New resolution for your Health and Well-being in 2012

Every year we make our resolution and goals for the New Year and who doesn’t include working out, losing weight, keeping healthy etc… I wish you all the success in accomplishing these goals but don’t sabotage your efforts by getting hurt. 

Many people will get out of the routine following an injury. By adding 1 more item to your list you will be better prepared to succeed.

To stay on track and injury free try ”preventative care”! Before you begin schedule a massage, here’s why.

Are your shoulders in a forward slump?
The average human head weighs 8 pounds. And if your chin moves forward just 3 inches — as it tends to when you work at a computer — the muscles of your neck, shoulders, and upper back must support the equivalent of 11 pounds. 

This will make the muscles in the chest and front of the neck become too tight, whereas the muscles between the shoulder blades and the back of the shoulders will lack in tone or be “over stretched”. Known as Upper Cross Syndrome this creates faulty mechanics and compensation patterns.

What are the symptoms of upper cross syndrome:
If you have constant or chronic neck shoulder tension, sore at the base of your skull,  stiff neck, the postural distortion of your head leaning forward and you start working out, swim, bike, or run, it will exacerbate the faulty mechanics and cause excessive wear to the skeletal system, muscles, and tendons and ligaments. Additionally, it will hinder performance by depressing the sternum; meaning you can’t breathe, which is rather important for new and endurance athletes!

What can the right massage do for you?
Reduce muscle spasm
Reduce formation of scar tissue following an injury
Decrease muscle stiffness          
Increase range of joint motion
Relieve numbness/tingling      
Alleviate symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Reduce swelling           
Improve sleep
Relieve Bruxism the habit of Jaw clenching/grinding
Heal faster from pulled muscles and sprained ligaments
Achieve musculoskeletal and structural balance

The Self-Test: Are You Crossed Up?
Place two fingers at the top of your right shoulder and feel for a bony notch that pro-trudes from it. That’s your acromion. Now grab a ruler and lie on your back on the floor, your right arm resting alongside your body. With your left hand, measure the distance from your right acromion to the floor, being careful not to raise or lower your right shoulder as you do so. If the distance is more than 1 inch, you have upper-cross syndrome.

What to do at home
These are from Livestrong.com and I did try them, here are gentle and easy steps to help alleviate tension in the neck.

Neck Twist
The neck twist alleviates pain by stretching tight tendons and muscles and stimulating your cervical vertebrae. Stand with your feet hip width apart, keeping your neck in line with your spine and your eyes looking forward. Inhale, and as you exhale, turn your head to look over your left shoulder. Turn as far as you can, and hold for a few seconds. Slowly return your head to center. Inhale again, and exhale as you turn your head to look over your right shoulder. Hold for a few seconds, then return your head to center. Perform 10 to 12 repetitions.

Chin Nod
The chin nod exercise lengthens and reduces tension in the back of your neck. Perform this exercise while lying down with a soft pillow under your head for support. Slowly pull your chin down to your chest as though you are in the first part of a nodding movement. Hold for a few seconds, then repeat. Perform five repetitions.

Bend and Extend
This exercise stretches the front and back of your neck. Stand or sit with your spine straight and your neck in line with your spine. Inhale and drop your neck back. Look up at the ceiling. Open your jaw as wide as possible, then close your mouth. Exhale and return your head to center. Now drop your head forward as you inhale, trying to touch your chin to your breastbone. Hold for a few seconds. Return to center.

Related articles:
How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body
The Most Important Thing about Sports Injuries — Is How Not To Get Them
What is Neuromusuclar Therapy
GET out of pain!
My practice in Chicago
www.mara.iwantamassage.com

Mara Nicandro NMT, Nctmb Neuromuscular Massage Therapy in Chicago – Bio

Owned and operated Therapeutic Massage of Texas from 2004 to 2011 before relocating to Chicago Illinois. By demonstrating mastery of core skills, abilities and knowledge she received the highest level of recognition for massage therapist. A National Certification by the Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, a non-profit organization that establishes the standard of excellence for massage therapy. She obtained dual advance certifications in Neuromuscular Massage Therapy and Medical Massage from Sterling Health Center Dallas, Texas.

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Ginger

Ginger contains very potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols. These substances are believed to explain why so many people with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis experience reductions in their pain levels and improvements in their mobility when they consume ginger regularly. In two clinical studies involving patients who responded to conventional drugs and those who didn’t, physicians found that 75% of arthritis patients and 100% of patients with muscular discomfort experienced relief of pain and/or swelling.

The underlying cause for the tension are what is known as trigger points; hyper-irritable spots in the skeletal muscle that are associated with taut bands of muscle fibers, it’s those spots where if you touch them it may elicit local tenderness, or referral pain (pain else where) or muscle spasm.

The following factors are what to look for and are causes which maintain and enhance trigger point activity:

1. Nutritional deficiency, especially vitamin C, B-complex and iron;

2. Hormonal imbalances (low thyroid, menopausal or premenstrual situations, for example);

3. Infections (bacteria, viruses or yeast);

4. Allergies (wheat and dairy in particular);

5. Low oxygenation of tissues (aggravated by tension, stress, inactivity, poor respiration).

Successful treatment relies on identifying trigger points, resolving them and, if all trigger points have been deactivated, elongating the structures affected along their natural range of motion and length.

Related Articles:
Athletes Enhance Performance By Treating Muscle Spasm With NMT

About Me:
MaraNicandroNMT – Neuromuscular Massage Therapy offering pain relief and structural balance to the body in Chicago, IL.  Visit www.mara.iwantamassage.com to learn more.

References: Dr. Janet Travell, Travell and Simmons’ Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction

Shoulder bursitis occurs from repetitive motion in your shoulder and frequently occurs in sports with overhead activities such as swimming, tennis, or throwing.  Also in activities or hobbies like painting or carpentry.

Everyone recovers from injury at a different rate not by how many days or weeks it has been since you felt the pain. In general, the longer you have the symptoms before you start treatment, the longer it will take to get better and could lead to permanent damage.

To prevent it be sure to warm up properly and stretch your shoulder before such activities as throwing, tennis, or swimming. If your shoulder begins to hurt during these activities, you may need to slow down until the pain goes away.

The miracle of ice, ice and ice, this is an irritation or inflammation of the bursa in your shoulder so ice packs on your shoulder for 20 to 30  minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days or until the pain goes away will do wonders.  The following links also include helpful tips to help you recover.

Helpful info and tips:
Overuse injury tips
Bursitis symptoms

Disclaimer

40 million Americans suffering from bruxism (teeth grinding)

What is bruxism its grinding and clenching your teeth it could be during the day or while you sleep. 

 It’s one of the most common sleep disorder and it’s during sleep that causes the majority of health issues.

If you are not aware of it your dentist will be able to confirm it by the abnormal wear patterns in your teeth but before it gets to that point here are sneaking symptoms that will creep up on you when you’re not noticing so be aware.

Jaw pain and headaches
Anxiety, stress, and tension
Depression
Earache
Eating disorders
Headaches
Migraines
Loose teeth
Tinnitus
Gum recession
Neck pain
Insomnia
Sore or painful jaw

What causes it? Researchers classify bruxism as “a habitual behavior, and a sleep disorder.” It can originate from an allergic reaction, illness, digestive, anxiety to trauma. Once it becomes a habit the original cause can end but without ending the habit.

What are the perpetuating factors!
Disturbed sleep patterns
Maloclussions
Caffeine
Smoking
Drugs
OCD
Lastly, high levels of anxiety, stress, work-related stress, irregular work shifts, stressful profession and ineffective coping strategies

How to end the habit before it get’s worse? Finding the original cause and treating the perpetuating factors can reduce or eliminate if caught early before it becomes habit.

What helps treat the symptoms?  It’s not easy and there is no guarantee but try the following:
Apply ice or wet heat to sore jaw muscles.
Avoid eating hard foods like nuts, candies, steak.
Sleep on your back
Drink plenty of water every day.
Get plenty of sleep.
Yoga, stretching exercises to help restore a normal balance to the action of the muscles and joints on each side of the head.
Massage the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and face. Search carefully for small, painful nodules called trigger points that can cause pain throughout the head and face.
Relax your face and jaw muscles throughout the day. The goal is to make facial relaxation a habit.
Try to reduce your daily stress and learn relaxation techniques like deep breathing exercise. I have an example of one on my Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/maraiwantamassage.

Ignoring it will make it worse so it’s very important that you find a way to treat teeth grinding once you realize you have it!

Related Articles:
How can I stop grinding my teeth?
Jaw and Joint Disorders
Are You a Grinder? By Dr. Oz

Athlete need it,  if you have prepared and need to recover from strenuous work outs…. you better believe it.  Why?

Increase joint flexibility
Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks
Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation
Reduce spasms and cramping
Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles

If you’re are not active…..ditto all of the above and then some……

Post Surgery
Reduce post-surgery adhesions and swelling
Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body’s natural painkiller

There are too many to think of it’s all based on you, the individual. So maybe the question should be what type of massage therapy or therapeutic massage should I get?

I would recommend if you don’t know whether or not a therapeutic massage therapy is right for you go in for one session and try it, therapist trained in therapeutic approaches to massage should be able to do this for you.

Related Articles:
Therapeutic Back Kneading May Lower your blood stream Pressure of Hypertensive Women and men
Chronic Stress May Cause Chronic Pain
Massage alleviates back pain: Study
Post Surgery Pain
Athletes Enhance Performance By Treating Muscle Spasm With Neuromuscular Therapy

Mara Nicandro NMT
Oak Park NeuroMuscualar Therapy
www.oakparknmt.com

Just think about those commercials on TV listing the benefits but at the end the list of side effects is even longer, I always think to myself why would I want to risk putting those pills in my body.

How do they work in the first place?  When a part of your body is injured, special nerve endings send pain messages back to your brain. Pain killing drugs interfere with these messages, either at the site of the injury, in the spinal cord or in the brain itself. What I call a numbing effect so it rarely addresses the root cause of the pain. You don’t want to feel pain but it’s an important part in the healing process.

Your body is trying to communicate with you: If you feel pain, it means that your central nervous system (“CNS”) thinks the body is under threat, and that something has to be done about it.  In this sense, pain is a survival mechanism of fundamental importance. You may not know this but you don’t feel pain until the brain interprets the information and decides that pain would be a good way to encourage you to take action that will help protect and heal the damage. So numbing these signals does little to help you take action, always follow your doctor’s advice but ask questions if there are alternatives to taking “pain-killers”?

In General there are too many side effects for me to list here but two extreme examples that I was even shocked by would be. 

1. Acetaminophen has few side effects. If taken in very high doses, for extended periods of time or with excessive use of alcohol, this medication can lead to liver damage.

2. Opioids are used in medicine as strong analgesics (pain-killers), for relief of severe or chronic pain. Interestingly, there is no upper limit for the dosage of opioids used to achieve pain relief, but the dose must be increased gradually to allow for the development of tolerance to adverse effects (for example, respiratory depression). According to eMedicine, “Some people with intense pain get such high doses that the same dose would be fatal if taken by someone who was not suffering from pain.” 

Yikes a little scary isn’t it, you take that risk and then it may stop working and lose its effectiveness and you still have pain, then what? I won’t go into the addictive qualities and my wish is no one gets to that point in their life. 

Alternatives to avoid pain meds, it won’t stop the pharmaceutical companies from getting rich but will make your life a lot healthier is a therapeutic massage (neuromuscular therapy), feldenkrais, chiropractic, yoga, pilates, tai chi, acupuncture, etc. These work by creating noise to block the pain signals to your brain. 

A recent study on low back pain concludes that general massage therapy is more effective than standard medical treatment when dealing with back pain. This means that a weekly massage can do more to ease chronic back pain than painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs (think Advil) and physical therapy, good news for every “body” out there.

Do you have a story to tell on how you coped without pain meds and how it improved your life, leave a comment and share. Thanks Mara

Related Articles:
Lose the Back Pain!
Rotator Cuff Injuries when the pain won’t go away
More articles by Mara Nicandro NMT
Massage may be as effective as medication for low back pain, study shows
US docs are overprescribing drugs, study finds

Have you been looking for solutions to your back pain, look no further.  Experiencing pain schedule a massage, a new study gives massage the respect for its effectiveness with helping reduce or even eliminate your pain.

As published in a July 2011 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, a study funded by the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine evaluated the effectiveness of massage therapy for chronic low back pain

In this study, over 400 participants with chronic low back pain either received weekly whole-body massages for relaxation, weekly massages that focused on specific muscle problems around the lower back and hips, or usual care.

• 36 percent of patients receiving weekly whole-body relaxation massage said their pain was nearly or gone altogether.

• 39 percent of patients receiving weekly massage that focused on specific muscle problems around the lower back and hips said their pain was nearly or gone altogether.

• Just 4 percent of patients receiving usual care said their pain was nearly or gone altogether.

As a therapist I feel very proud that I offer one of the most effective therapy to relieve your low back pain.  I also want to send a shout out to our industry professionals doesn’t it feel good that your work has been validated. 

So, why are you still dealing with muscular pain?  With a massage get rid of and recover from low back pain.

Mara Nicandro Nctmb
www.oakparknmt.com

Related Articles:
Massage therapy can be more effective than medication for lower back pain
Massage outperforms meds for low back pain, study finds
Lose The Back Pain

Disclaimer

Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21727288, A comparison of the effects of 2 types of massage and usual care on chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial, Cherkin DC, et al, Retrieved July 10, 2011, Annals of Internal Medicine, July 2011

These are just a few of the signs and symptoms of your imagination, no it’s not,  but it could be symptoms of Fibromyalgia. 

If you’ve seen your physician or specialist I hope this wouldn’t be the first time you heard of this disorder. The definition of Fibromyalgia “A chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and tenderness in localized areas”. 

If you were diagnosed, something you may not know. Fibromyalgia is known as the “great imitator” because it can mimic other disorders.  However there are subtle differences so knowledge is power and learning more about them will help figure out those differences so you can take the next step towards health.

As if that wasn’t bad enough people with fibromyalgia are also at greater risk of developing a number of other disorders,  irritable bowel syndrome, bruxism etc.. many of which can exacerbate your current fibromyalgia symptoms.

Lastly but by no means least,  If the condition is not diagnosed and treated early, symptoms can go on indefinitely, or they may disappear for months and then recur.  Please see a doctor to get diagnosed but be armed with the power of knowledge, in the mean time.

I am writing to let you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  You don’t have to continue suffering, here are three ways you can help yourself:

Learn more! Understanding what is happening to you it becomes easier to cope with and address. Also knowing that can greatly relieve any anxiety which leads me to the next tip

Reduce stress! Reducing stress can help with muscle relaxation,  need I say more?

Exercise! Low-impact aerobic exercises, such as swimming, cycling, walking, can be very effective. Please note with any new exercise program, you may have a mild increase in aching in the first two weeks. This increased aching is especially likely to occur if you have not been exercising and the muscles are de-conditioned. Applications of cold packs to sore muscles and tendons after exercising can help relieve muscle inflammation and soreness.

Hope this helps get you back on the road to health!

Related articles:
Fibromyalgia Symptoms, The Monster List of Fibromyalgia Symptoms!
Always Tired- Simple Steps to Natural Cure for Fibromyalgia

Mara Nicandro Nctmb
www.oakparknmt.com
www.facebook.com/maraiwantamassage
www.twitter.com/maranicandronmt