Happy February!

With the weather getting warmer, then colder, then warmer, then colder, a lot of clients are coming with colds or congestion. Remember to take care of yourself by getting plenty of rest and drinking lots of fluid. Above all, make sure you are washing your hands frequently, especially when you spend time with ill adults or kids.

This month, I want to cover the ways massage benefits your exercise program. Massage can reduce soreness from a workout, reduce the possibility of injury, and keep those muscles healthy. In addition, I'm covering self-massage for colds, and including more information about Neuromuscular Therapy.

Enjoy!

- heather wibbels (615.294-6672)

Massage therapy, because of its focus on muscle health, flexibility, and its ability to remove toxins from the body, is a great partner for those in a regular fitness regimen. Exercise creates multiple effects on the body, increasing cardiovascular health, building muscle mass and improving metabolism. Massage helps regular exercisers reduce muscle soreness, prevent injuries, decrease recovery time from injuries, and maintain and increase flexibility.

Massage therapists remind their clients to stretch after exercise because while exercise does increase muscle mass, it also shortens the length of the muscle through constant contraction. When people work muscle groups to exhaustion on a frequent basis, the muscle begins to think that being short and tight is normal. The muscle memory is reset so that the muscle begins to rest in an ever-shortened state, decreasing blood flow to the area, restricting range of movement and increasing the possibility of injury. Stretching and massage keep that muscle memory from beginning to think that short and tight is the right way to be, keeping muscles lengthened, flexible and healthy.

What’s Exercise Doing to the Body, Anyway?

• It improves the cardiovascular ability of the body. The heart increases in size, improving the ability of the heart to pump blood throughout the body.
• During exercise, the body diverts blood from the organs to the muscles, and capillaries increase in size in order to improve the delivery of oxygen to the muscles. The increase in blood flow also improves efficiency in removing metabolic wastes such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
• Muscles worked during a workout session are pushed to a comfortable limit, causing micro tears in the muscle fibers which increase muscle mass as the tears are repaired and the muscle regenerates. Muscle stiffness and soreness are a common result of this breakdown and regeneration of muscle tissue. (Muscle mass is increased because muscles increase in size, not in number, after a workout.)
• The strength and flexibility of connective tissue of ligaments and tendons are also increased through exercise, and this improves joint stability and muscular support of movement.

Why am I sore after a workout?

• In addition the micro tears mentioned above, small injuries of connective tissue (which connects muscle to bone, bone to bone, or muscle to muscle) may occur during exercise contributing to muscle soreness while healing occurs.
• After you exercise, the muscles may spasm and contract, or the muscles may tighten in a way that slows the circulation to the area, also causing soreness or stiffness. Reduced blood flow to muscles or the nerves flowing through those muscles cause pain.
• Sometimes waste products of muscle contraction (like lactic acid) build up in the muscles contributing to soreness a day or two after strenuous exercise.

How Massage Helps Soreness and Stiffness

• Massage increases the short term blood flow to an area, encouraging the circulatory system to remove the waste products still left in the muscles. The relaxing effect of massage on muscles opens up the area to increased circulation because muscle contraction can sometimes restrict blood flow to an area.
• In relaxing the muscles, massage also increases flexibility and range of motion. This opens up the area through which nerves run, and takes pressure off the muscles themselves. When you get a massage that incorporates stretching, even greater flexibility can result through assisted passive stretching.
• The action of massage on a muscle breaks up adhesions that build up from scar tissue as the body heals itself from each exercise session. If these adhesions are not worked using massage and stretching, they can further reduce range of motion and increase the possibility of injury.
• Massage loosens tight muscles, and attempts to get the muscles in an area to balance one another’s actions efficiently. Sometimes, when one muscle or muscle group is particularly tight, other parts of the body “compensate” for that restriction of movement, and begin to overwork or over stretch in order to keep the body moving. Keeping the muscles loose after massage prevents these compensation patterns from arising.

The ability of massage to increase blood flow, remove wastes, improve flexibility and reduce adhesions is key to its effectiveness as a part of a regular fitness regimen. The benefits of massage also decrease the risk of injury, and improve range of motion and flexibility to maintain joint health. Massage’s functions in reducing muscle soreness and stiffness keep the body in top shape for your next workout.

You may want to consider a weekly or bi-monthly massage to support your fitness program and keep you in top shape. Remember to schedule your massage a day or two after a hard workout, but not the day before a workout. After a massage, give your muscles a break, and let the relaxation massage promotes sit on your bones for a while before continuing your exercise program. Massage therapists generally recommend you avoid strenuous exercise for 24 hours after a session. Remember to stretch and drink lots of water after each workout as well.

More on Massage: Neuromuscular Therapy
Trigger Points and Pain Patterns

Neuromuscular Therapy, or NMT, can refer to several types of treatments. In general, though, NMT is based on the theory that small knots or trigger points in the muscle refer pain to other areas of the body. A key trait of trigger points is their referral of pain to a site other than the exact location of the trigger point. Trigger points are small areas in muscles that are in constant contraction. These knots can cause constant pain, or they can be painless unless touched. They can be caused by injury, overuse or muscle strain, and are often hard to treat because the trigger point is not in the same location as the discomfort.

NMT works by relaxing those contracted muscles at the trigger point. Usually a combination of static finger pressure and stretching is done to treat a trigger point. During a session, the massage therapist first works with the client to find the trigger points. The therapist usually works deep into the muscle to get a full release. Afterwards, specific stretches are applied to the muscle to “retrain” the muscle’s neuromuscular paths without the interference of the trigger point.

NMT sessions can be intense and slightly painful, but it’s a “good” hurt. Often, trigger points are tender the next day or so, but discomfort in the referred pain area should be diminished. NMT therapy usually takes a number of sessions to locate and treat the trigger points referring pain to a particular area. Since its main purpose is to treat chronic pain from trigger points due to injury or overuse, NMT is a wonderful therapeutic tool for massage therapists.

For more information on Neuromuscular therapy, follow the links below that refer to some sites on basic NMT knowledge. You can also go to www.massagebyheather.com for more links and information on this type of massage.

NMT Links:

• Trigger Point Therapy Workbook Homepage. (This book demonstrates how to find trigger points and perform NMT on yourself.)
• Self-Treatment Of Trigger Points In The Scalenes and Sternocleidomastoids
• St. John method of NMT
• NeuroMuscular Therapy – History and Uses