Archive for August, 2007
Improving Day-By-Day
22 August 2007Isn’t that what each of us want? Each has his or her own idea of improvement, but no person intentionally or consciously wakes up every morning thinking of how best to sabotage his or her day. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed I am not sure where to begin my tasks. I tend to say once things calm down a bit I will start my fitness regime again. Then I will have enough energy to complete them all. Well I am finding out that there will never be a calm unless it is a short bout just before the storm. So waiting for those perfect times makes no sense what so ever. I know when I do my meditation and Pilates I am more productive and have an increase in energy.
So why then is it so hard for me to take care of my self? I have been told it is because I am in the business of taking care of others. But that excuse Bits The Big One, Hard. I can’t use it, it just makes me a hypocrite and a lazy bum. So with increased will and determination, I am setting a goal to improve my day-to-day life.
My sister and I have great plans to make this website a resource for self-care as well. Our conversations contain much excitement for the benefit of practitioner and their clients. We hope you enjoy your journey of our site and wish you luck in your endeavors. Stay tuned for further knowledge base on self-help. If you have a special requests please feel free to forward them to us.
Get The True Picture About Massage
21 August 2007Massage is a widely misunderstood Health Care modality. Many are still in the dark ages about what a True massage is. Many times it is due to the fact that even the media can’t get facts straight. They all need a good massage to set truths ablaze.
When I think of a massage I think of relaxation and deep tissue work with tons of long releasing breaths. I don’t automatically think of happy ending and erotic breathing. Many legislatures are in the dart, trying to protect their communities from advertised massages that have nothing to do with a Therapeutic Massage.
I am very lucky my NW corner has many reputable therapists. Every now and then you hear of a bad apple choosing to ruin their careers, but for the most part the Boards take part in laws that are established to ensure that the Law abiding, Therapeutic Massage Therapists get a good reputation and fair regulations.
Regulations are great when researched correctly. People who give happy endings to their clients are not true therapists. They are not in the same Professional category and should never be regulated under the same legislation or licensing fees.
Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Preparing for Massage exams
20 August 2007When I was looking online as a student of massage for information about the National or even State Massage Exams, I found very little help. The lack of reliable information and a venture of having better resources available for fellow students of massage inspired my participation on a comprehensive study source to utilize in preparing to take State and National massage exams.
Utilizing the content baseline from the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). I and a couple other Massage Therapists have complied over 2000 questions from massage, anatomy/physiology/kinesiology, assessment, application and pathology textbooks for a broad knowledge based online Massage Exam resource.
Check out the site:
Massage-Exam.Com
Ahealth Regime or Rear Treat?
10 August 2007With more and more insurance companies providing 12-30 massages per calendar year, is it safe to call a massage a health management entity or keep it in the dark ages as a treat once a year? It might take a few extra minutes to plug in the information, print out a CMS1500 and send it to your clients Insurance Company, but it is definitely worth it.
Many of my clients are from an insurance referral or the acupuncturist I work with who accepts insurance. The others come from factors like the location of the office and the awesome atmosphere. If you don’t already accept insurance clients, I would get a move on it. CHP (Complementary Health Plan) and ASH (American Specialty Health) are the first two I applied for.
Step out side your comfort zone and enjoy an influx of clients, you might not have had without accepting insurance.
Tense Posture
8 August 2007For the sake of time, I perform gait’s and PA’s as the client is walking into the treatment room. Many people who come for a massage are not aware of the effects their posture has on their muscles. Tension headaches, mysterious shoulder problems, numbness and tingling down the limbs and even TMJD are among the most common conditions that can derive from poor posture.
How we humans hold ourselves is key to our tissue health. Holding patterns slowly develop throughout our lives making it difficult to determine the source of unwanted pain (as I myself just had to straighten my spin). Overcoming or correcting our holding patterns so our body is in alignment will help to decrease and in time alleviate the symptoms that are a result of improper body alignment.
I have only come across one client so far who didn’t want to take responsibility for their alignment. He simply said, (Isn’t this why I come to YOU)? Most people are starved for any information on how to improve; it’s just a matter of becoming aware. The normal mentality is to forget about discomfort, especially if its while you are hard at work, mentally saying I will deal with this issue later. Later never comes, the issue persists and we start to wonder why we need to be taking so many pain relievers.
Recognizing our discomfort is the first step and most of the time it takes someone pointing it out to us in order to be aware of the condition of our posture. I tell my clients to just take a few moments during the day especially if you just said “man this hurts” and tried to push the pain away by ignoring it. Instead take a second to look at your posture, align your body, take a deep breath and return to your activity. It will take repetitiveness, but if you keep at it, adjusting your body will become automatic, issues will be dissolved and you will be much happier because of your efforts.
My Ever faithful Massage Table
6 August 2007I bought my table about 2 years before I even got to school. It’s a good portable 32-pound table. I practiced on my friends and family and even through school I loved my table. Then came the time that my table didn’t meet just one criteria in my practice, the width. Comfort is first and foremost in any massage. If your table is uncomfortable it is very hard for your client to relax when their arms keep falling off the sides of the table.
I then had to invest $15 in arm extensions for my table. That satisfied the width criteria, but not the comfort. Straps go across the top Velcro on each side and clip together underneath. It would work just fine if the straps didn’t require a plastic holder, bulky enough to be felt by the client under the sheets. Therefore I have to place a fluffy blanket between the sheet and straps to accommodate comfort.
This is great for a temporary fix, but now I am looking to upgrade to a stationary table for my office.
Things I need to compare:
Width
Length
Cost
Warranties frame/vinyl
Working weight
Cabinets
Electric/standard
Lift or flat
How’s Your Water Intake?
4 August 2007Three major things that are most often discussed during a massage are derivatives of the words, stretch, breath and water. Stretching for the benefit of healthy tissue, breath for the benefit of healthy tissue and water for the benefit of healthy tissue. Hum.. You would assume we Massage Therapists were in the business of keeping tissue healthy.
Do any of your clients complain about fatigue, headaches, muscle weakness, dizziness or lightheadedness? These along with mild to excessive thirst, little or no urination and dry mouth are signs that your client is dehydrated.
Methods of proper water intake depend on many factors, including where you live, your activity level and your overall health. The body on average consists of around 60% water. The most accepted water intake table is 8 cups of water per day or 64 ounces. Another I have heard is to take your body weight and divide it in half and that is the amount of ounces you should intake per day. For me that would be around 72 ounces, that converts to 9 cups.
It is true you can get part (about 20%) of your daily water dosage through your food intake but not much, and that’s through a proper diet. Your body looses water through breathing, perspiring and digestion. Water intake is necessary, every body system requires water for proper function, for example water carries nutrients to all the cells throughout the body, it provides a moist environment for the proper function of the ears, nose and throat and the MT’s favorite function- flushing toxins out of vital organs.
These facts alone have inspired me to provide a bottle of water to each client at the end of every massage. It only coast a few dollars and gives my customer care one more boost.
Brandon Raynor, What A Tease
2 August 2007A Mr. Brandon Raynor has been protesting the restrictions placed on education for licensed Massage Therapists from the AMTA. They require 500 hours of training for more than many legitimate reasons. I checked out his site and all of the photos show horrible body mechanics. So anyone finished with his training won?t last long giving massages.
His school is a great idea for anyone wanting to learn cool massage moves, but I highly doubt that a 5 day certificate training or a 10 day diploma in massage qualifies anyone to earn a living and be governed under all the laws and authorities appropriate for running a business. Great idea for partner or friends and family massage but to tease a person into thinking they can have a career in 5 days at $1500 and 10 days at $2500 is just wrong.
For the most part he has classes available in states that currently don’t require a license, Idaho and Montana for example. I can see why he is protesting. I don’t know him personally but I am sure he means no real harm, and personally all I see is disaster written all over this situation.