We all heard it, and we all thought about it, but what good will that clear stuff really do for us after a massage? “Drink lots of water after each session, it will help flush out all those toxins.” The famous words given to just about everyone who receives a massage! Drinking water is an important factor after a massage session, and will help you get the most out of your massage.

Massage is soft tissue manipulation that provides an increase of blood flow to our body. Those “feel good spots”, and an “ahh” moment happens when we increase the blood flow to a specific area that has been blocked. The blocked area is usually from muscle tightness, which comes from stress, physical activity, emotion distress or injury. We need a large amount of water after muscle manipulation occurs because these ‘spots’ are potent and toxic to our body and need the assistance of water to be flushed out.

A Toxic World

Toxins enter our muscles through many different ways.

• Physical and emotional stress
• Drinking and smoking
• A poor diet
• Your job
• Coffee
• Pills and Medications
• Sex ( lol…just kidding)

When we put medication in our body to help ease the pain or for any kind of headache or migraine symptom relief, pills leave excess toxins behind.  These toxins than are settled into our muscles causing muscle tightness and spasms. It is also not uncommon to have muscles tighten or go into spasm due to extreme muscle dehydration caused from lack of sufficient water intake.

Physical activity, stress and injuries create the muscle tissues to build-up toxins in specific areas of the body. Lactic acids, stress hormones, and dehydration are all causes of knots. Water is seen as the “liquid drano” for our bodies to flush out lactic acid and metabolic wastes that cause these knots. When a particular working muscle is dehydrated, it searches for a water source and most often clings to other muscle tissue for this water source.

How Does Massage Therapy Help?

When toxins build up in your body you will feel sluggish and pain. Muscle tissues become very dehydrate and nutrient deprived which will cause more pain and a lack of energy. Massage Therapists have to break apart these tissues which can be painful but for most individuals this is a “feels good moment” because we create more blood flow to the specific dehydrated muscles. When these are broken down and the tissue is back in its normal state, we need water to help keep the muscle tissue hydrated and healthy.

Water is an undervalued tool for the body and it has so many benefits. It helps with headaches, hunger, general hydration, organ health, and weight loss. By the way, it’s always a good idea to empty your bladder before you get started with your massage. If you metabolize quickly, you may start detoxing on the table (well your bladder will get full), and you may want to go use the restroom right after if not during the massage. Next time when you go to your massage, drink a little before your session, and a little more after. Just drink up and be merry!

How much water do I need on a daily basis?

“A simple rule is to take your weight in pounds, divide in half, and drink that number of ounces of water. So for a person how weighs 150lbs, you should be drinking 75 ounces of water. Do not over-drink, thinking that you can overcome months or years of under-drinking by drinking a lot in a few days. Drink your amount (as calculated above) daily & your body will fully re-hydrate over a long period of time.” (Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, M.D).

This article was contributed by Andrea Naugle

to learn more about this sports massage therapist click here

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Addiction is a problem affecting more and more people’s lives. In a recent article (July 2007) in Time magazine it was stated that about 18.7 million people are dependent upon or abuse alcohol. An estimated 3.6 million people are dependent on drugs, and a whopping 71.5 million people can’t kick their tabacco habit! On top of these substance abuse figures, behavioral addictions like gambling, sex, shopping and internet addictions are also an the rise.

The good news is that there is hope. In recent years treatment trends for addiction have taken on a more holistic approach by adding massage therapy and bodywork to the standard regime of 12 step programs, nutritional counseling and psychotherapy to help direct individuals to a healthier lifestyle.

According to the Institute for Integrative Healthcare studies: “Massage has the unique ability to affect all of our layers of our being, from the spiritual plane all the way up to and including our body’s chemical composition”. Since people in all stages of addiction recovery seem to experience a painful and uncomfortable gap between their body and mind massage would seem to be the perfect compliment to aid in reuniting the addict with their physical body and to feel more at home in their own skin.

How does massage therapy help?

On a physiological level massage stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve slows the heart rate, facilitates food absorption and reduces cortisol, known as the “stress” hormone, and other neurotransmitters in the brain. It is thought that all addictions have their root in anxiety and/ or depression. Depressed people and addicts alike have very little vagal nerve activity and lower dopamine and serotonin levels.

According to Brigitte Mars, author of “Addiction Free Naturally,” addicts use substances as a way to ignore certain messages from the body. Mars states that massage can address two of the most prevalent reasons for addiction. First, low blood sugar often triggers an addiction. Many addictive substances- alcohol, drugs and even tobacco have the ability to effect sugar levels in the blood. Massage can help to reduce physical cravings by releasing pent up emotions. Secondly, Mars says that individuals with addictions frequently have poor oxygenation metabolism and are shallow breathers. Massage by its very nature brings about body awareness and deep relaxed breathing thus bathing the bloodstream with life giving oxygen.

Using various massage techniques

Different massage modalities can be employed at different stages of recovery. Swedish massage can offer help by relaxing tight muscles that harbor holding patterns due to structural, mechanical or emotional blocks as well as promote detoxification of the lymphatic system. Craniosacral work can help the addict realign themselves and become more deeply centered. Myofascial release work can help rid the body of pent up emotions and unhealthy muscular patterns. Reiki or energetic therapies can help move stuck energy and balance the subtle bodies. And a soothing hot stone massage helps slow down the nervous system and puts the client in a slightly altered state where deep healing can take place.

No matter what stage of addiction recovery a person is at massage can be a helpful tool. By helping the client to increase levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the chemical messenger that is responsible for making us feel “happy” we can help retrain the pleasure pathways in the brain and help them make better choices when seeking comfort for themselves. The physical, emotional and spiritual components of recovery can all be directly benefited by the healing power of massage and therapeutic touch.

This article was contributed by Aeriol Ascher aka Reiki Angel Massage. To book a massage with Aeriol visit our website at www.rpm-therapy.com

I 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.

Thank 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.

I wrote a blog posting on the “Top 7 Must Have Massage Equipment for Massage Therapist” recently, one of the items that I included in the list was a table heater for your massage table. This is a follow up to that blog post.

If you are a massage therapist and you are not using a heating pad for your massage table, you are missing out on making a huge impact with your massage clients. I cannot tell you how often our clients expressed how wonderfully delighted they were once they were lying on the massage table. The price of this massage heating pad is more than pays for itself after a few sessions. Utilizing a heating pad on your massage table is not only is a great perking for you clients, but it does offer many functional massage benefits as well. I am going to share with some of them here with you now, but please tell me if I missed one, thank you.

Stretching:

Let’s say for instance that you have a massage client that you have seen before and know that they have very tight hamstrings, glutes or low back muscles, what I like to do for these clients is to turn up the temperature on the heating pad prior to them coming in. Once they come in and if you do any stretching for your clients, let the table heater warm up their muscles either by working the neck and arms first or allow them to lay on the heat for about 5 minutes before you walk into the room and then go into stretching the hamstrings, glutes and low back muscles. By doing this my goal is to allow the heat to warm up their muscles to get a better stretch and to minimize the risk of causing injury, due to the increased blood flow in the area.

Chronically tight back muscles:

You can also use the massage heating pad to warm up the back muscles, starting face up first. Work the front side, once you have finished, request your clients to turn over and you find that their back muscles are more relaxed. This makes massaging tight or chronically tight back muscles much easier to work on and less physical effort on your part..

Getting clients relaxed prior to their massage

If you have a client that just came in early or just got out of traffic or had a very hard day at work and is stressed out, put them on heat for a few minutes prior to working on them, let them relax a bit with some heat on their back first. This will give your clients a chance to relax and ease them into their massage before getting started.

I’m sorry

If you are running late because you are going over on your time with another client and if you have multiple rooms, instead of having your client wait in the lobby, stick them in a room with some heat on the table. I am sure, once they feel the warmth of the table; they will forgive you, for being late.

Hot flashes

You may find that some of your female clients suffer from hot flashes, if this is the case you definitely do not want to use the table heater then. If there is one downside to having a table heater this would be it, you could let your clients know that you have a table heater and that it is on, this way if they suffer from hot flashes, they will let you know. But if you would like to keep the table heater as a surprise, just put the heat on a low setting, it can always be turned up later during the massage.

We are what we eat, you can encourage and maintain healthy hands again just by watching what you eat. Reduce the pain and swelling that you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms, by dieting?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptoms are often made worst by what we eat and drink daily. Coffee, alcohol, high sugar intake and processed foods are just some of the major contributors that keep your hands from ever feeling better. Our hectic lifestyles daily, weekly and monthly create a situation for us internally that is just not healthy, our bodies will absorbed only as much as it can. And when it can’t take anymore you will feel tired, fatigued and even depressed which only then we eat and drink more C. R. A. P. (caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods) to our bodies going, not good.

Just by eating a well balanced diet, that includes consuming eight ounces of water every two hours to help flush out the system and eating healthy fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating more whole grains and lean proteins such as soy, bean and lentils is a great start as well as getting such drinks as green tea to help reduce swelling. Including vitamin B6 into your diet, especially if you already take vitamin C, which depletes the body of vitamin B6 will offer many benefits. A deficiency of vitamin B6 can increase the susceptibility of experiencing pain and numbness, which is associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. Vitamin B6 encourages the maintenance of healthy tissue for the nerves while relieving inflammation, controlling pain sensations and improving the blood circulation. Here are some self massage techniques that you can utilize for your carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms as well.

What is Carpal Tunnel?

A cluster of eight bones forms the base of the palm in a U shape. The tunnel roof or the arching ligament over these bones houses the median nerve. This particular nerve controls the sensations of the fingers and thumb along the palm, while connecting to the spinal cord. When this tunnel becomes thin, the pressure cuts off the blood flow to the nerve. This then causes pain, weakness and a tingling sensation, it happens most often while asleep, but can happen at any time.

As the condition worsens, it becomes difficult to grasp or make a fist, while it begins to limit the motion of everyday life. Eventually many who suffer from carpal tunnel may lose the ability to determine cold from hot. These symptoms can happen in one or both wrists and may be the cause of pain that radiates from the shoulder to the forearm. Carpal tunnel seems to affect more women than men, although many individuals suffer from some form of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Some of the causes of carpal tunnel may include:

• Injuries to the wrist hand and fingers
• Repetitive and continuous hand and finger motions
• Hormonal imbalances during pregnancy or while taking birth control
• Inflammation from arthritis and other diseases
• Health issues such as obesity or a genetic issue

Have you noticed how many times we mentioned your work station or ergonomics? Here are some other foods that you may want to avoid when you are suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome may include:

• Saturated fats
• Salt, since it encourages swelling and dehydrates the system

We hope that you got some good information here, before you run off to have that surgery done. Don’t get us wrong there are some instances where surgery may be what you need, but if at all you are having second thoughts try these things first. Here are some more things you can do to relief the pain of carpal tunnel may include:

• Take a breaks often during the day
• Reduce swelling by use of cold compresses
• Stop smoking, since smoking does affect the blood circulation
• Reduction of repetitive or excessive movements
• Stay in a warm dry environment
• Stretching and exercising

Take care of your hands you need them for just about everything we do in our daily lives.

With Chronic Pain,

Lead researcher Dan Hasson, RN, an acupuncturist, in a study he conducted, reported early in 2004 in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. Hasson’s study examined massage versus mental relaxation. Of the 129 patients, half received 30-minute massages (1 or 2 times a week) during the 5-week study. The remaining patients listened to a mental relaxation tape 2 times a week.

“During the treatment, there was a significant improvement in all 3 main outcome measures: self-rated health, mental energy, and muscle pain in the massage group,” said Hasson. At the 3-month follow-up, the results were quite different. The massage group reported significantly worse pain. The relaxation group did not report changes in symptoms. The patients with increased muscle pain reported less mental energy as well as feelings associated with depressed moods. Hasson concluded that his study supports the theory that depression and lower mental energy are related to long-term worsening of chronic pain.

My first thoughts were who would benefit the most from a study like this? Yeah you guessed it….

The Pharmaceutical Companies, here is the full article as reported in the Pharmacy Times, “Practical Information for today’s Pharmacist”

I find it hilarious that these guys would think we are stupid enough to believe them, even if it were true how can anyone take them serious, I mean they are reporting for the “pharmacy times” come on guys don’t you know that the only reason why that group in your research reported, significantly worse pain was because they were hoping to get another 5 weeks worth of massages for FREE.

RPM-Therapy is conducting a case study on preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with massage therapy. if you are an individual who has Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or other Repetitive Strain Injuries symptoms or you are a Massage Therapist/Bodyworker who has clients that are affected by CTS or RSI injuries, sign-in to my email optin list to subscribe for a CTS ebook coming soon.

By taking breaks, Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has been scientifically proven by Taft Laboratories of the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), to be the most successful prevention strategy that sufferers of these symptoms can implement.

The common thought amongst most computer users is that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other Repetitive Strain Injuries are primarily caused by computer use. RSI injuries are commonly caused by localized inflammation resulting from forceful and repetitive movements. Whereas, CTS injures are caused by postural dysfunction or compression on nerves as a result from inflammation. Computer use does require some repetitive movements but the force in which we keyboard is not forceful. to cause RSI, nor is using the computer necessarily going to cause inflammation directly.

Underlying Causes: The Hidden Factors

In your daily functions and the movements required to use your computer does not require you to use any force. But the primary reason why long hours on the keyboard, is harmful to us is the constant static strain that our fixated postures are held in for prolonged periods of time. Fixed focal concentration and sustained muscle tension, gripping the mouse and holding the phone to your ear and our diet is more damaging.

There are many more factors that will contribute to your RSI and CTS related injuries than using the computer, here is a list of some of them.

• A lack of sleep, causing muscle to fatigue faster.

• Women who are pregnant and who are menopausal

• Slouching posture

• Your genetics, relatively small carpal tunnel and wrist

• A poor diet and lack of water intake.

The Need for Breaks, how effective is it?

The common approach to repetitive strain injuries and CTS injures have been geared towards ergonomically positioning workers and their computers correctly, with very little effectiveness. The UK Institute of Occupational Medicine reported this after adjusting hundreds of workstations and adjusting for age and gender. They found that the single most key factor for developing symptoms of RSI was the amount of time spent on the computer without taking any breaks.

In the NIOSH study described above the authors looked at the effect of introducing supplementary breaks to a working regime which normally included only a couple of breaks each day. The conclusions was,

”In addition to their positive effects on ratings of musculoskeletal discomfort supplementary rest breaks also led to decreased levels of eye soreness and visual blurring”.

NIOSH also found that

“Increases in discomfort of the right forearm, wrist and hand over the course of the work week under the conventional schedule were eliminated under the supplementary schedule”.

A very important finding was that

“These beneficial effects were obtained without reductions in data- entry performance”.

In fact, it was found that there was actually a slight increase in work rate after the breaks which I would think would more than compensated for any time lost taking more breaks. So taking more breaks can increase your production at work, now all you got to do is to convince your boss of this, good luck.