Misconception 1: Massage has been mainly portrayed as a technique to create relaxation. Therapeutically, massage is so much more than this! Two growing areas for therapeutic massage now are pain/injury management and sports massage. Imagine you ache all the time — ankle, knee, back, neck. You have come to use pain medications as short term solutions at best, and causing more problems than they help, at worst. On the other…
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by Carl Parnham RMT What a lot of people don’t understand about massage, including some RMTs, is that going deep is usually not indicated on the first treatment. I’m not just talking about avoiding an acute injury showing up with inflammation or bruising. I’m talking “normal” states and the human body’s greatest ability – its ability to adapt to change. It takes time and repetition, like the stages of building up capacity in an exercise. Athletes in martial arts know this…
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by Carl Parnham RMT Infant massage is a simple, healthy and therapeutic way of bonding. After engaging baby all day, feeding, changing diapers, just holding, and getting things done, you’d think that mom (or dad if you are the primary caregiver) would not need to be doing infant massage to bond! But this is often an oversight, and a missed opportunity to intentionally create some very high quality time together. …
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by Carl Parnham RMT First off what is your IT Band? Well, it’s a reinforced band of fascia that is connected from the Tensor Facia Lata and Gluteus Maximus muscles down to your Tibia (shin bone). Stop right there! What is Fascia anyhow? Fascia is connective tissue. Which does just that – it connects and envelopes all muscle, organs and bones; holds them in place and supports them and allows…
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by Carl Parnham RMT How many of you out there are stuck at a computer desk all day? I bet you have back problems right? Do you feel like sitting too long is hindering your every day life? Now you hurt so much that, even if you wanted to exercise more, it hurts too much to try? I know, I know…I shouldn’t be using a laptop like this; but no…
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As a massage therapist, many people come to me and ask, “Do you do deep tissue massage?”. I say “yes”, but I explain what I mean to them further, since we usually have a different idea of what a deep tissue massage is. From experience, people wanting a deep tissue massage are usually meaning this: “I have a high pain tolerance and want a really good massage. Can you…
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“It’s all in the fascia”. How many times have I heard this from healthcare workers who have spent a lifetime working with injuries or researching mechanisms of health and healing? Loosely speaking, fascia is connective tissue. It surrounds all our body parts, from big to small. Fascia can be the ligaments that support and hold a joint together, or it can be the intricate wrappings around muscles at every level,…
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by Rhonda Ashmore PT, MScPT, BPE, CSEP-CEP, Registered Massage Therapist Massage therapy as a form of hands-on “manipulation of soft tissues of the body”(Holey and Cook, 2011) has been around for thousands of years and it has only been in the last few decades that more research attention has turned to massage, its effects on the body and the mechanisms of how it works. If you ask people who have…
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by Mallery Gulbraa, RMT Heated paraffin wax therapy is quite common and widely used to aid in the treatment of conditions such as: Arthritis and Bursitis Stiff Joints, Tendonitis, Tennis Elbow Fibrositis, Scar Tissue Inflammation Muscle Spasms, overworked/Fatigued Muscles, Fibromyalgia Psoriasis, Eczema One of the overlooked benefits of paraffin therapy is that it soothes and moisturizes the skin, opens pores, increases circulation, and promotes a sense of calm in the…
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Mallery is a registered massage therapist at The Acupuncture Turning Point. She got her massage training at CDI college in Edmonton, and is a member of the National Health Practitioners of Canada. Mallery grew up on the farm, and she is still a country folk at heart. She moved into the big city three years ago, to follow her passion of helping people relax and to improve the quality of…
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