Any of the following techniques can be used to enhance the effect of your Registered Massage Therapy Treatment.
Deep Tissue Massage focuses on realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. It is especially helpful for sports related tightness and chronic tension. The most commonly treated are contracted areas such as stiff legs, necks, low back tightness, and sore shoulders.
Contemporary Medical Acupuncture is a precise peripheral nerve stimulation technique, in which fine solid needles (acupuncture needles) are inserted into anatomically defined neurofunctional sites, and stimulated manually or with electricity for the therapeutic purpose of modulating abnormal activity of the nervous system in pain syndromes resulting from functional problems. “Neuromodulation occurs through neurological and neurohumoral mechanisms at multiple levels, namely: peripheral nerves, spinal cord, brain stem, brain and cerebellum.” (McMaster Contemporary Acupuncture)
This is a myofascial therapy technique that is so important I treat it as a specialty in itself. Trigger point therapy is a manual therapy technique that involves the applying of pressure to tender muscle tissue in order to relieve pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body. Trigger point therapy, Trigger point massage or Myofascial trigger point therapy are all names used for the assessment and treatment of these painful nodules in your body.
Fascia is very important tissue. It surrounds and envelopes all of the body’s structures. It is connective tissue that is very much continuous throughout the body, never-ending. Trauma, repetitive movement patterns and metabolic dysfunction can influence the fascia to create holding patterns in the body’s tissue. Releasing these patterns will increase available range and quality of motion, as well as decrease symptoms ranging from pain to immobility. Without using oils, the therapist will engage the tissue, mobilize it, and will often utilize active or passive movement from the client to aid in this process.
Added as part of a hands on treatment, interferential therapy is a type of TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) which has two alternating currents that are applied to the skin. The two alternating currents intersect in between the pads and the result of the interconnecting currents is a new frequency (called a beat frequency) which has the desired effect of either stimulating muscle contraction (when the beat frequency is low) or achieving pain relief (when the beat frequency is higher).
There are several theoretical benefits claimed for this type of therapeutic taping. One of those is correcting the alignment of weak muscles as well as facilitating joint motion as a result of the tape’s recoiling qualities. Additionally, the tape is claimed to lift the skin, increasing the space below it, and increasing blood flow and circulation of lymphatic fluids (swelling). This increase in the interstitial space is said to lead to less pressure on the body’s nociceptors, which detect pain, and to stimulate mechanoreceptors, to improve overall joint proprioception.
Relaxation massage is a gentle Swedish massage that uses smooth, gliding strokes to help you relax. Chris will move at a slower pace and use lighter pressure. In a relaxation massage, there is less emphasis on working out chronic underlying muscle tension — the adhesions or “knots” and muscle restrictions in the muscle tissue.
