Dr. Janet Travell, house physician to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson while they were president, in addition to Dr. Simons and their research team, created the definitive work on neuromuscular therapy and trigger point dysfunction and how to resolve it, and named it Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction -- The Trigger Point Manual, volumes 1 & 2. These works comprised a significant portion of my training in the latter 500 hours at the Western Institute of Neuromuscular therapy which I completed in 2011, as well as in the Advanced Neuromuscular Therapist's program at the National Holistic institute, which I completed in 2013.
A few brief examples of conditions resolved using these methods include thoracic outlet syndrome, shoulder impingement, carpal tunnel syndrome, "frozen shoulder", pseudo sciatica, and more.
These Neuromuscular techniques are also the same ones other practitioners used to help me successfully resolve years of chronic pain that I had been struggling with.
Because of this and additional training, and a lot of years of experience performing manual therapy on bodies, I've had clients tell me I did more to permanently resolve their chronic pain and range of motion restrictions in two appointments than they were able to achieve through years of physical therapy appointments alone. I had a tennis player tell me she played the best game of her life after one focused session addressing the muscles affecting her rotator cuff, and I've helped many other clients as well with things including:
work stress, life stress, headaches, sciatica, neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, pins and needles (neuralgia), numbness and tingling (paresthesia) in the hands, insomnia, migraines, chronic pain, upper and lower back pain, chronic muscle tension, arm pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck stiffness, general muscle hypertonicity, and more.
Working on only the area that hurts to make the pain stop is the simpleton's way. I work where the pain is, but more importantly, I facilitate the body's ability to correct the dysfunctions in the rest of the body that caused you to feel the pain where you feel it.
For instance, most of the time, lower back pain doesn't just come from the lower back, there's often involvement from dysfunctional glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, and possibly calves and adductors as well. Strengthening and stretching certain muscles can also help. I can show you which ones.
The same is true with pain down the arm, and with pain in the mid back between the shoulder blades, and in the upper traps, etc.
Come and see how much better you can feel when you have a massage appointment with someone who is a true expert in manual therapy (that would be me, Jason, just so we're clear ;).
Here are some additional benefits massage therapy can offer:
1. Improved Stress Response and Increased Energy
2. Reduced Risk of Injury, and Improved Exercise Recovery
How to reduce risk of injury:
There is a common African proverb: "The wind does not break a tree that bends".
This saying also applies to the human body in a biomechanical sense. When soft tissue becomes rigid, it is more prone to injury. Massaging hypertonic (tense, rigid) muscles helps restore pliability to the muscles and fascia, reducing risk of strains and other injuries. Most seasoned and competitive athletes know this and thus receive massage regularly, but the same principle applies to everyone even if we do not exercise. Additionally, when hypertonic, concentrically contracted muscles pull on joints, it causes muscles that pull in opposing directions to enter into a hypertonic, eccentrically contracted state, and remaining in this position makes them more prone to tearing. Likewise, the hypertonic, concentrically contracted muscle prevents normal range of motion of the surrounding joints, causing them to also be more injury-prone.
3. Reducing or Eliminating Pain
Structural, postural, and muscular (myofascial) imbalances throughout the body can often be a source of discomfort and in some instances, even intense chronic pain. But the good news is that in many instances, a skilled massage therapist can help correct these imbalances, with VAST improvements often experienced in as little as one session. However, most people will require multiple appointments in order to fully restore optimal function. The issues likely took a lot longer than an hour or two to accumulate, after all, so they will also take some time to correct.
4. My Massages Tend to Feel Great Both During and After Treatment.
If it hurts, then we abide by the "hurts, but in a good way" mantra here. If pain crosses past that threshold during a massage, many experts now agree that this can be both unproductive and has the potential to cause injury.
Call my office line at (949) 510-6839 to schedule your appointment.