Last week a client came to me saying that their doctor has diagnosed them with a stomach flu.

There was not much that could be done, so the M.D. suggested just ride out the symptoms of constant pain in the lower abdomen, gurgling of the stomach and bloating.

Simple assessment showed very sluggish motility of the bowel with very restricted connections between  esophagus, stomach, large and small intestine. These are very common reactions of the tissues to a flu, and can be very easily treated by a massage therapist who is trained in visceral manipulation.

Little did I know about how effective this approach is.
I was amazed to hear from this client that the symptoms have disappeared within 2 days and digestion went back to normal. So now the client can enjoy tasty food and not just subside on a blend diet.

So next time you come down with indigestion, a massage therapist trained in visceral manipulation can be your treatment of choice.

Many of my patients say: “Oh, my posture is awful”. “If only I could keep myself properly positioned at the desk, my neck would feel so much better”.

So why it is so difficult to keep our bodies perfectly aligned even though we know how our bodies should look like?

Throughout my practice as massage therapist and working with my own body I came to realize that instead of pushing against myself, it is much easier to add something new, and the old inefficient patterns will fall out effortlessly.

The first step to any change is awareness.
Breathing is the primal rhythm of our bodies. Paying attention to it is the key. It will tell you a lot about yourself. Feel the wave raising from your stomach and moving up to the chest as you inhale. Observe the abdomen passively falling and then the chest gently collapsing as the air effortlessly leaves your lungs on exhalation. Did you notice any tensions hindering that smooth flow of air? Try to let go of these tensions. How does it affect your breathing? Do you feel any difference in the tension at your back, neck and shoulders?

Start by adding small breaks to your daily routine to listen to what your body has to tell you. Take a short walk. Add to your life. Let someone with expertise give you a different perspective and help you. Sometimes all that is needed is a little push in the right direction. See your massage therapist to release those tensions, take a yoga class or Tai-Chi.

Keep a positive outlook. Pain should not be your sole focus. But don’t ignore it either by keeping yourself busy or taking pain killers.

Body tissues have memory of their own, and all traumas that you experience tend to accumulate and cause problems. Disappearance of pain and discomfort will follow in due time as your body regains its innate balance.

Many patients tell me stories that start like: “I think I hurt my wrist because I use my mouse too much, do you think I have carpal tunnel?”

What I observed in my practice, is that people tend to hurt themselves not because they moved that body part too much, but because they don’t engage the rest of their whole body enough.

Take that carpal tunnel for example. The wrist is really an extension of the arm which in turn is connected to the ribcage. If you sit at your desk all day without moving and stretching, the ribs become rigid, the breathing laboured and the neck muscles strained.

This will decrease circulation and drainage to the arm and the wrist. Add to that a million mouse clicks you do during the day that inflame your wrist and you have yourself a carpal tunnel problem.

If you are active and exercise every day, you body will take care of that inflammation and clear it up when you sleep during the night. But if your circulation is sluggish, the body needs more time. So it doesn’t recuperate and at the end of the week you can’t even hold a coffee mug. Sounds familiar?

A simple daily exercise routine is an easy solution. It will energize you, improve your mood and help to prevent these nagging problems.

Many people are now suffering from TMJ dysfunction and are seeking massage therapy that offers hands on, drug-free approach of releasing muscle tension to eliminate the pain and improve the quality of life.

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction is a broad term referring to problems with the jaws and their functioning. It is commonly referred to as “TMJ”. This system is very complex and problems are caused by a variety of factors. However while many of my patients have suffered from a variety of symptoms, that can easily be related to the imbalances of the muscles, connective tissues and bones forming the jaw.

The temporomandibular system consists of two major components: the temporomandibular joint or TMJ, and the neuromuscular system.

TMJ – This is the term that specifically refers to the joints that connect your lower jaw, or mandible to the temporal bone of your skull.  The temporal bone also houses the ear and many other important structures responsible for the sense of balance. These two joints are found just in front of the ears. Their close proximity to the ear is why some patients experience ear symptoms and can often hear the joints pop or crack.

Neuromuscular – This system is the nerves and muscles which work the temporomandibular system. The muscles that directly move the jaw are spanning from the top of your head to the middle of your neck, but it is important to realize that the muscles that move your jaws are interconnected with structures that are inside your skull, neck, shoulders and the back. That is why TMJ problems are often related to poor postural habits such as slouching at the desk or propping your head on one side with your hand while reading a book.

Temporomandibular disorders rarely have a single cause. Everybody presents with an individual combination of factors that are determined during history taking and clinical exam.

Acute trauma to the jaws such as a car accident, a fall, a punch, etc. can cause damage to the muscles or joint. Sometimes trauma to the joint can cause chronic damage which may eventually contribute to a TMJ problem at a later time.

Bruxism refers to grinding and clenching of the teeth. Some do this while awake but more often it is done while sleeping. This bruxing is done by the jaw muscles and by the morning they can be painful due to fatigue. This constant pressure also can damage the TMJs over time.

Emotional stress often plays an integral role in the development of TMJ. Stress increases both the severity and duration of bruxism while asleep. Also, many will subconsciously clench or grind their teeth more while awake during times of stress. The other way stress contributes to TMJ is that during times of stress your pain sensitivity and susceptibility to inflammation will increase. As a result you are more likely to experience symptoms of TMJ or other pains that already exist. That is why the relaxation and stress management is a major component in the treatment of TMJ.
Read this article for in depth analysis of how emotional stress can cause TMJ dysfunction.

Ergonomic – Your job and how you do it can contribute to TMJ and related problems. If you work at a computer all day, for example, you may be holding your head in such a way that places strain on your jaw. TMJ is the highest joint in the chain that starts at your feet and goes on through the hips, pelvis and up the spine. Any imbalances accumulated along the way may manifest themselves as the TMJ dysfunction. Hence any treatment of TMJ has to include postural check and correction of muscular or connective tissue tensions anywhere in the body.

I offer great massage treatments for TMJ dysfunction. Because of the factors mentioned above we will start with full postural check up and thorough health history taking. All imbalances at the feet, hips, back, neck and shoulders are addressed during the treatments. I use a variety of subtle, non invasive and yet effective techniques so we keep the focus on relaxation. The treatment will include 4 to 6 one hour sessions, however most patients experience significant relief after the first massage.

This dysfunction involves the muscles located on the outer site of the forearm. These are collectively called wrist extensors and their function is to cock the wrist back. Another important role of this muscle group is to counterbalance the muscles that clench the fist and flex the forearm thus making these movements smooth and well coordinated.

There are numbers of reasons for the tennis elbow. It can be inflammation of the wrist extensors tendons around the elbow, or trigger points in the muscle.
My experience treating patients shows that the best way to treat this dysfunction and to prevent it from reoccurring is to gently stretch the involved muscles few times a day for at least a minute at a time, and to ice the outside of the elbow.

So here’s the stretch:

Wrist extensors Stretch

Extend your arm with the palm facing downward and gently pull your wrist down till you feel a nice comfortable tension along the outer side of your forearm. You can fine tune the stretch by slightly rotating your forearm.
Use very gentle force. If it hurts, you are pulling too hard, back off a bit. Breath and feel muscles relax as you exhale. Hold the stretch for at least a minute.
At the end of the stretch put ice pack over the outside of the elbow and keep it there for about 10 minutes.
Here is a good article on tennis elbow that also has a number of strengthening exercises for the involved muscles.

Very often this pain is diagnosed as tendonitis, and anti-inflammatory is prescribed to kill the pain. It is common that this pain is caused by the increased muscle tension of the wrist flexors that is not met by adequate strength at the attachment sight at the elbow. Taking the medicine will only mask the symptoms and from my experience will make the problem worse when the painkiller wears out. This happens because the person will not feel the pain which is the warning sign and will continue with the activity that further irritates the painful spot.

Apart from receiving professional advice and going for a therapy, there is a very simple stretch that a patient can do. I know it works, because a few months ago my father called me complaining of this type of pain and weakness of his grip after assembling a table. I emailed him the stretch instructions with pictures, and after a few days of stretching and icing he was pain free, and the strength of his grip came back.

So here’s the stretch

Wrist flexors stretch

Pull your wrist down very gently until you feel a mild resistance at your forearm. I know that you can probably go a few inches further, but stop here and breathe for a few moments. Feel your forearm relaxing till you can pull a little bit more without increasing the resistance.

Most people tend to overdo their stretches and pull really hard. This is a very common mistake. The muscle will recognize this pull as a threat, and will contract to protect itself. This is a reflex, the same thing happens when you get your knee tapped with a hammer at the doctor’s office and your leg jerks up. We can’t control it, and a contracting muscle can not be stretched. If you pull too hard, you will damage the painful spot even more.

So the best thing is to take it easy and allow your body to relax. Hold the stretch for at least a minute progressively pulling down more bit by bit and repeat it a few times a day

So why is it so difficult to keep our bodies perfectly aligned even though we know how our bodies should look like?

Moshe Feldenkrais who pioneered the field of mind and body connection has pointed in his book The Potent Self that habitually improper posture is not as simple as it may appear to someone who can think it can be remedied by substituting by a better posture. When you do so, the conscious control is overriding. The overworked muscles fatigue, and the inhibited ones waste away, the whole spatial body image is distorted. The body sensation is found unreliable and is compensated for by an increased use of the eyes to supplement and correct the faulty muscular account of the body in space. Every action now needs a considerable time of thinking out and preparing for. Constant attention to the muscular tension is difficult to maintain for long periods, hence the sensation of tiredness, and falling back to habitually faulty posture.

That is why it is very difficult to just put yourself in the ideal position. An effort to do so usually results in the body being voluntarily held in a very rigid state. The breathing becomes restricted as we feel aches in the areas that work to keep us erect, such as low back, neck and shoulders.

Throughout my practice as massage therapist and working with my own body I came to realize that instead of pushing against myself, it is much easier to add something new and the old inefficient patterns will fall out effortlessly.

The first step to any change is awareness.

Breathing is the primal rhythm of our bodies. Paying attention to it is the key. It will tell you a lot about yourself. Feel the wave raising from your stomach and moving up to the chest as you inhale. Observe the abdomen passively falling and then the chest gently collapsing as the air effortlessly leaves your lungs on exhalation. Did you notice any tensions hindering that smooth flow of air? Try to let go of these tensions. How does it affect your breathing? Do you feel any difference in the tension at your back, neck and shoulders?

Start by adding small breaks to your daily routine to listen to what your body has to tell you. Take a short walk. Change doesn’t have to be painful. Add to your life. Let someone with expertise give you a different perspective and help you. Sometimes all that is needed is a little push in the right direction. See your massage therapist to release those tensions, take a yoga class or Tai-Chi.

Keep a positive outlook and keep in mind that the pain is the last signal your body sends to let you know that it has a problem, and it needs your attention. It should not be your sole focus. But don’t ignore it either by keeping yourself busy or taking pain killers.

Body’s tissues have memory of their own, and all traumas that you experience tend to accumulate and cause these problems. Disappearance of pain and discomfort will follow in due time as your body regains its innate balance.

Morning stiffness if accompanied by sharp joint pains and lasts more than 45 minutes can be a sign of arthritis or fibromyalgia. However, from my personal experience and from taking many health histories of my patients I realized that in most cases there is nothing to be worried about. There are few simple steps you can take to alleviate these discomforts.

Typically, a very simple physical activity will take care of it. I have been doing yoga for many years, and right now I find it very helpful for my morning stiffness.

Usually a few rounds of sun salutation will get my body limber and mind fully awake.

Take a look at this website for instructions on how to perform this routine. http://www.santosha.com/asanas/suryanamaskar.html

As with any physical activity keep in mind your limitations. Don’t push it, especially if you are new to yoga. Besides, it is your first warm up for the day. It should never hurt. Feel the nice, comfortable tension with every stretch. A sharp pain tells you that you went too far. Your yoga postures don’t have to look exactly like the pictures you see on the website. Nobody is judging you; you are doing it for yourself. If you can’t reach the floor with your forward bends, use a stool or a table to support your arms.

On the last note… Some people do have arthritis or another inflammatory condition that makes their mornings the worst time of the day. If you are worried about it, don’t wait till it goes away by itself. Book an appointment with your massage therapist; see someone with an expertise in the field to get a professional opinion.