A
n explanation of the Massage that I Practice
By Gary Moller
DipPhEd PGDipRehab PGDipSportMed (Otago) FCE Certified, Nutra-Life & Kordel’s Certified Natural Health Consultant
15 Heaton Tce, Brooklyn, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
Phone/fax: 64 4 801 6436 Mobile: 0274 930 979
Introduction
The kind of massage that I practice is a personal style that has been refined over many years. It is a blend of sports massage, deep tissue massage and elements of traditional Polynesian massage and Rolfing. I use no tools other than my hands. While some pain may be felt, this is carefully measured and only to the extent that one is setting out to stimulate healing processes that improve tissue health and function. I rely on experience to apply just the right amount of pressure to injured and unhealthy areas to get a healthy response.
Why you should feel great after several sessions
Muscles that are tense have poor circulation and they may become swollen and inflamed due to a build-up of fluid and toxins that would normally be flushed and eliminated from the body. There may be physical changes to the affected areas due to the harmful effect of poor oxygenation and accumulation of metabolic toxins. Areas that are affected in this way are often:
Hard and lumpy
Tender to the touch
Puffy and lacking definition
Redness and discoloration of the skin
Eczema and various skin infections
And the person often feels tired, depressed and achy.
Massage, when done right, can reverse many of these unhealthy changes.
Muscles that are soft and relaxed and not glued to surrounding structures are richly nourished and cleansed by unimpeded blood and lymph flows. The person feels strong, quick, bubbling with energy, alert and tireless. This is exercise physiology at its simplest: When muscles are relaxed, blood flows through them with ease. This is why, for example, blood pressure may drop with massage of the large muscle of the legs.
Physical Benefits
Helps relieve stress and aids relaxation
Helps relieve muscle tension and stiffness
Fosters faster healing of strained muscles and sprained ligaments; reduces pain and swelling; reduces formation of excessive scar tissue
Reduces muscle spasms
Provides greater joint flexibility and range of motion
Enhances athletic performance; Treats injuries caused during sport or work
P
romotes deeper and easier breathing
Improves circulation of blood and movement of lymph fluids
Reduces blood pressure
Helps relieve tension-related headaches and effects of eye-strain
Enhances the health and nourishment of skin
Improves posture
Strengthens the immune system
Relieves musculoskeletal problems
Rehabilitation post operative
Rehabilitation after injury
Mental Benefits
Fosters peace of mind
Promotes a relaxed state of mental alertness
Helps relieve mental stress
Improves ability to monitor stress signals and respond appropriately
Enhances capacity for calm thinking and creativity
E
motional Benefits
Satisfies needs for caring nurturing touch
Fosters a feeling of well-being
Reduces levels of anxiety
Creates body awareness
Increases awareness of mind-body connection
A little known reason why massage can boost exercise performance
Think of a muscle as a kind of “sponge pump”. At rest, the heart does all the pumping. When a muscle contracts during exercise, it squeezes out the de-oxygenated blood back to the heart where it goes through the lungs and liver to be re-oxygenated and cleansed. When it relaxes, the muscle is engorged with nutrient and oxygen rich arterial blood. And so the process of pumping goes on and on and on with each cycle of rhythmic contraction and relaxation. The muscle pumps the blood back to the heart while the heart concentrates on delivery of blood to the working muscles.
Unfortunately, with injury, overuse and nutrient depletion, this wonderful sponge pump progressively becomes hard and impervious. Instead of a powerful pumping action, it is more like a feeble “squish”. The heart must work hard for it must now suck as well as push during vigorous exercise. The heart and the muscles tire quickly, lactic acid builds and muscle glycogen is rapidly depleted.
Massage can be employed to restore this muscle pump action to its fullest capacity. The athlete undergoing such therapy will notice steady gains in performance for no increase in relative heart rate. The athlete will also discover to their delight that he or she can go longer and faster before exhaustion sets in. This is because a soft athletically conditioned muscle will go for as long as the circulation can supply sufficient oxygen and other nutrients and remove the metabolic wastes as fast as they are made.
Fascial Plane Dysfunction
Fascia wraps the body parts so that they are separate units. It covers most of the body in continuously connected sheets. Fascia allows parts to slip and slide, such as the bellies of muscles and their tendons. Injury, postural patterns and chemical imbalances within the body can cause these sheets to distort and bind to themselves and nearby tissues. Since all major blood vessels and nerves follow these fascial sheathes through the body, properly aligned and released fascia is vital to good health and the proper operation of the circulatory and nervous systems. This kind of dysfunction is very common in sports people and may build layer-by-layer as the years pass causing the person to grind into a painful retirement as muscles and ligaments are progressively glued down.
Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction
Pain and physiological dysfunction originate from distinct points within muscles and their fascial tissues. These areas are known as trigger points because they often trigger distant reactions. Trigger points may be felt as hard lumps that are extremely painful to press.
Some of the conditions associated with trigger points and myofascial pain are: carpal tunnel syndrome, TMJ dysfunction, PMS, headache, diarrhoea, dizziness, cardiac arrhythmia, indigestion, tennis elbow, urinary frequency, sinusitis, deafness, and blurred vision.
Muscle Tone Dysfunction
When overused, muscles can lose their ability to understand how to relax. This is referred to as hypertonic. As a result, the muscles become overly tight. They tend to harbour myofascial trigger points, and cause stress on the muscles that oppose them and the joints that they cross. This is very common in endurance athletes. These muscles may appear swollen, hard to touch and tender to press.
Neuromuscular Dysfunction
The smallest muscular activity requires that countless nerve impulses be sent to the muscle to be activated and to all of the adjoining and opposing muscles. Take knee flexion for example: This requires that you must tighten the quadriceps and other associated muscles while simultaneously relaxing the hamstrings and other associated muscles. The combined nervous activity and muscular response must be precisely timed and exactly proportionate. A chronic hamstring strain may be the result of dysfunction in the coordination of nerve activity with the mechanism responsible for such coordination breaking down and muscle fibres or whole muscles locking in opposition to their normal activity.
This kind of dysfunction is seen in cases of chronic back pain.
Dermatomic Dysfunctions
When a nerve is pinched where it leaves the spine, or anywhere along its route, the area that the nerve serves will feel pain. This called “referred pain”. Many people have experienced such a problem with the sciatic nerve. It originates in the low back, but when pinched can make the knee, shin, or heel hurt. Dermatomic pain - pain in an area of skin can be referred pain and is often felt as a hot, burning sensation, or hypersensitivity to brushing. The original problem (The low back, for example) may resolve weeks, months and even years ago; but the pain may remain, independent of the original injury.
Massage is not enough on its own
Muscle tension and muscle and nerve dysfunction usually have strong nutritional components at work that must be indentified and addressed if there is to be long-term relief and gains in performance and well-being. No two people are fully alike and, while there are various rules of thumb that can be applied like Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) my training in nutrition enables a more personalised approach to nutrition for health and performance. I have assessment tools that can be used to help determine if any special nutrient supplementation is required. Ask me about these assessments if you think there may be nutritional factors affecting your health.
The massage I do helps to break muscle spasm, soften scar and gristle and to remove cross-adhesions that may be binding muscles, tendons and their fascia. This causes some pain and bruising and good nutrition is essential for healing – the removal of cell debris and metabolic wastes and the laying down of new, healthy tissue.
Tissue that is tense and inflamed can be engorged with acidic metabolic toxins. This foul liquid is best described as being akin to stagnant pond water. When released into the blood and the lymphatic system, these toxins can make the person feel tired and almost ‘fluey’ for a few days. The liver and kidneys must work hard to eliminate these. Fresh water and supplementary vitamin C and the B vitamins support the liver with its detoxifying work. Much of the weight loss many people notice after 4-8 sessions is due to the excretion of a litre or two of toxic fluid from the body tissues. Needless to say, they look great and feel full of energy with that toxic stuff out of their bodies!
Exercise assists relaxation, healing and the elimination of metabolic wastes. Exercise can relieve spasm, mobilise locked joints and stretch scar and gristle. It can improve posture and strength and endurance. I may give you exercises to assist your recovery. I generally favour exercise that gets you outdoors. If you spend most of your day indoors, it is essential for your physical and mental well-being to get outdoors daily to make direct contact with the wind, the sun, the earth and water.
H
ow many sessions do I need to get results?
The number of sessions will vary depending on your health and the accumulative effects of years of over use and abuse of your muscles and ligaments. Many people will notice an immediate improvement in well-being after just one session. Others may feel sore and ill after the first few sessions.
The general rule of thumb is to plan for about eight to 12 sessions with a three to six day break between sessions. Significant improvements should be noted after about the third session. Concurrent with this should be a programme of exercise and nutrition, including some supplements. Depending on neeed, it is beneficial to take supplementary vitamins and minerals along with plenty of fresh water. These assist healing and aid the liver with eliminating the metabolic toxins that flood the circulation following the first three or four sessions.