Last Friday, I had a client come in for his second appointment. Jerry* has been suffering with neck pain for 4 years and has tried everything. He knows that a lot of stems from a car accident he had that left him with a whiplash injury that won’t go away.  In addition, his long shifts at an overnight job with specific repetitive movements not set up for optimal posture have been keeping the pain going.

At Jerry’s first session we discussed his health history in detail as well as the basic approach of Structural Energetic Therapy.  Then after a visual evaluation I applied the first step of SET protocol, cranial work, and then proceeded to work his muscles and soft tissue.  In this session I mainly released the chest and front neck muscles.  Jerry had some moments of “hurts good” and felt positive overall about the changes we were making. We set a second appointment for two weeks later.

One week after the first appointment I had a call from Jerry reporting substantial relief.  He admitted that the pain wasn’t gone entirely but he had more days of relief than he’s had from almost any other therapy. I was thrilled.

At his second appointment, Jerry confirmed what he had told me the week before.  He added that a few hours after the session he had a lot of painful soreness and was worried that it might stay.  But then the next day it felt completely different, like a new neck, and he knew we had done something good.

Jerry left his second appointment feeling even more inspired that we are onto something wonderful. Not only relief from his neck pain but changes in his life beyond what he may have previously been able to imagine.  I can’t wait to see what will come out of this unfolding journey.

*pseudonym

I speaking with one of my clients today she said something that I believe is really important and often overlooked.  We were talking about a post I had recently written for Upward Spiral Birth about reinstating mom’s as experts in their own bodies.  My client was reflecting on these ideas and saying how with the way the medical system is set up, doctors often don’t have the time to listen to our stories or accounts of our bodies.  And it is true.  My client said that we can talk for 15 or 20 minutes, telling our story about a previous birth or other experiences we’ve had with our bodies, and in that sharing there will be a handful of details that are pertinent to our optimal care.  The problem is, doctors are not trained to gather information through subjective data (at least not with the emphasis that objective, quantitative data receives) and patients don’t know how to discern what information is important because it is so rare that someone is listening to us.  We are just happy to have an ear and can talk for much longer than we intended just because someone is listening.

I realized, this client is right! Many times I have had someone in my room, especially a first appointment, and find myself listening to them for sometimes 10 minutes straight.  I recognized a while ago that taking this time to openly listen to them was as important as the hands-on therapy.  It helps us to build trust. Sometimes a new client shares details about a trauma and my ability to actively listen and affirm their feelings creates for them a feeling that they can talk to me about the things that perhaps the other people in their lives can not handle.  It also helps me to learn more information about where they came from and where they are at.

Though I know all of this, it was great to hear my client make this observation.  I am sure glad I listen.

In the last post I discussed how our lives tend to lead us to position our head in front of our body, which overtime can cause neck strains, herniated discs, nerve entrapment, and other related conditions.  If we have been injured in an accident, this pathway to pain can accelerate rapidly.

With our approach with SET Bodywork, we know how to address the key areas causing pain, even if they are not the places where our clients are feeling their pain.  It wasn’t until I learned this specialized therapeutic approach to structural bodywork in SET that I realized how much the front of the neck plays a key role in back and shoulder pain.

The muscles in the front of your neck and chest are often very tight when you are experiencing neck pain, but not every massage therapist knows to release them, or how to do this effectively.  Now that I practice SET Bodywork, I have seen dramatic changes in my clients. Often after just one session.

As one client who was experiencing chronic pain in her neck noted, “I never had that much of a shift from just one session before.”  That was last Spring.  I haven’t seen her since because she still feels great. What are you waiting for?

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Upward Spiral Body Therapy operates out of Surgical Alternative, Institute of Alternative Therapy.  Click here to book your session with Nyssa.

Really, right now, where is your head at? Wherever you are, without much adjustment, just take this moment and notice where your head is resting.  Is it supported on top of your torso or cradled by your hand propped up by an elbow on the table? More importantly, when you look straight down, what do you see? Your stomach, your lap?

We live extremely forward driven lives. Almost everything we do pulls our head forward in front of our body. Since the “body loves repetition,” as my teacher, Don McCann would say, our necks remember the habit of pulling our head forward and will start to keep it there. The thing is, our vertebraes are not designed to maintain this imbalanced posture and our comfort so in time, something has got to give.

At Upward Spiral, we we take all this into account when treating clients with neck and shoulder issues. When we help our clients rehabilitate from bad postural habits and injuries, we also are preventing the development of buldging/herniated discs, pinched nerves, chronic headaches and migraines, whiplash and more.

Check back for part two for when our technique distinguishes us from other massage therapists. We don’t do massage, we provide therapy.

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Upward Spiral Body Therapy operates out of Surgical Alternative, Institute of Alternative Therapy.  Click here to book your session with Nyssa.

Almost everyone is using cellular phones and laptops on a continuous basis.  Even though these devices help us to create efficiency and speed in our communications, they also come with their own hazards.

About a month ago, I started to notice a lingering pain in my thumb.  I didn’t remember hurting it while working so I started to pay attention to how I was using it.  After a couple of days it clicked.  I was starting to develop “Texting Thumb” – a painful condition from overuse in repetitive movements while using technological devices like phones and computers.

Ten years ago, there was almost an epidemic of carpel tunnel pain.  Every pain relief clinic specialized in treatments for carpel tunnel.  This was because of the increasing use of computers at work with many people using a computer for most or all of their work day.  Now, this fad has died off a bit and more specific conditions like thumb pain from texting or the use of a laptop mouse are starting to emerge.

The good part is, we know exactly how to treat it.  Instead of massaging the area of pain and doing general work on the arm, I know that to fully release the contracted tissue causing the pain, I need to also release the shoulder and arm systematically.  Our myofasical release work with SET Bodywork, allows the tissues to let go of the habitual patterns they have formed through use.  There is a ripple effect down the arm as these tissues release and sometimes when we get down to work specifically in the area of pain, the thumb for example, the releases prior have already initiated the release of the painful area before we even touch it.

Whether you suffer from neck pain, shoulder pain, frozen shoulder syndrome, tennis elbow, or other repetitive movement injuries, know that relief is possible. Being painfree means being more productive, because who cares about doing a good job when you are just waiting to go home. Bodywork may be the key to success. Or at least, what keeps us on good terms with our machines.

Grand Opening for our new location at Surgical Alternative will be this Saturday, December 10th from 10am-2pm. It is an open house event, all ages welcome.

Activities include:

• Experience Scavenger Hunt – a fun way to make sure you get to try out all the therapies we have to offer
• De-Stress Tips – posted all throughout our office. Pay attention and complete a quiz to enter to win a free treatment!
• Informational Talks: Hot/Cold Therapy for Pain Relief @ 11:30am, Stress and Bodywork @ 12:15pm, Outdoor Yoga: Neck/Shoulder Release @ 1pm
• Holiday Shopping Bazaar with handmade items by local crafters
• FREE FOOD

Last October I wrote about how I have started to use more essential oils with my clients after attending the Blossoming Heart workshop with Robbi Zeck, ND.  This was my second time around with this workshop, and it served as a reminder about the potential power inherent in essential oils.

I have started to share Robbi’s system of aromatic kinesiology with some of my clients who have been impressed by the accuracy in their bodies ability to pinpoint their current emotional state.  Aromatic Kinesiology provides a framework through which we can ask the body what it needs and it comes back with information about what the client needs for emotional transformation.

For example, I had a client who had just come back from a motorcycle trip where she had felt that she couldn’t keep up  with her fellow travelers who were a bit more experienced and adventurous.  Her body identified the oil Frankincense, which as about moving between vulnerable to protected.  When I read these words to her she got goosebumps.  We used the oil in her session and she even went out to find some to use at home.

If you are curious about which essential oil your body might direct us to use, come out this Saturday for our Grand Opening and receive your FREE Blossoming Heart Aromatherapy evaluation.  This and more is a part of our “Experience Scavenger Hunt” we are inviting our guests to participate in.  Join us this Saturday from 10am-2pm at Surgical Alternative.

Heat is an amazing therapeutic tool that sometimes gets overlooked because of its own simplicity.  Though heat may not relieve long term pain permanently, it can provide temporary relief and is really very easy to do.

Providing heat to an area of pain will help to lengthen and relax over tight muscles, improve circulation, and reduce muscle spasms.  The increase in blood flow allows the cells to receive nutrients and exchange their waste materials, allowing tissues to repair where damaged.  Plus, as I mentioned in the last post, it feels comforting.  As someone who practices therapeutic bodywork, I know that just feeling safe, supported, and cared for is sometimes enough to let our body heal itself.

At home, heat therapy can be as simple as drawing a bath; use some epsom salt for additional release of toxins from your body.  Or you can heat up a rice sock or one of our Mother Earth Pillows, sold here in the office.

When using heat, always remember to be MINDFUL OF TEMPERATURE.  Never put a hot pack directly on your skin, and always test out the water before getting in.  There is no use in burning while trying to feel better.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use both hot and cold therapy for pain relief, be sure to come to my talk at 11:30am at our Grand Opening here at Surgical Alternative on December 10th.

As a deep tissue massage therapist in Tampa, I believe in helping people who live with chronic pain to learn how to also help themselves. Though our SET Bodywork is highly effective for many conditions such as herniated discs, bulging dics, scoliosis, plantar fascitis, heal spurs, myofascial relief and more, the therapist and the client are a team.  I can’t be with my clients all the time, but I can help them learn what they can do for themselves in between sessions.  That’s empowerment.

Now that it is getting cooler out, the use of heat for therapy seems to feel even more comforting.  Whether you suffer from chronic pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, backache during pregnancy, or just are looking for an easy way to relax and unwind, heat therapy is an easy and inexpensive form of alternative medicine.

Cultures from all over the world and across time have acknowledged the power of the sun as a source of health and vitality. I don’t know about you, but getting my skin in a little bit of sun is sometimes just what I need.  The sun’s rays feel so good partly because they help our body produce chemicals essential to our well-being, but I think it is also because warmth soothes our bodies.

There are physiological reasons why heat therapy in the form of baths or hot packs can help alleviate the pain of muscle aches and soreness, chronic lower back pain, chronic neck pain, muscle spasms, tension headaches and more, which you can learn more about my talk on Hot/Cold Therapy for Pain Relief at 11:30 am on December 10 at our Grand Opening and experience our new product, Mother Earth Pillows.

Heat is a great compliment to types of myofasical release therapy like SET Bodywork and why I use it in my sessions in the office. Click here to schedule your appointment.

Check back soon for how to use heat at home in part 2!

One thing about this job is I get to get pretty intimate with my clients.  I strive to create a space where they feel comfortable to share anything that may help me to maximize the benefits of our sessions.  Sometimes that means talking about something we all hopefully share in common: bowel movements.

A client I have been seeing for a few years recently revealed that beyond the other areas of pain we have been working on, he has never been really, “regular.”  So in his session before last I made sure to address the abdomen.  Even though I have worked in this area before, it had been a while and now that we had this new objective I paid particular attention to releasing restrictions in this area.

I found out when I saw him again last week that the results of that session were monumental.  He felt like he got to let go of a lot of old stuff; and indeed, he did.

A recent study on PubMed reveals that massage can be very beneficial to constipation, and suggests that the massage helps the client to learn to relax both physically and emotionally contributing to increased regularity. Our stomach area is one of the most vulnerable parts of our body, housing vital organs upon which our survival depends.

Sometimes our body wants to protect itself, but ends up cutting off the normal physiological function of our bodies.  Even being under constant stress can do this to us.  When we are stressed out our bodies are responding as if we are preparing to fight or flight.  In the instances when we need this, some systems like digestion are shut down to reserve energy for defending or fleeing.  Unfortunately, we have the capability to be stressed about things even when they are not happening and can create a constant depletion of energy for digestion.  Imagine someone you know that you might call a “tight-ass” – do they seem stressed to you?

Stress is not the only cause of constipation, but can be a major contributor.  Relaxation is all about learning to “let go” – sometimes even the simplest human functions are great metaphors for life.