by urban-acupuncture | Aug 17, 2020 | Massage Therapy
Sports Massage
Medical experts agree that regular exercise is an important element of a healthy lifestyle. Yet as healthy as it is, many types of exercise can leave your muscles tight and sore. And even light exercise such as walking and yoga can potentially lead to short- and long-term injury.
Sports-related injury is not inevitable, however. Sustaining your active lifestyle requires developing a variety of healthy routines all designed to keep your muscles healthy. Eating a healthy diet and maintaining adequate sleep patterns will ensure that your body has the energy it needs to stay active. And incorporating appropriate warm-up and cool-down activities and active stretching into your routine can help keep your muscles loose and avoid muscular injury.
Another element of a healthy lifestyle is sports massage. Sports massage is an excellent way to promote muscular flexibility and avoid the potential for sports-related injury. Sports massage, unlike other types of massage therapy, is specifically designed to work out tightness and inelasticity in active muscle groups, reduce port-workout soreness, and promote active recovery in muscles and soft tissue stressed by an active lifestyle. Sports massage can even reduce recovery times between workouts, to help you stay more active and healthy than ever.
Benefits of Sports Massage
You don’t need to be a professional sports player or competitive athlete to enjoy the benefits of sports massage. In fact, sports massage offers many benefits for anyone seeking to maintain a regular exercise routine, from biking or running to walking, yoga, or water aerobics.
When performed by a licensed massage therapist, sports massage can help:
- Improve muscle flexibility and elasticity, and even extent range of motion
- Relieve workout-related tension, discomfort, and pain in active muscle groups
- Promote muscular recovery to decrease recovery time between workouts
- Decrease healing time for existing injuries
- Prevent common sports- and overuse-related injuries
- Increase muscle growth and endurance performance by improving blood circulation
- Reduce blood pressure and heart rate
Your Unique Sports Massage Experience
Sports massage is a targeted massage technique designed to concentrate on specific muscle groups and areas of soft tissue stressed by exercise and an active lifestyle. Your specific sports massage will depend on the type or types of exercise you do, and will require a customized plan unique to you and your body.
Your specific sports massage may involve a variety of different massage techniques, including for example:
- Muscle energy: by actively contracting large muscular grouping, sports massage can help relax, stretch, and strengthen tight and inflexible muscles
- Trigger point massage repeatedly manipulates trigger points (also called “knots”) within large muscle groupings utilizing patterns of isolated pressure and release
- Myofascial release targets the fascia (the connective tissue around bones, muscles, and tendons) by alternatively relaxing and stretching the target zones
- Soft tissue release utilizes active, passive, and potentially even weight-bearing techniques in order to target stiff, tight tendons, fascia, and muscles
Unlike other types of massage, sports massage targets specific muscle groups stressed by your active lifestyle. Yet while sports massage isn’t generally performed for relaxation, studies have shown that sports massage can have psychological as well as physical benefits. Like more relaxation-focused massage techniques, sports massage can help lower anxiety, improve mood, and help promote better sleep.
Adding sports massage into your active lifestyle can help you sustain your regular exercise, support your physical fitness, and improve your health and well-being. So schedule your sports massage today!
Contact Urban Acupuncture Center in Columbus, OH For More Information
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other alternative healing treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
by urban-acupuncture | Jun 13, 2020 | Massage Therapy
Hand and Foot Massage Reflexology
Take a minute or two and think about how much we rely on our hands and feet each minute of each day. When you really stop to consider it, even the simplest, everyday activity often involves either our hands, our feet, or even both simultaneously! So it should come as no big surprise that tension in our hands and/or our feet can take a huge toll on our health and it should come as no big surprise that relieving that tension can have a huge positive impact on our overall well-being!
Reflexology is a specific massage technique based on the ancient premise that our entire body is fully interconnected, and that addressing pressure points in one area of the body impacts other organs and/or bodily systems. Reflexology, or put more simply hand and foot massage, is premised on the idea that applying restorative pressure to the hands and/or the feet can create a positive effect in specific other areas of the body. In other words, not only does hand and foot massage feel great, it can make you healthier as well.
Here are six specific benefits associated with hand and foot massage!
Reduces stress and anxiety.
Just the right amount of pressure on exactly the right spots on the hands and feet is literally relaxing. In other words, stimulating the body to release physical tension throughout the body by massaging the hands and feet helps the mind relax, unwind, and release tension as well. Whether as a stand-alone treatment or when incorporated into other massage techniques, a hand and foot massage is a great way to relieve stress and reduce anxiety!
Lifts depression and improves mood.
The power of human touch is amazing when it comes to fighting depression. Reflexologists—licensed massage therapists with specialized training in hand and foot massage—understand exactly what points on the hands and/or the feet are best for fighting depression, improving overall mood, and enhancing a sense of personal well-being.
Pain relief.
If you are experiencing pain in your hands or your feet, then the benefit of a relevant hand or foot massage is pretty straight-forward; for example, if you spend all day, every day on your feet (especially if you cannot wear supportive footwear), a daily foot massage, even just for a few minutes, will go a long way towards reducing resulting discomfort. However, a well-performed reflexology massage, hitting specific pressure points in the hands and feet, has been shown to relieve pain and discomfort in other areas of the body as well!
Improved blood flow.
One of the primary benefits of massage in general is improved blood flow, and this is especially true of the hands and feet. Located at “the extremity” of the body, it can be difficult for blood to easily reach the furthest points in the hands and feet, resulting in a lack of sufficient oxygen to the nerve endings. In the worst cases, this can lead to extra sensitivity, tingling, and even numbness. A restorative massage of the hands and/or the feet can help restore proper blood flow for better oxygenation.
Better sleep habits.
Some experts argue that a good night’s sleep is the ultimate foundation for health and wellness. Unfortunately, given our busy lives and jam-packed schedules, getting to bed on time and letting the mind settle in order to fall asleep quickly can be challenging. The overall relaxation and well-being that comes from a hand and foot massage can significantly improve your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, in order to ensure that you get the rest you need to make it through your busy day.
Healthy feet and hands.
Perhaps the most obvious, yet the most overlooked, benefit of a hand and/or foot massage is the impact such a massage has on the health of your hands and feet. Whether we spend all day typing at a keyboard or standing on our feet, we rely on our hands and our feet all day, every day! So giving your hands and feet a little TLC with a gentle, stimulating massage performed by a licensed massage therapist can be just what they need to stay healthy so you can stay healthy!
Contact Urban Acupuncture Center in Columbus, OH For More Information
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other alternative healing treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
by urban-acupuncture | May 2, 2020 | Massage, Massage Therapy
What is a Myofascial Release Massage?
Myofascial release is a soft tissue therapy used to treat deep muscular tension, somatic dysfunction, and pain by relaxing the fascia (the fibrous bands around muscles, ligaments, and tendons). The technique requires very firm pressure that stretches and elongates deep muscle tissue, increasing range of motion and circulation.
Myofascial Release vs. Massage
Massage involves stroking and kneading motions, usually administered with lubricants, making it easy for the therapist to slide their hands over the recipient’s skin. This is ideal for anyone with tension or tired muscles caused by exercise, sleeping in an odd position and just ordinary daily stresses. Massages usually last 30-60 minutes and can relieve muscle tension including the release of “knots” in the muscles. While people usually feel peaceful afterwards (although sometimes sore from the release of the muscle knots), it doesn’t typically address pain in the connective tissue.
Myofascial release applies sustained pressure on targeted areas of connective tissue (fascia) that surround your muscles and bones. This pressure is meant to release the restriction in the connective tissue so that you have greater range of motion and less pain. The physical therapist, who is trained in myofascial release, maintains pressure for three to five minutes at a time in the targeted area. Using steady pressure is the key. The fibers must be allowed sufficient time to soften and stretch. No lubricant is added to the skin so the therapist can locate and release the areas of connective tissue that are restricted.
Myofascial Release techniques have a wide range of potential benefits including (but not limited to):
- Corrects muscle imbalances
- Improves joint range of motion and overall flexibility
- Can help alleviate headaches or symptoms of migraines
- Reduced adhesion’s and scar tissue (from surgeries or injuries)
- Relieves muscle soreness and joint stress
- Promotion of healing are often part of the intent of the therapy including feeling more grounded and centered in your body; calms the nervous system
- Decreased overall effects of stress
- Better warm-ups for active individuals
- Increased blood flow and tissue hydration
- Myofascial Release therapy aims to address and support a variety of chronic pain conditions, and is usually repeated over several sessions for ongoing efficiency. Self-myofascial release techniques, such as with a foam roller may also be recommended which can be performed at home in order to help support the effects of the treatment.
How is myofascial release performed?
Myofascial release techniques (MFR) are designed to go in and smooth out those hard knots, returning the fascia to its normal fluid and adaptable self. In MFR, a gentle, sustained pressure is applied to points of restriction (those bunched up spots), allowing the connective tissue to release. Picture a stick of cold butter. If you jab your finger into it sharply, you’re just going to hurt your finger, and not even make a dent in the butter. But if you place your finger on the butter, and apply gentle pressure, you’ll find you’re able to slowly sink into the stick of butter, melting your way into it. This is essentially what is happening when an MFR therapist works on the body, or when one performs Self Myofascial Release (SMFR) with myofascial release tools such as rollers and balls.
Types of myofascial release
Myofascial release is typically categorized as either passive or active. Here is information on these two types and approaches to myofascial release:
1. Passive myofascial release: The passive form of myofascial release is where the therapist’s movements are guided by the patient’s body—the therapist is trained to find and identify tension in the patient’s fascia and observe how the patient’s body responds to treatment. This informs the therapist’s course of action, affecting where they stretch the patient’s fascia, how much pressure they apply, and for how long.
2. Active myofascial release: The active form of myofascial release involves the patient directed to contract and relax certain muscles under the guidance of the therapist.
A session may combine passive and active myofascial release techniques, or only use one approach.
By targeting specific areas of the fascial system, myofascial therapy can help prepare patients for more aggressive forms of strengthening, or provide pain relief for patients with restricted flexibility and movement, thus allowing patients to return to normal movement and greater function.
Contact Us For More Information
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
by urban-acupuncture | Apr 5, 2020 | Massage Therapy
What Is Deep Tissue Massage?
Deep tissue massage is a hands-on massage technique designed to treat musculoskeletal concerns, such as muscle strains, sports-related injuries, and over-use injuries such as plantar fasciitis and tennis elbow. Unlike some massage techniques that focus on a light, gentle touch, deep tissue massage involves the application of firm and sustained pressure targeting the inner layers of muscles and connective tissues. Depending on each patient’s specific health concerns, deep tissue massage can be a full body massage, or it can be used to focus on one specific problem area. And while deep tissue massage can be emotionally relaxing as well as physically restorative, the slow and deep strokes needed to get deep into the muscles can, at times, get a bit uncomfortable!
What are the Benefits of Deep Tissue Massage?
Deep tissue massage offers a number of significant benefits, primarily (although not solely) focused on maintaining muscular health. While some massage techniques are intended primarily for relaxation, deep tissue massage is intended to address problem areas and facilitate healing. Some specific physical benefits of deep tissue massage include:
- Breaking up scar tissue following an injury
- Reducing tension held deep within the muscles
- Treating muscle pain
- Improving muscle soreness and stiffness
- Reducing inflammation
- Promoting faster healing through increased blood flow
However, while the primary target of deep tissue massage is physical healing, it can—and often does—also offer psychological benefits; most patients also experience significant stress reduction and increased relaxation after a deep tissue massage!
How is Deep Tissue Massage Different from Swedish Massage?
Both deep tissue massage and Swedish massage utilize slow and sustained pressure to relieve tension in the muscular-skeletal system. However, they differ quite a bit in terms of the level of pressure involved and the intended result.
Swedish massage is much gentler than deep tissue massage, involving less tension and pressure on the muscles. It utilizes less intense pressure because the goal of Swedish massage, generally speaking, is to promote relaxation and address muscle tension caused by everyday activities. Therefore, Swedish massage is usually a full-body massage targeting the superficial muscle groups that generally “hold tension”, such as the neck, shoulders, and back.
Deep tissue massage, on the other hand, also utilizes the palms and fingers to knead and manipulate the muscles and connective tissue, but may also involve use of the elbows and forearms to get at the deeper layers of muscle. It is this deeper penetration that enables deep tissue massage to target muscle and tendon injury, scar tissue, pain and stiffness, and sports-related injury.
Like Swedish massage, a deep tissue massage will start with lighter, gentler strokes to warm up the muscles and connective tissue. Once the muscles have warmed and loosened, your licensed massage therapist will begin to use a deeper kneading, stroking, and pushing, with varying amounts of pressure, to really target problem areas. Because of deep tissue massage targets the underlying musculature, it’s not uncommon for you to experience some lingering soreness for a few days after the massage; this soreness can usually be relieved with a heating pad or cold pack on the tender area.
While deep tissue massage is generally considered to be a safe and (mostly) risk-free treatment, it is not appropriate for everyone. It is not appropriate for pregnant women or for anyone with osteoporosis or a bone-related cancer, as the pressure involved in deep tissue massage may be enough to cause a fracture in weakened bones. Deep tissue massage may also not be recommended for individuals with a clotting disorder to history of blood clots or are taking blood thinners or have a clotting disorder. It is always recommended that you speak with your medical practitioner before undergoing a deep tissue massage.
Contact Us For More Information
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
by urban-acupuncture | Mar 10, 2020 | Massage Therapy
What is Swedish Massage Therapy?
Swedish massage is the most well-known and most common type of massage therapy. The gentlest form of hands-on body work, Swedish massage therapy is designed to promote overall relaxation and well-being. Unlike deep tissue massage or myofascial release massage, Swedish therapy is a full-body massage technique that targets superficial muscle groups. During a Swedish massage, the massage therapist promotes muscle relaxation by rubbing the muscles in the same direction as blood returning to the heart. Techniques include long gliding strokes, circular pressure applied by the hands and palms, firm kneading, bending, and stretching.
As noted, Swedish massage therapy is a full-body massage technique in which the therapist will concentrate on each area of the body in turn. However, the massage therapist may concentrate on some areas more than others if he or she determines that some muscle groups are holding stress or require a firmer pressure to work out “knots”. For example, it is extremely common for individuals to “hold tension” in their shoulders and upper back, so it make take more time to fully relax those muscles. Every Swedish massage session is fully customized to meet the goals, and enhance the comfort, of each individual, and it is important to communicate with your massage therapist before and during your session.
Benefits of Swedish Massage Therapy
Generally speaking, the primary benefit of Swedish massage is relaxation! You should leave your massage session feeling loose, relaxed, and stress-free. But relaxation is not the only benefit of Swedish massage therapy. In fact, Swedish massage has a number of physical and emotional benefits that make it well-worth carving out some time in your busy schedule. For example, some additional benefits of Swedish massage therapy include:
- Increased blood flow. By stimulating the muscles with long strokes in the direction of blood flow to the heart, Swedish massage helps to open up blood vessels and improve blood flow around the body. In turn, this ensures that your muscles are getting more oxygen and nutrients and helps flush out harmful toxins more effectively.
- Improved muscle flexibility. By thoroughly relaxing the large muscle groupings, your body can experience a greater range of motion and improved flexibility. Especially when combined with a regular stretching routine, Swedish massage is a great way to minimize recovery time between workouts and prevent potential injury.
- Improving recovery time for muscle injuries. Most physicians will say that the best way to recover from a muscle-related injury is rest, relaxation, and avoiding activities that cause additional pain and discomfort. Swedish massage has help promote injury rehabilitation by kneading out adhesions and promoting muscle relaxation and flexibility.
- Pain management. Swedish massage can be an effective method of naturally managing chronic pain from sciatica, osteoarthritis, and other conditions. By communicating with your massage therapist about your specific pain points, he or she can target those areas for additional stroking and massaging for improved local circulation and enhanced muscle relaxation.
- Stress reduction. Stress reduction is likely the most well-known benefit of Swedish massage, because it really does work! Promoting muscle relaxation and improved circulation creates a physical response designed to counter your mental stresses by reducing the stress hormone cortisol. And by reducing your stress, you will find you feel better overall, with greater energy, fewer headaches, and better sleep, which in turn enables you to cope with stress better!
- Improved immune system. Reducing your levels of the stress hormone cortisol has an additional benefit as well: it actually strengths your immune system and promotes your body’s ability to self-heal, so you spend less time under the weather and more time enjoying life!
Is Swedish Massage Therapy for Me?
Swedish massage therapy is an excellent choice for anyone seeking to improve their well-being by reducing stress and enjoying a greater level of relaxation. Whether you have a specific goal or are simply looking for a way to feel a little more relaxed as you make your way in a busy, stressful world, Swedish massage is gentle and therapeutic, and a great way to make a little time just for yourself!
Contact Us
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
by urban-acupuncture | Feb 5, 2020 | Massage Therapy
Sports Massage
Swimming, biking, yoga, weight lifting, Zumba or spin class, running, or even a walk outside: medical experts all agree that regular exercise is an important element of staying healthy! Yet regardless of how you choose to stay fit—competing in local road races, joining an adult sports team, or hitting the gym a few times a week—maintaining a regular exercise routine can easily be undermined by physical fatigue, soreness and pain, and even injury.
In fact, staying healthy and fit often requires more than just exercise: proper nutrition, active recovery, injury avoidance, and rest are all equally important. And incorporating sports massage therapy, along with good eating and sleep habits, into your exercise routine can help as well. Sports massage is an excellent way to minimize pain and discomfort from DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness), relax and rejuvenate overworked muscles, increase flexibility and mobility, reduce recovery times between workouts, and even prevent injury.
Sports Massage: What Is It?
Sports massage is a type of massage therapy designed to facilitate relaxing and rehabilitating recovery in those muscles and soft tissues that have been stressed by an active, athletic lifestyle. Depending on the needs of each unique patient, sports massage usually involves a variety of massage techniques and concentrates on specific muscle groups. And don’t let the word “relaxing” confuse you: sports massage is not designed to for full-body relaxation like other massage techniques: when performed properly, a sports massage can get a bit uncomfortable as it works out tightness, inelasticity, and lack of flexibility in active muscle groups!
Just as each patient is unique, each sports massage is just as unique. Based on his/her assessment of your specific massage requirements, your licensed massage therapist will develop a customized massage plan designed to target exactly those muscle groups and areas of soft tissue damage that require it. Your specific sports massage therapy may involve techniques such as:
- Trigger point massage: involves repeatedly manipulating trigger points (or knots) within muscles with patterns of isolated pressure and release
- Myofascial release: involves relaxing and stretching the fascia, or the connective tissue around the bones, muscles, and tendons
- Muscle energy: actively contracting the largest muscular groupings can stretch, relax, and strengthen tight, inflexible muscles
- Soft tissue release: passive, active, and/or weight-bearing techniques can stretch out and relax stiffness and tightness in the tendons, fascia, and muscle
Sports Massage: Benefits
In general terms, the biggest benefit of sports massage is enhanced athletic performance. More specifically, sports massage offers a number of benefits that, when taken together, add up to help you maintain your exercise routine and recover faster between workouts. Sports massage can:
- Help relieve muscle tension, discomfort, and pain
- Promote faster post-workout recovery time to decrease time between workouts
- Improve healing for existing injuries and prevent common overuse injuries
- Improve muscle elasticity flexibility, elasticity, and range of motion
- Improve blood flow for increased muscle growth and endurance performance
- Reduce blood pressure and heart rate
And the benefits of sports massage aren’t just physical! Studies have shown that sports massage can have added psychological benefits, including lowered anxiety, improved outlook and mood, and better quality of sleep. So to support your physical fitness, your mental health, and your health and overall well-being, schedule your sports massage today!
For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 | Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.
