Services

MASSAGE THERAPY

There’s no denying the power of bodywork. Regardless of the adjectives we assign to it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.

Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. While eliminating anxiety and pressure altogether in this fast-paced world may be idealistic, massage can, without a doubt, help manage stress. This translates into:

Decreased anxiety
Enhanced sleep quality
Greater energy
Improved concentration
Increased circulation
Reduced fatigue

Furthermore, clients often report a sense of perspective and clarity after receiving a massage. The emotional balance bodywork provides can often be just as vital and valuable as the more tangible physical benefits.

THE BENEFITS OF MASSAGE

What exactly are the benefits of receiving massage or bodywork treatments? Useful for all of the conditions listed below and more, massage can:

Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion
Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays
Ease medication dependence
Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body’s natural defense system
Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles
Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts
Improve the condition of the body’s largest organ—the skin
Increase joint flexibility
Lessen depression and anxiety
Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks
Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation
Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling
Reduce spasms and cramping
Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles
Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body’s natural painkiller
Relieve migraine pain

DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

Techniques that utilize deep-tissue/deep-muscle massage are administered to affect the sub-layer of musculature and fascia. These techniques require advanced training and a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology. The muscles must be relaxed in order to effectively perform deep-tissue massage, otherwise tight surface muscles prevent the practitioner from reaching deeper musculature. It helps with chronic muscular pain and injury rehabilitation and reduces inflammation-related pain caused by arthritis and tendinitis. It is generally integrated with other massage techniques.

SWEDISH MASSAGE

One of the most commonly taught and well-known massage techniques, Swedish massage is a vigorous system of treatment designed to energize the body by stimulating circulation. Five basic strokes, all flowing toward the heart, are used to manipulate the soft tissues of the body. The disrobed client is covered by a sheet, with only the area being worked on exposed. Therapists use a combination of kneading, rolling, vibrational, percussive, and tapping movements, with the application of oil, to reduce friction on the skin. The many benefits of Swedish massage may include generalized relaxation, dissolution of scar tissue adhesions, and improved circulation, which may speed healing and reduce swelling from injury.

SPORTS MASSAGE

Sports massage is designed to enhance athletic performance and recovery. There are three contexts in which sports massage can be useful to an athlete: pre-event, post-event, and injury treatment. Pre-event massage is delivered at the performance site, usually with the athlete fully clothed. Fast-paced and stimulating, it helps to establish blood flow and to warm up muscles. During the massage, the athlete generally focuses on visualizing the upcoming event. Post-event massage is also delivered on site, through the clothes. The intent here is to calm the nervous system and begin the process of flushing toxins and waste products out of the body. Post-event massage can reduce recovery time, enabling an athlete to resume training much sooner than rest alone would allow. When an athlete sustains an injury, skillful massage therapy can often speed and improve the quality of healing.

STRAIN/COUNTERSTRAIN

Developed by osteopath Lawrence Jones, this noninvasive treatment helps decrease protective muscle spasms and alleviate somatic dysfunction in the musculoskeletal system. By using palpation and passive positional procedures, the therapist practicing strain/counterstrain therapy can help restore pain-free movement. The position that relieves the referred pain is held for ninety seconds. After resuming the original position and pressing the trigger point, the referred pain is gone. The client is often asked to bend or twist like a contortionist to secure a comfortable position.

PRICES:

60-minutes...$70-$85
90-minutes...$100-$120

ART-ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUES

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

How do overuse conditions occur?

Over-used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:

acute conditions (pulls, tears, collisions, etc)
accumulation of small tears (micro-trauma)
not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia)

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

What is an ART treatment like?

Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

These treatment protocols - over 500 specific moves - are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient. ART is not a cookie-cutter approach.

PRICES:

30-minutes...$40-$50
60-minutes...$70-$85

PRENATAL/PREGNANCY MASSAGE

Pregnancy is a beautiful and natural condition -- nine transformative months full of excitement, planning and peering at the awesome unfolding of life. But this transformation also brings inevitable side effects, sometimes making a woman feel like her body has been taken over by an alien force. In the early months, there are mood swings from ecstasy to unpredictable crying, in later months, there are aches and pains more common to the domain of the elderly. Physical changes, such as nausea, back pain, heartburn, raging hormones, breast pain, and swollen legs and ankles affect many women during this time. But you don't have to suffer in silence. The gentle, noninvasive approach of pregnancy massage can ease your discomfort, help you prepare for labor and give you the emotional support of a caring practitioner. Massage sessions can also bring back a sense of body-mind integration, putting you into a state of relaxation and calm acceptance of your continually evolving physical form.

According to Lynne Daize, with the National Association of Pregnancy Massage Therapy, training for this specialty includes learning specific techniques for each trimester, as well as those required for labor and postpartum massage. A certified pregnancy massage therapist is well-acquainted with the physical and hormonal effects of pregnancy and has the skills to counterbalance these changes. You'll find the therapist uses a lighter touch and concentrates on those areas most vulnerable to changes in your body. The therapist will also give you deep breathing exercises and tips on how to improve your posture to adjust to the added weight and shifting center of gravity.

Massage has many scientifically proven health benefits such as stimulating the blood and lymph systems, thereby increasing immunity and removal of toxins, stabilizing hormonal levels, and adding tone and flexibility to muscles -- all of which enhance the health of both you and your baby. As pregnancy progresses, your body adjusts to a changing alignment caused by the baby's increasing weight. This puts strain on your back and legs and increases stress on weight-bearing joints. Massage increases flexibility, enhancing the ability to carry this extra weight while also relieving aches and pains, leg cramps and muscle spasms. The effects of relaxation and tension release add to improvement in the physical state of muscles and joints, and assist in balancing emotions.

Experienced therapists choose techniques that are safe and effective for pregnant women. Prenatal massage offers a wide range of benefits, which include the following:

Eases backaches, headaches, shoulder and neck aches that may be caused by muscle tension and shifts in posture to accommodate increasing weight
Decreases pain in the pelvic/hip area
Increases circulation
Improves digestion
Reduces fatigue
Improves skin elasticity that can help reduce stretch marks
Helps reduce swelling in such places as hands and lower legs
Can alleviate the stress on weight-bearing joints, like the knees, which are impacted by the extra weight of a growing baby
Promotes relaxation and deep breathing
Helps stabilize hormone levels by lessening anxiety

PRICES:

60-minutes...$70-$85
90-minutes...$100-$120

KINESIO TAPING

The Kinesio Taping® Method involves taping over and around muscles in order to assist and give support or to prevent over-contraction. The first technique gives the practitioner the opportunity to actually give support while maintaining full range of motion. This enables the individual to participate in their normal physical activity with functional assistance. The second technique, which is most commonly used in the acute stage of rehabilitation, helps prevent overuse or over-contraction and helps provide facilitation of lymph flow for an entire 24 hour period. Correctional techniques include mechanical, lymphatic, ligament/tendon, fascia, space and functional. Kinesio Tex® Tape can be used in conjunction with other therapies, including cryotherapy, hydrotherapy, massage therapy, and electrical stimulation.

Kinesio Taping® affects the activation of the neurological system, the body's information processor and the circulatory system. Muscles are not only attributed to the movements of the body, but they also control the circulation of venous and lymph flows, body temperature, etc. Therefore, the failure of the muscles to function properly induces various kinds of symptoms. Consequently, more attention was given to the importance of muscle function, that the idea of treating the muscles in order to activate the body's own healing process came about. Using an elastic tape, such as Kinesio Tex® Tape, it was discovered that muscles and other tissues could be helped by outside assistance. Employment of Kinesio Taping® creates a completely new and innovative approach to treating nerves, muscles and organs.

Since the introduction of Kinesio Taping® into the US, medical practitioners from PTs, ATCs, OTs, DCs, MTs, to MDs have recognized and embraced this effective, safe and best of all, easy-to-use modality. The method and tape allow the individual to receive the therapeutic benefits 24 hours per day with both comfort and ease, because it can be worn for several days per application. Currently, Kinesio Taping® is used in hospitals, clinics, high schools and by professional sports teams.

PRICES:

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