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 Minute Minute Massage for Holiday Madness
Traditional holiday activities generate a host of physical and emotional trauma. Although we tend to anticipate the holidays with eagerness, we also overextend ourselves with many social obligations and familial traditions that are part of the way we celebrate. Some of these indulgences result in physical soreness and emotional stress, so I’ve put together a fun list of suggestions of ways to relieve the pain and suffering that sometimes appears at this time of year.
- Impending In-Law Invasion – Tension Headaches: These are sometimes caused by increased tension held in the shoulder and neck muscles. Use both hands to rub your shoulders near your neck to relieve the tension. Try kneading your neck up close to the base of the skull with your head relaxed backward or forward. Press your fingers into the base of your skull in the two hollows where the skull sits atop the cervical spine. See Self Massage for Headaches for more information on pressure points to use.
- Cleaning Frenzy Incapacitation – Back and Shoulder Pain: Lots of visitors means lots of cleaning. Bending over to clean floors or bathrooms, or reaching upwards for serious dusting can cause pain in the back and shoulders. To massage your midback, put a tennis ball in a sock, and drape the end with the ball over your shoulder. Stand next to a wall and use back and forth motions with your body as you press into the wall to massage your back. Be sure to cover the top of the back across the shoulder blades, and use deep pressure between the shoulder blades. Spend some time working on the 4-5 inches just below your shoulder blades – across the width of the back. To work on the shoulders, see the In-law Invasion suggestions.
- Holiday Card Hand Cramps: When addressing or writing a large number of holiday cards, hands and forearms often become achy and stiff. Use a thumb to draw small circles on the palm of the opposite hand. Press deeply and draw lines from the base of the palm up to the origin of each of the fingers. Pull and squeeze each of the fingers. Use thumb circles and deep pressure lines on the front and back of the forearm as well. Rub one forearm down the length of the other. Remember that the muscles that move the fingers are in the forearms, so spend some time relieving the tension there. See Self Massage for Forearms for more information.
- Baby Back Blues – Lower Back Pain: Extra time with family can mean extra time holding small children and infants. This can stress the lower back/hip area, especially in grandparents. Some simple suggestions follow. Sit down after picking up the children to relieve pressure on the lower back. Put a tennis ball on the floor underneath you in your lower back area as you lay down (or between you and a wall as you lean against it). Roll your body back and forth to get a massaging action in your lower back. Try to work the area between the top of the hip crest and the lower ribs, especially close to the spine. Also work across the hip crest on both sides. Although one side may hurt more, give both sides of your back some attention. Alternately, you can lie on your fists and use them to press into your lower back area.
Take care of yourself this holiday season, and ask others to rub your back and shoulders for you. Remember to see your primary care provider if you experience serious injuries or if your soreness lasts a long time. Enjoy!
 Gift Ideas
Remember the "Buy 5, get 1 free/Buy 10, get 2 free" special through Christmas. You can stop by my office or I can hand deliver gift certificates through Dec 22 if you're in the Nashville metro or Brentwood/Franklin areas.
Other gift ideas:
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
- Hannukah
- New Years
- Birthday
- Anniversary
- Housewarming
- Wedding
- Baby or wedding shower
- New baby
 Rates & Hours
45 min - $50
60 min - $60
90 min - $85
Tuesday: 9 pm to 5 pm
Wednesday: 1 pm to 9 pm
Thursday: 9 am to 5 pm
Friday: 1 pm to 9 pm
Saturday: 9 am to 5 pm
*by appointment only (Call 615.294-6672)
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| December 11, 2003 |
| Editor's Note |
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Happy Holidays! It’s nearing the end of the year and everything’s a bustle with holiday preparations, travel arrangements and holiday parties. Even though you’re busy, you need to keep yourself in good shape to make it through the season. Remember to take care of yourself!
What do you get someone who has everything she needs? Instead of buying things for people, why not purchase a relaxing and comforting experience? Massage is the perfect gift people who are hard to buy for. Just a reminder on my special on gift certificates: Buy 5 massage gift certificates for others, and get one free for yourself. Buy 10 and you’ll get 2 free sessions (You’ll save between $10 to $14 per session). Individual gift certificates can be purchased at the normal rate (60 min-$60 and 90 min-$85).
This newsletter includes an article on the gift of touch, as well as a description of Craniosacral Therapy. For fun, I have self-massage for common holiday maladies.
Happy Holidays and New Year! -- Heather Wibbels (615.294-6672)
P.S. For a successful holiday party, consider on-site massage - even for company holiday parties or end of the year business retreats.
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| Giving the Gift of Touch
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How often are you touched each day? Do you start the day with a hug or kiss from a spouse or partner? How many times do your co-workers and friends squeeze your shoulder or touch your arm in conversation? What about a hug or a pat on the shoulder makes it feel so warm and welcoming?
We live in an increasingly touch-deprived world. With our litigious society, touch is strongly discouraged in the workplace as an inappropriate and unnecessary thing. This week's issue of Newsweek carries the story of a priest who no longer hugs for fear of litigation (Newsweek, "Civil Wars" 43). We converse by phone and email rather than in person, removing the ability to touch one another. We hear stories of violence and abuse among families and trusted authority figures. It’s no wonder touch is no longer a primary means of communication.
However, we all know the comfort and love that can be expressed in a warm hug, or an arm around the shoulder. Children express love through touch on a constant basis, running around to give family and friends hugs and kisses, asking to be held or putting a hand out to an adult. The comfort and nourishment of touch that comes naturally to children can be drilled out of adults over years of exposure to environments where touch is discouraged or dangerous. "All children crave touch, and they experience a lack of touch as traumatic," writes Mariana Caplan in Untouched (94). As infants, our primary means of communication is touch, and it is the only sense that can be shared simultaneously by two people. Studies have shown time and again the importance of touch in the development of children. The beneficial effects of touch do not lessen as we age.
Touch gives us the immediate presence of another person. It shows us that we are not alone in the world, and that someone else is interested in interacting with us in a personal manner. Caplan writes, "Human beings thrive from the nourishment, comfort, encouragement and joy they receive from their contact with others" (19). Touch can be intimate and revealing, just as a face to face conversation may be. There is risk involved in healthy touch – since touch is the first form of communication we learn, a first touch can be very revealing, whether on a conscious or subconscious level. Sometimes, it can make us feel more human and more alive – simply because of the primacy of touch. It can bring us out of our heads and into our bodies – back to a more emotional and immediate place.
We live in a touch-deprived world, but we can each make strides to include touch as a more central facet of our interactions with others. Think about taking some extra time during this holiday season to spread the gift of touch to others in your lives. Whether it’s a friend, a family member, or a co-worker, make sure that you’re including touch as part of your gift to others.
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More on Massage: Craniosacral Therapy
How the membranes surrounding the brain and spine relate to dysfunction
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Craniosacral Therapy (CST), a modality of massage researched and developed by Dr. John Upledger, uses light touch to feel and manipulate pulsations of the craniosacral system. This system is contained within a membrane that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord – all the way down to the sacral area. It consists of both the membrane surrounding them as well as the cerebrospinal fluid contained in the system. The theory behind it states that injuries to the body, especially those involving the head, neck and back, affect the flow and pulse rate of the craniosacral fluid – which can cause many different kinds of symptoms throughout the entire body. “The role of this system in the development and performance of the brain and spinal cord is so vital that an imbalance or dysfunction in it can cause sensory, motor and/or neurological disabilities” according to the Upledger Institute.
Dr. Upledger was assisting in neck surgery when he observed a slight pulse on the membrane surrounding the spinal cord – this pulse rate differed from both heart and breath rate. Further research at Michigan State University (using Cranial Osteopathy, Kirlian photography and acupuncture) revealed evidence of the pulsation of the system, and the interaction between the bones of the head and spine and the free movement of the fluid within the system. A healthy pulse rate for the craniosacral system was determined to be 10-12 pulses per second, but pulses less than or greater than that rate were often associated with dysfunctions within the body.
Evaluation of the craniosacral system is done through hands-on work. The practitioner places her hands on the head, spine or sacrum of the patient, and evaluates the pulse rate at different places in the system, locating any blockages or restricted areas that may be causing problems. Evaluating and treating the system requires a soft, deft touch, and sensitivity to the craniosacral rhythms through the fingers. Using a light touch, the practitioner loosens the restricted areas to remove blockages. Sometimes a single session is enough to promote healing. More often, multiple, regular visits to a practitioner are required to manage and "decrease/diminish" the symptoms resulting from craniosacral imbalance.
CST can be very effective in treating head, neck and back injuries resulting from an accident. Used in children, it can treat the effects of birth trauma and reduce restrictions in the craniosacral system in infants and small children. Stress-related problems are often helped through the therapy – headaches, anxiety, TMJ and digestion issues have been successfully treated with CST. In addition, it’s relation to the nervous system makes it a treatment viable for such problems as “eye-motor coordination problems, autism, dyslexia, loss of taste or smell, tinnitus, vertigo and neuralgias” (the Upledger Institute).
If you’re interested in experiencing it, please give me a call (615-294-6672) and I’ll put you in contact with someone in Nashville/Franklin who does CST.
For more information on Craniosacral Therapy:
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