can share please do, thank you.
I also have here a podcast with owner & founder of Merchant Circle below.
P.S. Please if you have some time create a free acct. it only take a couple of minutes and if you look below you will see a place to stumble, del.icio.us and add us to mixx we would appreciate it if you choose 1 or 2 of them and bookmark us, thank you.
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RPM Therapy of San Jose Thanks Everyone on Yelp
Posted by: | CommentsThank you to everyone who left the wonderful comments for us on yelp.com, because of you, RPM Therapy of San Jose has seen an increase in massage business in the last 2 months.
We at RPM Therapy understand that you all work very hard for your money, especially in these times where the topic of recession is on everyone minds and in the media. We take pride in our massage work and try to show that to you, in our massage sessions. This is our dedication to you, our valued massage clients.
The San Francisco Bay Area has many massage therapists that you can choose from, so we really take your business to heart. You can be sure that when you schedule a massage with any of our massage therapists you will receive the best possible massage experience guaranteed. Yes, that’s right, every massage therapy session booked with us is, 100% guaranteed. If you are not completely satisfied with your massage session for any reason we will not charge you for it.
We are not perfect, as we have logged in 2 free massages since implementing this policy at the beginning of 2008, but we feel like it is a very small price to pay, for your continued business and positive reviews on yelp.com, thank you, it is re-assuring to us that our efforts are appreciated.
Every massage therapist here at RPM Therapy is a seasoned professional, so if it has been a while since your last massage, schedule it with us, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
RPM Therapy is located in San Jose, Ca near Santana Row, with spring right around the corner come in for a wonderful Hot Stone massage, rain-drop therapy or any other massage service and then go have lunch/dinner at Santana Row.
Check out our Yelp reviews, also we are looking for a few quality massage therapists to join our team.
P.S. Please if you have some time create a free acct. it only take a couple of minutes and if you look below you will see a place to stumble, del.icio.us and add us to mixx we would appreciate it if you choose 1 or 2 of them and bookmark us, thank you.
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Massage therapy techniques for scar tissue removal
Posted by: | CommentsAs a massage therapist you will have customers who seek your massage services because of an injury, from playing sports, a car accident or stress induced. Their body will want to heal itself naturally, but when the body tries to heal itself it cannot re-create brand-new healthy muscle tissue. This is when the body will have to put together new fibers, but this serves as only a protective barrier around the injury, this protective barrier is not stable or suitable for strenuous activity it will not work as well as the original tissue. What you will have once it is completely healed is called scar tissue.
Most individuals think that if the muscle in their body is torn, it would be repaired with new tissue but unfortunately that doesn’t happen, it is replaced with scar tissue. People also do not realize that once the scar tissue heals, it is never going to be fully the same. This can especially be hard for athletes as they tend to injure themselves in the same spot repeatedly. This where you a massage therapist can help alleviate this cycle. The buildup of scar tissue over a period of time can cause a person serious problems.
Massage techniques such as advance deep tissue massage, active release techniques and cross-fiber friction has been proven very effective for scar tissue removal. In addition to massage therapy, you must help that individual in limiting the amount of new scar tissue that may form. By doing the R.I.C.E. program, R.I.C.E. stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. By implementing this type of regimen followed by your massage work can help to lower the chances of having a build-up of scar tissue. I recommend that this be done after every massage session; especially with scar tissue removal just in case your massage work may sometimes re-aggravate the area.
What is Scar Tissue
Scar tissue is the fibrous connective tissue which forms a scar; it can be found on any tissue on the body, including skin and internal organs, where an injury, cut, surgery or disease has taken place, and then healed. Thicker than the surrounding tissue, scar tissue is paler and denser because it has a limited blood supply; although it takes the place of damaged or destroyed tissue, it is limited in function, including movement, circulation, and sensation, that can lead to adhesion in the muscle. Other than with minor cuts and scrapes, scarring is a common result of any bodily damage. In some cases you can actually feel the scar tissue under the skin, but a professional massage therapist will definitely feel it.
One of the biggest downfalls of having scar tissue form at an injury site, is it will never be as strong as the tissue it replaced. It can also cause the flexibility of the tissue to decrease therefore it will become not as useful as it was prior to the injury. This could mean that a person such as an athlete will have a weak spot from this type of scar tissue which can easily cause further damage down the road.
Athletes and Scar Tissue?
Athletes depend on their muscles working at optimal levels to help them in their chosen sport. If they have a weak spot at the location of where past of present injuries occurred, they will not be able to perform to their fullest. They will find that they are constantly re-injuring themselves usually in the same spot. This will only make those spots with scar tissue become weaker and weaker and more of a problem. Which in turn forces all the surrounding muscles, tendons and joints to work harder, putting these areas at risk for injuries left untreated.
Also when scar tissue is present, it can limit the full ability for muscle to contract and retract as it is supposed to. This means the weakening of the tissues as well as the shortening effect of the muscles will definitely limit a person’s ability of movement in that area. This can be detrimental for athletes as well as any with anyone. Scar tissue can form from any type of injury, whether it be from a sporting events, a car accident or a plain old trip and fall.
Scar Tissue Removal
Massage therapy is only one way for removing scar tissue there are different methods to get rid of unwanted scar tissue. And here is a list of them, if I missed please let me know about it, thank you.
Unfortunately as a massage therapist ultra sound is prohibited, (at least the last time I checked), I outsource ultra sound work. Ultra-sound is used to heat the injured area hot but the heat doesn’t help to remove scar tissue. But the heat from the ultra-sound can make the scar tissue more pliable, massaging with deep cross fiber friction will do that.
You can have your client do self massage techniques right in your own home by yourself depending on where the injured area is, and I do recommend that you do. The only problem you might have with doing it yourself at home, is that you do not know how deep to go or what types of massage techniques to use or how to apply it correctly, but you can show them some basic massage techniques on how to do it.
Now keep in mind that when you first start working with the area it is going to be quite tender and painful. You want to start with very light strokes than gradually work up to increasing the pressure so you’re able to use firm deep strokes. The more you use the massage techniques on the area the deeper and harder you’ll be able to massage. Scar tissue removal can be a great revenue source for you, due to the fact that some many individuals suffer from it, and it is more effective to schedule massage sessions out over several session depending on how long they have had scar tissue.
