Low Back Pain

This is another subject I know well from my own personal experience, as well as the experience of my private practice clients over the last 7 years.

I am a runner, and as such tend to have bouts of low back pain and spasm when I am in training. This is due to my hip flexors and abdominals being weaker than they should be to sustain distance running. I work and work at strengthening these muscles, and though it reduces the pain and spasm, it never seems to be enough. Maybe we really weren't designed to run miles after miles of pavement. All my life, I have only experienced full relief after seeing my own massage therapist for some nice deep massage work on my QL (low back) and Psoas (anterior deep hip flexor).

I see the same issues in a lot of my athlete clients, particularly distance runners. Each and every one of them gets relief through massage, thought the more they train, the more often they need me to work it out.

Another thing that seems to help is having a Sleep Number bed. Being able to adjust the firmness of my bed really helps when my back aches. I need it much firmer when I am in training or my back spasms in the night.

Headaches

All my life I have suffered from tension headaches. As a teen, my parents even took me to a doctor who stated matter-of-factly, "Just stop putting your hair in a ponytail." Very helpful... By coincidence my hair has been short all my life since that moment.

In massage school 9 years ago, I discovered the first source of relief that won't destroy my kidneys. As we learned to massage to relieve others' headaches, we also got to receive the work ourselves. My headaches went away as long as I was receiving a massage a couple times a month. When I let it lapse, they returned. For me this was a breakthrough.

Over the years I have had numerous clients who come in only for headache relief. Just a 15-30 minute neck session 2-4 times a month does the trick for 90% of people with headache or migraine issues.

Chiropractic also has its merits for this problem of headaches as well. Since I have been a chiropractic and massage client for several years, I can tell the difference between a muscular headache and I spinal-misalignment-induced headache. So I know when I just need an adjustment, or when I need bodywork. For those of you who have tried massage and it hasn't worked for you, I would suggest trying chiropractic. For those of you that have tried chiropractic and it has worked, I would suggest trying massage. But make sure you get someone who know what they are doing. I have found in my own experience receiving massage that there is a great disparity between therapists, even those who attended the same school. So do your homework. Get a referral. It makes a difference.

Anxiety Relief

A couple months ago, I came across a some research suggesting that regular massage can decrease anxiety. Suffering from anxiety myself, I decided to increase my own personal massage frequency from monthly to weekly, hoping it would improve. I am happy to report that it has made quite a difference for me. I also recently started a weekly yoga class at my local yoga studio (Breathe Yoga in Daybreak, Aaron is amazing!), and it has decreased my anxiety even more. I have been able to sleep better, I have more energy, and I just feel happier. That has been excellent news for me, and my family has been enjoyed the results of a happier wife and mother. Namaste.