Posted by admin on 2 June, 2009
Turner Massage Therapy specializes in injury rehabilitation and pain relief. Whether you are dealing with an old injury or a new ache, we will help decrease pain and increase comfort and mobility in your daily life.
Contact
Kristin Turner, CMT
Licensed and Certified Massage Therapist
Tel: 970-691-8668
Email: kristin@turnermassage.com
_______________________________
Articles below organized by “Categories” menu on left
Posted by admin on 13 December, 2011
Female skiers are four to six times more likely than men to damage the main ligaments in their knees, mostly due to skeletal and muscle mechanics. Fortunately, some preventative steps can be taken to avoid injury and often, surgery. Pro-skier Michelle Parker describes the exercises that she underwent during extensive physical therapy after her knee surgery.
“Check out my photos of different exercises that I used after surgery—they’re also very helpful in prevention. It’s important to work on balancing your skier thighs out with lots of hamstring and V.M.O. (the muscle that runs on the inside of the quad) exercises. Those two muscle groups are important if you don’t want to injure your knee.
“The photos include bridges which target your hamstrings and can be done on an exercise ball or a pilates reformer or just a low box or chair, dead lifts with a 15 pound weight again targeting your hamstrings, T.K.E.s on a pressurized Kieser machine or an exercise rubber band for the V.M.O. muscle, and the infamous butt box that targets none other than your butt and is performed on the pilates reformer. There is also a photo of the foam roller. The foam roller is a tool that helps you give your muscles a deep tissue massage. It also targets your I.T. bands. The foam roller isn’t super fun (it’s actually painful, especially if you’re tight), but it helps loosen up your body. I travel with it everywhere I go to keep up regular muscular maintenance.”
Click here for full story
Posted by admin on 13 December, 2011
http://www.amtamassage.org/articles/4/eTouch/detail/2509
Managing stress, especially during the chaotic holiday season, can be key to maintaining your overall health. The importance of taking time out to get a massage every month cannot be underestimated. During the in-between time, however, here are a few tips to help you manage stress.
Make a list. For many of us, the time preceding the holidays can feel over-whelming. Trying to figure out what to take care of first can leave you feeling paralyzed. Pull out a calendar and look just one week ahead. Make a list of what you need to accomplish; then, prioritize your list in order of importance. As the week goes by, cross items off your list as you complete them. Seeing your list shrink will help you feel empowered and more in control.
Exercise. We all know that staying active is one key to overall wellness and weight control, but, according to the Mayo Clinic, exercise also has some very real stress-busting side effects. Physical activity helps to bump up the production of the body’s endorphins which improves your mood. Don’t make exercise just another chore; find an activity you enjoy—whether that’s meeting a friend for tennis or taking a ten-minute walk—and make it part of your daily routine.
Meditate. In many cases, taking deep breaths will be your body’s natural reaction to stress. Take advantage of this instinct by repeatedly inhaling slowly through your nose, holding the breath for a minute, and exhaling through your mouth. During this time, you can also try to clear your head of any stressful thoughts. Focus your mind on a peaceful image or favorite memory while at the same time taking deep, cleansing breaths.
Posted by admin on 7 July, 2011
July 5, 2011 — Massage may be serious medicine, at least when it comes to treating persistent low back pain, a new study shows.
Low back pain is one of the top reasons people seek medical attention in the U.S., and it is notoriously tough to treat. Studies show very few medical therapies, from medications to injections to surgeries, reliably relieve it, and some can aggravate the problem.
The new study randomly assigned 400 adults with moderate-to-severe low back pain lasting for at least three months to either weekly whole-body massages for relaxation, weekly massages that focused on specific muscle problems around the lower back and hips, or usual care.
After 10 weeks, participants in both massage groups reported greater average improvements in pain and functioning compared to those in the usual care group. And the type of massage they received didn’t seem to matter.
“It’s not really harmful, and it does help a significant chunk of people who have not benefited from other treatments,” says study researcher Daniel C. Cherkin, PhD, associate director and senior scientific investigator with the Center for Health Studies at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle.
The study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It’s published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Read full article here.
Posted by admin on 1 December, 2010
An Athlete’s Chronic Pain
Nick James is a well known snowboarder in Winter Park, Colorado. He thinks nothing of throwing himself off a jump that launches him three stories off the ground. But there is one spot along his shoulder blade that has plagued him since a snowboarding injury several years ago. It sometimes keeps him from using his arm, or from spinning the last 180 degrees of his 900 degree spins.
However, after a 30-minute session of neuromuscular therapy (NMT), he felt instant relief. With some self-healing techniques and some follow-up NMT sessions, he knows how to quickly relieve his pain and over time, eliminate it.
What is Neuromuscular Therapy?
Neuromuscular therapy is a branch of massage therapy. It involves the therapist applying static pressure to a specific area of muscle. This area often contains a “trigger point” that refers pain to another area of the body when touched, and is often responsible for chronic bodily pain.
NMT is based on several physiological laws that explain how the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) receives and transmits pain. By understanding these laws, treating trigger points, increasing blood flow to constricted muscles, and encouraging proper structural alignment, NMT can balance the nervous and muscular systems and reduce pain.
Posted by admin on 15 January, 2010
What is considered a sport? Certainly tennis, skiing, soccer and running. But what about walking, cleaning, or working on the computer? While you might not win an Olympic medal for the latter activities, they can all stress your body just as a sport does. If you are feeling pain or discomfort from any specific activity, a sports massage might be the best choice for you.
Sports massage is different from a relaxing swedish massage for several reasons:
- A relaxation massage does not target specific muscles while the sports massage focuses on muscles and muscle groups that have been stressed and overused.
- Sports massage focuses on goals such as flushing metabolic waste and improving circulation, stretching and improving range of motion, and breaking up muscle-fiber adhesions and scar tissue.
- A sports massage therapist is trained to know which muscles are involved with various sports and activities.
Even if you don’t consider yourself an athlete, sports massage might be the right choice for you.
Posted by admin on 7 October, 2009
Thai Yoga Massage for Partners, Friday, November 6, 6:30-8:30 pm
$25/$20 by Nov. 1, min. 6 people
To register, call 970.726.5786
Nicknamed “lazy yoga,” Thai Yoga Massage allows you to relax while someone else eases you through yoga-like stretches combined with acupressure. The stretching will leave you moving freely and the acupressure will release muscle tension and energize you. You will spend half the workshop relaxing and receiving this amazing bodywork, and the other half learning how to give a simple Thai massage. Requirements: Bring a partner or pair up in class. Wear comfortable clothing for free movement. This class will require you to move and sit in various positions and to do some lifting. All levels, including beginners.
Location: Mountain Moon Yoga
The studio is located in downtown Winter Park on Vasquez Road and Highway 40 in the upstairs courtyard at Winter Park Station. Park in the upper lot and look for the green Yoga sign.
Posted by admin on 16 August, 2009
When a friend mentioned taking vitamin D supplements, I scoffed. Everyone knows that a little sun exposure is enough for our bodies produce enough vitamin D, right? Although Colorado isn’t ranked in the top five sunniest states, we still get a lot of sun. Since I am an outdoor-loving Coloradan, I never worried about getting enough vitamin D. However, after a bit of research, I realize that maybe I should worry.
Why is vitamin D important to health?
Vitamin D is necessary for calcium and phosphorus absorption, bone growth and bone strength. It is necessary for preventing osteoporosis and rickets. Additionally, vitamin D deficiencies are correlated to some very serious health problems such as certain cancers, multiple sclerosis, Chrohn’s disease and other autoimmune and infectious diseases.
Dietary sources
One way we can obtain vitamin D is from our diet. Only several foods contain vitamin D. Certain fish products (cod liver oil, salmon, tuna and sardines) provide the most, followed by fortified milk, fortified juices and cereals, eggs, beef liver, and cheese. Dietary vitamin D may also be obtained through supplements as D2 or D3. The D3 form is currently shown to have wider benefits.
Sun exposure
The other method of obtaining vitamin D is through sun exposure. UVB rays penetrate the skin and divide cholesterol-like molecules in the epidermis of the skin into vitamin D. However, spending a few minutes in the sun does not produce adequate amounts of vitamin D for many people. Other factors must met:
* Time of day: exposure must occur between 10 AM - 3 PM
* Length of exposure: anywhere from 3 - 60 minutes if the face, arms and hands are exposed
* Frequency of exposure: two times per week
* Skin tone: lighter skin synthesizes vitamin D faster than dark skin
* Latitude and season: latitudes exceeding 42 degrees do not receive enough UVB light for adequate vitamin D synthesis during the 6 months of winter. Latitudes from 0 - 32 degrees get enough throughout the year. Grand County lies at approximately 40 degrees, so we may get slightly more than 6 months of adequate UVB exposure.
* Obstructions to exposure: sunscreen, cloud cover, pollution
* Elevation above sea level: If you live at higher elevation, the atmosphere is thinner and you receive more UVB rays
How much do we need?
The answers to this question are commonly debated. The US Institute of Medicine of The National Academies recommends the daily “Adequate Intake” (AI) of vitamin D to be between 200 and 600 International Units (200 IU of vitamin D are equal to 2.4 micrograms). However, in 2007, articles challenging this number emerged from the Harvard School of Public Health and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers claimed that the number is much too low for optimum health benefits. Those researchers suggested that the figure for daily AI for adults should increase to 1,000 to 2,000 IUs and that some people may need up to 4,000 IUs per day.
The dramatic jump from 200 to 2,000 IUs may raise concerns about the safety of taking so much more vitamin D. The Institute of Medicine maintains that more clinical trials are necessary to determine risks of taking vitamin D supplements above existing recommended levels. High vitamin D levels may result in calcium and phosphate deposition in the kidneys and other soft tissues. Toxic vitamin D overdose from supplements generally occurs after 40,000 IUs are taken daily over a long period of time. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, confusion and heart rhythm abnormalities. If you want to know how much vitamin D you should be taking, you may ask your physician to order a blood test for vitamin D.
Sun exposure can generate more vitamin D than is typically required. According to McGill University researchers, in the right conditions, a white adult in a bikini can accumulate as much as 10,000 IUs of vitamin D in 15 - 20 minutes. This is five times more than the Institute of Medicine’s “Upper Limit” (UI) figure. However, a vitamin D overdose from sun exposure is not possible because the vitamin is degraded by UVB rays after a certain point. Although sunlight will not cause toxic levels of vitamin D, it does frequently cause skin cancer. The American Academy of Dermatology states that any unprotected exposure to UV rays increases the risk of skin cancer. Therefore, the AAD unsurprisingly recommends that vitamin D be obtained exclusively from dietary sources.
So, how much sun exposure do Coloradans need?
This is a difficult question to answer since there is so much controversy regarding the right amounts to obtain and the safety of UV exposure. However, to get a rough idea of how much sun exposure I might need to get 1,000 IUs of vitamin D, I used an online calculator created by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. I entered data indicating that I am fair skinned, live in Denver, and it is summer. The results told me that I only need to expose my face, arms, and hands to the sun for 4 minutes midday, every other day. I found this number pleasantly achievable. However, during the winter, I would need to expose the same amount of skin for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the chilly temperatures and frequent snowfalls prevent me from basking sleeveless in the sun for 45 minutes during the winter.
I must admit, I rarely take vitamins although I know I should. I try my best to get my vitamins from the foods I eat, and I think I do a fairly good job. However, after learning more about vitamin D, I doubt that I am getting an ideal amount during the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky and I stay bundled up in my scarf, hat and gloves. Since vitamin D deficiency may be linked to such debilitating diseases as MS and cancer, I don’t want to take the risk. Whether it’s a capsule of cod liver oil or a pill of the synthesized stuff, this Colorado gal is going to be supplementing this winter.
Vitamin D Resources:
National Institute of Health
World Health Organization
Harvard University
Posted by admin on 8 July, 2009
The first time you heard the phrase, “Thai Massage,” what came to mind?
Most of us hear the word “massage” and picture hands kneading your muscles. During my first Thai massage, I was surprised to learn that I would remain fully clothed, rest on a floor mat, and relax while the practitioner moved my body through what felt like a series of yoga poses. After being gently stretched, pulled, twisted, pressed, and folded, I felt limber and refreshed. It wasn’t what I expected, but I felt spectacular.
I suppose anyone witnessing the session would have though I was being tortured (although I think the most awkward looking techniques are the ones that feel the best). An unknowing witness would probably agree with Simon de la Loubere, a French diplomat and the first Westerner to document Thai massage. In 1690, he wrote:
When any person is sick in Siam [Thailand] he begins with causing his whole body to be moulded by one who is skillful herein, who gets upon the body of the sick person and tramples him under his feet. - (Mercati, Maria. Thai Massage Manual, 1998.)
I hope Mr. Loubere experienced the trampling and enjoyed it as much as I did.