The Fix…Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, You Don’t Have to Put up With the Pain

I’ve come across quite a few people lately complaining about carpel tunnel syndrome. Almost all of these clients thought it was a nerve problem. But it’s not a nerve problem, it’s a muscle problem.

Just so you know what the signs of carpel tunnel are, you would feel tingling in the hand, just like your hand is going to sleep. Other symptoms would be weakness and/or coldness in your hand. These symptoms can only be in the hand, not up the arm at all.

However, the real issue isn’t in the hand, the real issue is in the muscles that move the hand that go all the way up to the elbow. Carpel tunnel is a repetitive strain issue, with the best example being typing and mousing from computer use. With the excessive use of the muscles that move the fingers, the muscles get inflamed close to the elbow and slowly inflaming the muscle to the tendons at the carpel tunnel.

This is where the real issues start. The inflammation of the tendons compress the nerve that runs along with the tendons at the carpel tunnel, causing the issues mentioned above.

So the best treatment plan for carpel tunnel issues, is addressing the inflammation of the muscles along the forearm. We do this by stripping the scare tissue that has worked up on the muscles, which reduces the inflammation. As the scare tissue in broken down the inflammation is reduced as well, taking pressure off the nerve at the carpel tunnel.

So if you’re even starting to feel the issues of carpel tunnel, massage therapy is one of your best ways to address the muscle issue, that it really is.

The Fix…How to Make Your Massage Therapy Benefits Go Further.

To many times I hear people tell me, “My benefits are finished I can’t get any more massage this year.” Besides putting a price tag on your health, you’re probably missing out on massage treatments by not doing the math.

At www.fxmassagetherapy.com we offer credit packages, where you can buy 10 and get 12 massages, saving you $140. Now on average, most companies offer $500 in massage therapy benefits. This leaves you with a $200 short fall at the end of the year.

So for only $200 of your own money you get $840 in service, averaging out to under $20 a massage out of your own pocket. I think I could be confident in saying the average person spends more than $20 a month on Starbucks or any number of other frivolous spending in a month.

So next time you think you can’t afford regular massage therapy treatments, all you have to do is look at where you spend your disposable income. Once you do this you can easily see there really isn’t a money problem, there’s a perceived disposable income problem.

Perception really isn’t reality all the time, it’s really a priority issue.

 

The Fix…Starting a Workplace Massage Program at Your Office.

Starting a workplace massage program isn’t as hard as a lot of you might think. The biggest hurdle is getting over the idea that it’s a lot of work; finding a therapist, space to do the massages, administration, costs and time. Let’s look at each one to show you how easy it really is to start a workplace massage program.

Finding a therapist really isn’t all that difficult. All you need to look for is a therapist that is experienced in chair massage. FX Massage Therapy specializes in workplace massage, offering our exclusive “Coffee Break Massage”. The “Coffee Break Massage” is a choreographed massage specifically designed for the office worker. Addressing areas sitting and computer work cause issues, specifically the neck, shoulders, arms and all areas of the back.

The space required to the chair massages is minimal. All that is required is small meeting room to be used once a month or once a week, whichever works best for your office. All you nned to do is take the chair you sit in a walk around it and have a desk in the room for a laptop and writing receipts.

Administration is also very low time consuming, since we do all the work. All you have to do is send out a message to the staff it’s massage day tomorrow. We have online booking, so you don’t have to keep track of a sign up sheet. The online booking takes care of reminders and all other administrative duties, including the ability for employees to pay online.

Cost is another area that is minimal for companies, since the employee pays for the cost. If your company offers massage therapy as part of your benefit package, the employees are more than happy to use the benefit. As a bonus, with various studies showing employee productivity increases and reduced use of other disability benefits. So workplace massage actually saves money and doesn’t increase cost.

How are your employees going to find the time to get a massage? We call it a “Coffee Break Massage” for a reason, it only takes either 15 or 30-minutes to get a “Coffee Break Massage”. Everyone gets at least a coffee break during the day.

So it really isn’t that much work to start up a workplace massage program at your office. Contact FX Massage Therapy at 403 701 4152 to start increasing productivity and morale.

 

The Fix…Workplace Stress is Lowering Productivity, Increase Productivity and Moral with On Site Massage.

Workplace stress is a major issue with too many people and it’s not just causing personal health problems, but hitting your company bottom line as well. Currently companies spend significant amounts of money on depression medications addressing stress related leave.

So what is your company doing to address this issue? In some cases increasing productivity is actually reducing productivity by adding additional stress to employees. This can manifest itself into depression or other health issues, such as digestive problems.

So how does your company combat this silent bottom line killer? One of the ways is to add an easy to administer on site massage program. A quick15 or 30-minute “Coffee Break Massage” once a week can help address stress along with a host of other unseen issues.

Our bodies are programed to react to stress in a physical way and working at a desk all day long doesn’t give employees the opportunity to exert themselves. The buildup of stress in the muscles needs to be taken care of and onsite massage can do that for your employees.

The “Coffee Break Massage” is designed specifically to address muscle tension that a desk jockey builds up throughout the day. The reduction of muscle stress also have the added effect of firing up the digestive system as well. When stress is built up your digestive system basically shuts down. This is because the blood that works the digestive system is diverted to your muscles for fight or flight.

By getting a relaxing 15 or 30-minute “Coffee Break Massage” the stress is taken out of the muscles and the digestive system fires up again. When you digest food properly everything else works the way it’s suppose to. Absorption improves and movements happen on a more regular basis, with both being very important to your health.

When mental stress becomes too much, it manifests itself in many ways, not just depression. Our bodies work as one and when you can treat yourself to a quick “Coffee Break Massage” it’s another small piece of the puzzle keeping employees at work and working efficiently.

The Fix…Massage Therapy Addressing Motor Vehicle Accident Whiplash

If you ever get into a car accident and are injured? Wouldn’t you want to reduce the chance of the long term soft tissue problems? I haven’t meet anyone yet that wants long term headaches, lack of mobility, muscle pain or a list of many other issues that can arise from a car accident.

Last week I got a new client referred to me from one of my family physician clients. It’s great that the new client was referred to me, however the client went through 21 physio therapy treatments before she was sent to me, with very little or no positive results. I’m not saying physio therapy treatments are ineffective, what I’m saying is the physio therapist should have worked with a massage therapist, along with physio therapy.

I’ve worked with physio therapists in the past and had tremendous results getting clients back to good health. So when you have a soft tissue injury you need to work with soft tissue experts, a team of soft tissue experts.

With massage therapy I’m able to address specific soft tissue issues in a very specific way. With each person seeing me they will have different muscular issues as result of the car accident. Because each person is in different physical condition, the better condition you’re in generally the better you will come out, what direction you were hit at what speed you were hit and so on.

So when you get massage therapy after a car accident the sooner you start your treatment plan the better. The longer you take to start your treatment plan the longer the treatments will carry on. Also, when you wait the after effects can linger on. So when you do see your doctor after a car accident, ask for massage therapy to be part of the treatment plan.

Another small piece of advice, it’s always better to get one too many treatments, rather than one not enough treatments. That one extra massage can make all the difference in the world.

The Fix…Massage Therapy and Helping You With Arthritis.

I have a new client with arthritis and when he first called he asked, “Do you do arthritis massage.” My first reaction is, sorry but there isn’t such a thing, massage can’t fix arthritis.

But before we go any further, the first thing we need to clarify is, what is arthritis. There are two types of arthritis, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis  Rheumatoid is a form of autoimmune disease, where your immune system is confused and attacks a specific area of your body. Such as your joints which results in rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is the degeneration of the cartridge at the tips of two bones rubbing against each other.

So as you can see massage therapy cannot specifically address either type of arthritis. However, because the joints are painful, your muscles are doing there best to keep the joints firm. This firmness in the joint is there to protect the joint from being used. But this firmness also causes pain because the joint has deficiencies and the extra tension adds pressure and the pain.

Where massage therapy helps, is the muscles that are keeping the joint firm and tight, causing the pain, by relaxing the muscles reducing the pain.

Getting back to my new client, after his first massage, I was able to reduce his pain AND he reduced the use of his cane dramatically. I followed up the initial massage with another massage a week later and his mobility has been increased again.

To conclude, no massage therapy can’t fix arthritis issues, however massage therapy can reduce the symptoms. If you are wanting to address either type of arthritis the best way in my opinion is to keep you immune system strong by eating a healthy diet and supplementing with a high quality vitamin/mineral product and in general stay healthy. Workout at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 1-hour, eat a healthy diet of a minimum of 4 pieces of fruit a day and get proper rest.

A healthy lifestyle will also reduce your body mass and reduce the wear and tear on your joints.

By supplementing you reduce your antioxidant levels and at the same time reduce the symptoms of both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.  To have your antioxidant levels measured we now have the technology, with the Nu Skin Biophotonic scanner.

To get your antioxidant levels measured, contact Glen Beckel at 403 701 4152 and I’ll find a scanner in your area.

The Fix…Sitting is Damaging You and Massage Therapy Can Help.

Recently I’ve come across a few articles on the negative effects sitting has on your body. Most notably “Sitting is Killing You”.  The graphic has some startling information we should all be aware of. With 9.3 hours a day are spent on average sitting. That’s a lot considering we’re suppose to be awake for 16 hours, so well over half our day is spent doing little or no physical effort and probably for many not much of the other 7 hours are spent doing much physical activity . With obese people sitting for an extra 2.5 hours a day.

No wonder industrialized nations have such poor health. We spend way too much time doing nothing physical and on top of that feeding ourselves over processed food. Combining the two poor health habits really is a very slippery slope, isn’t it?

Some of the other negative effects sitting has on your body that were noted in the graphic were; electrical activity in the legs shuts off, you only burn 1-calorie per minute, enzymes that break down fat drops by 90%, just to name a few of the facts.

So what can you do to balance your day or better yet lifestyle to get your butt moving? It really isn’t hard to really know what it is, GET MOVING. If you have a desk job; when you take a bathroom break use the bathroom a floor or two away and walk the stairs, take a walk at lunch and never work through lunch, if the weather doesn’t cooperate walk the stairs, stretch at your desk, stand while on the phone. These are just a few of the ideas and if you put your mind to work, you are sure to come up with some more ideas. 

You also need to get active after work as well. If you take transit to work, get off early and walk the last 30-minutes home. You can also join a club for almost any activity, but do something you enjoy and do it at least 3 or 4 times a week. Again, the ideas are endless, all you have to do is be creative and commit to do your favorite activity or activities on a regular basis.

So now that you have some ideas on how to get active after sitting so much, what are you doing to combat those nasty side effects of sitting in a relaxing way. Since this is a massage therapy blog, were not going to hide. Schedule and commit to at least one massage a month.

Massage can also combat the negative side effects of shutting off leg muscle electricity shut off, stimulate gut enzymes and most importantly for this blog help you recover from your new activity regime.

Be sure your therapist does a thorough job of flushing your legs, a minimum 20 minutes of massaging the legs. One of the more known benefits of massage is relaxation. Relaxation also has numerous benefits. In our high stress world, your gut doesn’t function properly and a relaxing massage starts up your gut to digest food better. The telling sign this is happening is your stomach gurgles towards the end of the massage. This isn’t your stomach telling you your hungry, it’s firing up again and doing what it’s suppose to do.

In many circles the gut is known as the second brain.  Your second brain contains about 100 million neurons, more than either the spinal cord or peripheral nervous system. With the your second brain it is sending signals to your head, such as butterflies. A simple example, but none the less and easy lesson. There are also many studies connecting both brains to mental health along with other diseases.

So at the end of the day, get off your butt because it’s killing you and schedule your next massage now. You will only regret what you didn’t do.  Don’t be afraid of new adventures, be afraid of not trying new ones.