Deep Tissue Massage and Myofascial release is an effective from of treatment to eliminate and manage chronic aches and pains that impact your daily life. Symptoms like: headaches, neck and shoulder pain, lower back and hip pain, sciatic pain and tendonitis, to name a few.

Typically with chronic pain, the problem goes beyond “just a tight muscle.” The real culprit is usually the deep connective tissue (fascia) that surrounds that muscle and holds the body together. Fascia is one of the main targets of deep tissue massage, resulting in a more corrective treatment which will provide long term relief.

Combining a Deep Tissue Massage with a rehabilitative Acupuncture assessment and treatment will amplify the efficacy of each modality, which will get you to your goal faster.

When we’re talking about relaxing, we don’t just want to put people to sleep and make them feel good in the moment, although all of those things are great. Relaxation massage means more than that. It’s about giving a person a safe and quiet space to turn off their brain, unplug and restore the body and more importantly, the mind.

Psychological stress has a much deeper, negative and long lasting effect on our body than we all realize. Physiologically, stress and anxiety means our nervous system is in the “fight or flight” mode, which means survival mode. Since our nervous system doesn’t know how to differentiate between a physical stress, like getting chased by a pack of wolves, and psychological stress like, work life and financial stress, our body will perceive them as the same thing. What does all of this mean? It means that:

1. Cortisol and epinephrine (stress hormones) are being secreted all the time. This leads to an over-functioning nervous system and will ultimately lead to more severe health issues like high blood pressure and adrenal fatigue.
2. Blood flow is directed to our major organs for survival (heart, lungs and brain). This means all other organs are deprived of oxygen and nutrients (intestine, liver, kidneys, ovaries, uterus, testicles).
3. A chronic state of “fight or flight” leads to more stress and anxiety, poor sleep, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, pain and depression.

Receiving a Relaxation Massage is just one tool to help “switch” your Nervous System from “fight or flight” mode to “rest and digest” mode, also known as relaxation. When our mind is calm and we feel present and our body will then get permission to heal and restore itself.

To learn more about the impact of psychological stress and how to prevent and treat it, see the “Impact of Stress” subcategory below.

Prenatal Massage Therapy is a safe and effective modality used to prevent and treat various undesirable symptoms that can arise during pregnancy. At our clinic, comfort and safety is essential. We provide various types of bolsters, pillowing and positional variations to effectively support a woman through every phase of her pregnancy. All practitioners have superior education and training in pregnancy and Prenatal Massage to effectively support a woman through all stages of pregnancy, first trimester all the way through to her postpartum phase.

Specifically Prenatal Massage can be useful in treating:

• Sciatic and hip pain
• Back pain
• Neck and shoulder tension
• Headaches (tension and migraine)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Stress and anxiety
• Poor immunity
• Poor sleep
• Swelling

Having at least one post-natal massage is extremely effective to help the body return to a natural state of homeostasis (balance and regularity). A massage in the first 2-6 weeks post-partum can stabilize hormones which in turn will manage stress, improve sleep and has been shown to help prevent post-partum depression.

See the Acupuncture and Pregnancy category to learn about how Acupuncture can naturally treat and support various symptoms that arise during pregnancy as well as labor preparation and induction acupuncture.

Regular and consistent infant massage that is performed by a parent or loved one has been proven to improve an infants sleep, immunity and mood. Multiple studies have shown skin to skin contact improves the health of both the newborn and the parent. Skin to skin can mean, baby on the chest and/or massage. Safe and gentle touch increases parent-baby bonding, a reassurance to your baby of what a safe and loving touch is, increases immunity and decreases stress, all of which has been proven to prevent and manage postpartum depression.

“Researchers found that babies who were held close to their mothers’ bodies for large portions of the day not only survived, but thrived.”

“In fact, studies have found that skin-to-skin holding stabilizes heart and respiratory rates, improves oxygen saturation rates, better regulates an infant’s body temperature, and conserves a baby’s calories.”

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/12578-kangaroo-care