Massage + Natural Medicine
[ˈhōlsəm]
p r o v i n g s e l f - c a r e i s p r e v e n t i v e h e a l t h
Massage Therapy
We find the root cause of the problem, write your unique massage treatment, teach you about your imbalances, how to fix them and combat daily wear and tear based on what you do with your body regularly. We take into consideration your work, hobbies, sleep patterns, how you drive, carry your children, etc. You'll even get a thorough self-care treatment plan to help you combat your problem areas and health issues on your own!
Are You Experiencing Any of These Pain Points?
01. Computer Workers- you guys have it the worst!
back, neck and shoulder pain from bad posture; headaches/migraines; carpal tunnel; numbness/tingling in arms or hands
02. Parents
hip, shoulder, neck and back pain from carrying kids on one hip or hunching from breastfeeding
03. The Injured
scar tissue build up that's inhibiting range of motion in joints or causing back pain and nerve pinching
04. Cross Fitters | Weight trainers
lacking range of motion; joint pain, muscle soreness/tightness (hypertonicity)
05. Cyclists| Mountain Bikers
knee pain, hypertonicity in legs, hip pain; low back pain all due to quad dominance
06. Golfers
low back and hip pain; golfers' elbow
07. Runners
hip flexor tightness, knee and hip pain; low arches
08. Rock Climbers
hypertonic forearms, weak grip, carpal tunnel
09. Soccer Players
knee pain, ankle mobility, shin splints, cramps in calf
10. Tennis
tennis elbow, rotator cuff mobility
11. Hikers | Outdoorsmen
Knee and back pain
12. Boxers
shoulder structure too high causing range of motion in shoulders to lack; tingling and numbness is hands; chronic headaches from cranial fluid pump being disrupted
The list could go on!
Our Step-by-Step Method
1.Postural Assessment
First, we do a health history intake and assessment of the human structure to see exactly where the body is imbalanced due to physical or emotional trauma, past injuries and bad posture so we can see where the body is now malfunctioning. We can then point out functional patterns that your body has created from certain habits.
3. Homework
A treatment plan is shared with the client post massage with an explanation of our findings, what we did during the treatment and homework; a suggested morning or evening stretch routine or muscles to strengthen to fix imbalances caused by your habitual use of your body or injury compensation
2. Body Work
Each session is uniquely customized to help heal any pain you're experiencing. Our second goal is to save the joints by correcting your posture with soft tissue manipulation and release. This puts the fascia in the correct state so that the muscles can work more efficiently without compromising any bone structures or damaging joints. There are typically several modalities used in one session, but it is mostly deep tissue, sports, trigger point and injury/recovery.
4. Maintenance
Once we get ahead of the pain and imbalances, monthly maintenance is advised to stay pain free and help preserve your body as you age. Massage not only helps your structure, but it also moves more blood and lymphatics then your body does on its own in a day. This means its helpings avoid disease and illnesses by ridding the body of toxins and pollution faster than that body can on its own. This decreases anxiety, depression and inflammation and boost the immune system and serotonin.
Our Bodywork Techniques Work
01. First, we assess the structure at 5 points anteriorly, posteriorly and bi-laterally to find the imbalances.
We look for things like....
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eversion of the feet
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inversion of the feet
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laterally rotated feet or hips
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bowed legs
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duck foot
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pigeon foot
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banana knees
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uneven hips and shoulders
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posterior or anterior pelvic tilt
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sway back
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kyphosis (exaggerated curve of the thoracic spine
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lordosis (exaggerated curve of the lumbar spine)
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dowager's hump
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text/tech neck
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military neck
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v shaped clavicles or high shoulders
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medially rotated shoulders
03. We work out all the trigger points/knots/adhesions.
Myosin and actin filaments or the thick and thin stands
It's like gum in your hair
One small trigger point can refer pain to other points in the body, we call this "referral pain"
What are they? They are the very thing that causes you pain, discomfort, lack of range of motion and headaches. Each muscle has them. They are also known at knots of adhesions. A trigger point is the myosin and the actin filaments, or the thick and the thin strands of your hairlike muscle tissue, suck I'm a contracted state from toxin build up. Toxins can be either positive or negative stressor chemicals like lactic acid, adrenaline or cortisol... Basically it looks like chewing gum stick in your little sister's hair, and we can brush them out for you. This eliminates build up by bringing blood, lymphatic and oxygen to the area to get rid of pain and give you access to all of your sarcomeres which makes you stronger and more mobile.
This is preventive medicine. Why?
Because eliminating toxins from your majorly boosts your immune system and decreases your chances of getting cancer because an hour a body work moves more blood and lymphatics (cells that act as tiny washer machines) than your body does by itself in 24 hours.
Eliminating trigger points also allows your joints to stop grinding and deteriorating... this saves you from needing back surgery or joint replacements!
05. We work the with body's natural pulley systems by anatomically correcting the posture through stretch and strengthening.
The anatomical neutral position is standing upright, legs together, knees straight, toes pointing forwards, arms by sides, palms facing forwards.
Example: When you hunch you are elongated in the back and muscles in the front of the body are all shortened. So, to fix hunching/ slouching you have to strengthen the back and stretch the core, psoas, and pectorals.
07. We teach how to properly sit & stand at your desk and check in with posture
Whether sitting or standing: Breath in inflating your chest 3x, when you're breathing in, and you feel like you can't breathe in more- breath in more anyway- feel the stretch in the diaphragm and in the intercostals (the muscles between all the ribs). This is how you would bring to awareness and correct your posture instead of over working and contracting the rhomboids to hold your chest up and shoulders back. We want to inflate ourselves, so we float through our day... fighting gravity, hunching and weightlifting or anything else compacting up with, air to put it simply.
For standing desks- first check in with posture by starting with your feet: stand on both feet evenly with them both under your shoulders, toes pointing forwards, no shifting weight. Try to remember to have a soft bend in the knees while standing and tucking your tail slightly and engaging core- you should feel more stacked straight instead of leaning forward so much. Try to be more mindful with everything that you do and be sure that you're doing things symmetrically and anatomically.
Some people think that a standing desk is the cure for neck and back pain, headaches and forward shoulders but it can lead to uneven hips and low back pain if you move to standing desk and shift your weight on your feet all day. The trick is to sit until you catch yourself hunching, then stand up, then sit back down when you notice yourself shifting weight. Your body will just get stronger by going from sitting to standing (which also looks like you're doing squats all day). Your legs will just get stronger by doing this and you're avoiding those imbalances which are the exact cause of pain points and joint deterioration which eventually need surgery and replacements. prevent this and preserve what you have because surgeries lead to scar tissue build up anyway and scar tissue also cause discomfort and pain!
02. We work the Fascia by manipulating the soft tissue to put it back where it belongs.
What is the fascia?
It's the saran wrap over a chicken breast, and it compartmentalizes every muscle, organ and there is a thick part between the 2 sides of the brain. It all connected...one giant piece of connective tissue.
The Fascial Train
If it's affected in one part of the body, it is affecting the whole structure. Example: if you were wearing a sheet like a ghost on Halloween and you had knots) trigger points) tied in it you'd see the wrinkles each knot was causing.
How it affects us:
Wrinkles in our fascia create malfunctions and pain in the muscles and restricts range of motion in our joints which causes injuries and deuteriation of joint capsules and discs in our spine.
04. We break down scar tissue by using cross fiber friction. Analogy- if you had a pile of stick in your arms that were in no particular order and you started rolling them, they would eventually all turn straight.
Dense Regular Connective Tissue
Undamaged tissue starts out with all the fibers going in one direction
Dense Irregular Tissue
After an injury like a tear or cut in the muscles the fibers heal in all different directions because the body is smart and wants it to be stronger, but this is NOT always a good thing. Sometimes the body is too smart for its own good. The scar tissue can actually get built up too much which causes lack of blood flow (which IS PAIN) or it creates a lack of range of motion in a joint if the buildup gets in the way of the proper movement of the joint causing grinding and equals PAIN!
06. We teach you how to stretch the fascia around the organs using your breath. Muscles are not the only thing we should be stretching!
The vacuum-breath in as much as you can filling up the chest, breathing out all the way, breathing in again and out again- blow all the way out and hold, sucking in your stomach- you should feel a stretch in your diagram, organs and rib cage. Repeat this time with a slight bend in the knee, placing your hands on them for support. This stretches the fascia around our organs and can help you with digestive issues.