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Energy Vampires

After being in practice for more than 19 years I’ve built up somewhat of a tolerance to the effects of people who seem to exude negativity. You may have encountered these types of people yourself. Those who so completely identify with their own pathology that they have created an identity around the very problem for which they seek professional treatment for. These so-called ‘energy vampires’ will present themselves as earnestly seeking remedy from what ails them. However when given instruction of how to effectively extradite themselves from their predicament, they dig in their heels. This is truly a ‘you can bring a horse water, but you can’t make them drink’ moment. As a highly trained therapist I have a deep desire to elevate suffering and improve the human condition. This situation used to frustrate me. Now I understand it to be part of the process a few of my clients feel need in order to undergo and reconcile what they really need. In many cases these people have used their identity with their pathology as a way to gain sympathy from others for so long they have little idea as to how else to be around others. I’ve found that …
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If It’s Your Health-It Is Your Responsibility Part 3

Consider your resources. Do you have a doable exercise program and time in which to do it? Is you diet in order? Perhaps meeting with a nutritional counselor would be appropriate. How is the quality of your sleep? Have you considered the quality and comfort of your shoes, mattress, workstation chair or car seat? Are you maintaining your body with regular deep tissue and sports massage in addition to chiropractic care? Are there things within habitual way of live you could change to realize a higher quality of health and life experience? All of which have a direct bearing on your musculoskeletal along with your other eight bodily systems. We would do well to embrace a keener sense of self-responsibility, especially in the personal care of their bodies. No man or woman can heal you out-right. What any medical professional does is to facilitate your own body’s miraculous healing abilities. Yes, medical doctors use more powerful tools than soft tissue therapist, but the healing mechanisms at work are the same. Again, medical professionals are not are magical clerics that can remedy years of neuromuscular neglect with pills and potions. Expecting your doctor to ‘fix you’ after years of poor health …
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If It’s Your Health-It Is Your Responsibility Part 2

I believe that medical students do not invest quarter million dollars and 10 to 16 years of their life without being interested in improving the human condition. Modern allopathic medicine has made marvelous break-troughs, but it still cannot save us from poor decisions. Although well educated, medical professionals are still human and are not infallible. I have treated more than 15,000 clients over the last 19 years in my practice. Many of my clients ask directly or obliquely for me to diagnose or prognosticate their condition when I first treat them. Massage therapist and neuromuscular therapist may not engage in these activities. They begin to look to their healthcare provider as the last word authority in health, accepting their advice with out question. Many never considered that their healthcare provider could be in err with their current course of treatment. I would encourage patients to use their own good sense and ask the questions, examine the answers, and do your their research. Taking personal responsibility of our own health for what’s on one’s plate or in one’s glass can provide one with better health and a sense of wellbeing but newfound confidence. It is possible for you to reach your …
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If It’s Your Health-It Is Your Responsibility Part 1

The common pattern I’ve encountered with many clients is an attitude of chronic abnegation of personal responsibility for one’s own health. The way some people eat, drink and smoke would indicate the blatant disregard for the eventual effects on their own physiology. By choosing to consuming known carcinogenic substances they accept either consciously or unknowingly the subsequent effects of doing so. Later, after months, years or even decades when pathologic conditions develop they may visit their doctor expecting him/her to ‘fix’ them. This expectation is not only unrealistic by the patient, but also places an unfair burden on the medical profession. Although the human body has been compared to a kind of living machine it rarely can be fixed like a machine using conventional methods. The healing process is based on the quality of the patient’s body at the time that their treatment begins. The neuromuscular, deep tissue and sports massage models are based on the idea that the clients follow proper diet and an exercise routine to achieve optimum results. Massage therapy will bring any toxins locked away within muscular tissue to the surface. If this toxic load is excessive illness can result following treatment.

Ayurveda and Neuromuscular Massage Therapy

In India there is a 4,000-year-old system of medicine known as Ayurveda. This ‘Science of Life’ deals with nuance changes in one’s diet, daily activities, and even though process to balance ‘dochas’ that govern any one person body types. A ‘docha’ can be likened to a naturally occurring tendency of psychosomatic function. Neuromuscular therapy’s foundations start from this field of study. It is commonly held thinking with in the Ayurvedic community, if one is interested in what they were thinking three years ago-go look in a mirror. If interested in what they will look like in three years look at one’s thinking now. In short the body is the three year ‘print-out’ of the mind. Neuromuscular massage therapy follows these principals to eliminate chronic body pains while also returning a sense of mental well being to the client. In conjunction to working with a skilled N.M.T. it is advisable to seek the nutritional guidance of a holistic dietary counselor who can help keep diet in congruent step with the physical changes with will occur within the body during NMT treatment.

Reducing your ‘A-load’

The reduction of your allostatic load can yield a catalogue of benefits. One of the most easiest and cost effective way of doing this is through receiving either deep tissue massage and sports massage therapies. The benefits of deep tissue massage and sports massage therapy include: • Reduced cortisol and adrenaline levels while lowering oxidative stress systemically. • Improved sleep duration and in turn reduce weight gain by improving leptin production and reduced ghrelin, the hunger hormone. • Can improved digestion with a sensation of inner peace as bi-product. • Affords clearer cognitive processes, reducing ‘brain- fog’. • Aids in faster healing of damaged tissues as the massage process assists the nervous system to reach parasympathetic response state more rapidly in which tissue can be readily repaired. • Reduced blood pressure by encouraging relaxation of vascular endothelium. • Improves emotional mood assisting skin and brain to produce calming neuropeptides. • Increases emotional tolerance levels. • Promotes the calming of cytokine protein production and signaling proteins such as interferon. This boosts the immune system’s efficacy. • Assists in reducing ischemia with in tight muscular and connective tissues. • Increases joint flexibility and reduces thixotropy. • Reduces edema after surgery. • Reduces …
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Allostatic load? What’s That?

How many times a day do you wonder is a product or food or activity is good or bad for you. A landslide of questions can follow even mundane dietary things. Drink coffee because it contains antioxidants. Don’t drink coffee; you’ll ruin your adrenals. Do a spin class; it’s great for cardio vascular fitness. Don’t do a spinning; it’s hard on the knees, and on and on. Only a few years back the Atkins diet was all the rage and now some folks are telling us that to consume that much protein can change the body’s Ph so much as to create the conditions for acidosis. With all this confusion spinning around our heads how is it possible to make a rational and informed decision in regard to our own health and wellness programs? Simply the perception of feeling ‘stressed’ can add to our body’s stress load known as our ‘allostatic load’, or daily wear and tear on the body. This perceived stress can issue from three primary sources: physical, dietary, and emotional. This last is the most subjective as what is considered ‘stressful’ is determined by the belief systems of an individual. We are all susceptible to fluctuations of …
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Whip It! Whip it Bad! Part 3

Could your work place be hurting you without you even knowing it? If you are using the computer, driving or holding a posture with your head in a forward-fixated position, your muscle tissue can get into trouble. When the oxygen requirements for an area of muscular tissue exceed available resources through demand, the cells go into oxygen debt. This can be triggered by ether by excessive concentric or eccentric muscular contraction. (Concentric muscular contraction moves a bone or a limb. Picking up an object. Eccentric muscular contraction is where the muscles act as stabilizing cords holding a limb stationary in space and against gravity. Craning one’s head forward to view a computer screen.) In either case there is a lack of oxygen supplied to the affected muscle. The muscle tissue can accommodate this for a little while based upon an individual’s metabolism. Lactic acid builds within the muscle tissue creating more and more irritation as it does so. This shows up in the body as a “burning” sensation. Later when the body is at rest and lactic acid is still present in muscle tissue, it can trigger involuntary contractions due to inadequate magnesium or an over abundance of cortisol left …
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Whip It! Whip it Bad! Part 2

Who are the players in a whiplash event and what can you do to relax them? At the posterior base of the skull is a set of muscles called the sub-occipitals. They connect between the occipital bone of the skull and attach to several places on the first and second vertebrae. They articulate our heads in fine motor movements. Between two of the major muscle sets grow two rather important nerves: the greater and the lesser occipital nerves. The greater occipital nerve starts out between C1 and C2, a.k.a. the atlas and the axis. It actually grows through part of the top attachment point of the trapezius. It is also sandwiched between two of the sub-occipitals to complicate matters. These muscles are more prone to go into eccentric spasm rather that concentric spasm. Concentric, remember, is when muscles contact to move bone, while eccentric is when it acts like a stabilizer, holding a limb (or head) in a fixed position. Both situations can burn up the available oxygen supply in the tissue and begin to over produce lactic acid. When we are in correct posture, our body opposes the 33.5 lbs./sq inch load of gravity exerted on us most efficiently. …
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Whip It! Whip it Bad! Part 1

One of the most common injuries from not just auto accidents but also for weekend warrior sports is Whiplash. In most cases at the moment of impact enormous forces are exerted into the soft tissues of both the anterior and posterior neck muscles. This may approach several thousands of pounds per cubic inch within a fraction of a second. The force of the initial impact traumatizes muscles in the back of the. Further damage is caused by the whipping action of the head a split second later as the head is rocked forward resulting in sprain and inflammation to the posterior muscles of both the neck and upper back. This action can then create spasm in the large diamond shaped trapezius muscle. This muscle attaches at its base to the 10th thoracic vertebrae of the spine. The nerve from the stomach exits the spinal column in this area. The pressure exerted on this nerve from acute spasm can be enough to cause vomiting following a violent event. In other cases chronic stomach aches or head may result. In less severe cases neuromuscular massage, deep-tissue, and sports massage therapy can addresses the chronic muscular issues that are keeping your muscles fixated. …
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