Q & Ahhh: April 12, 2011

Q & Ahhh is our monthly segment where we get the experts at Massage Envy to answer your questions!  In honor of Mother's Day (coming up in less than a month!), this edition of Q & Ahhh is all about moms:

Q: Is it safe for my elderly mother to receive massage?

A: Geriatric massage is designed to address the specific needs of the elderly population. This type of massage uses gentle and light application of massage techniques and can include passive stretching. Geriatric massage can help us maintain and improve overall health even as we are aging. It also has been shown to relieve anxiety and depression and provide comfort especially to touch-deprived elderly clients.
Find a therapist who is trained in providing this type of massage and be sure to check with your mother's physician to ensure her condition is stable enough to receive hands-on therapy. Once the doctor gives approval, I recommend scheduling sessions for you and your mother together for her first visit to ensure she has a comfortable and relaxing experience.

- C.G. Funk, Licensed Massage Therapist and Vice President of Industry Relations and Product Development for Massage Envy

Be Sure To Drink More Green Tea!

We all know the movie Christmas Story, right?  One of my favorite scenes is when Ralphie scrambles to get his decoder and hides in the bathroom to start decoding the mysterious code to find out what Orphan Annie's secret message of the week was. After waiting for what seemed like years for his decoder to come in the mail, he could finally participate with lots of other young listeners in what seemed to be the most important weekly radio special.  Lo and behold, he discovered that the message held no great significance, but merely advertising..."BE SURE TO DRINK MORE OVALTINE."  

Though Ovaltine is delicious and nutritious, it's no match nutritionally compared to green tea!  Countless studies have been done to find out why this tea is so highly valued in the East. 

The benefits scientists have found in this tea by far outweigh the one possible side effect, insomnia, because of the caffeine amount if consumed shortly before bedtime. Although, the caffeine amount in green tea is far less than in black teas. 

According to Harvard Health, green tea is high in flavonoids, which are antioxidants naturally found in the plant itself.  Green tea is also loaded with catechins which are found to be more potent than vitamins C and E as far as in preventing oxidative damage to cells as well as other disease fighting properties.  Antioxidants are also good for promoting good cholesterol (HDL) and warding off bad cholesterol (LDL), which can help the arteries to function at a more optimal rate. 

The reason green tea's antioxidant content is so much higher than black or oolong teas' is because of the way the green tea leaves are processed.  They are withered and steamed instead of the normal fermentation process done to black or oolong leaves.

Studies have shown that drinking green tea on a regular basis can inhibit the growth of several types of cancer such as breast, stomach, pancreatic, and lung cancers.  The caffeine amount in green tea aids in weight loss, helping with fat cell oxidation, breaking its compounds down to eventual elimination.

For those of you currently taking these sort of medications, it is highly encouraged not to drink green tea because of the way the tea's chemical properties could affect the potency of the medication:  Adenosine, Antibiotics, Benzodiazepines, Beta-Blockers, Propanolol, Metoprolol, Blood Thinning Medicine (such as aspirin), Chemotherapy, Clozapine, Ephedrine, Lithium, Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors, Oral Contraceptives, and Phenylpropanolamine.  Please check with your health care provider first.

Experts at Harvard suggest that you drink three cups a day.  Once you heat the water, allow the tea bag to steep (sit in the cup and brew) for 3-5 minutes.  You can add honey not only sweeten it, but it takes the bite out of the bitter taste.  For the most health benefit, drink it freshly brewed.  You won't get the same catechin amount in commercially brewed teas in cans and bottles.

Without all the trouble of a decoder, we'll let you know the secret to better health..."BE SURE TO DRINK MORE GREEN TEA!"

Tandee Phillips
Lead Therapist
Pleasant Grove Location

Relief at Last

Before getting a driver's license or graduating from high school, Erin Knight had already shouldered an adult burden: chronic headaches. "I started having problems with headaches in high school," says Knight, 26, who lives in the Seattle area. "I think all the studying and computer time may have been a trigger for chronically tight muscles."

For more than 10 years, Knight battled migraines and tension headaches up to two or three days a week. "I blamed the weather, hormones, my diet or allergies. I never thought I would be able to live headache-free," she says.

Her doctor recommended a restrictive diet, but following its challenging list of foods to avoid didn't bring Knight relief.

Pain medicine wasn't a perfect solution either, since one side effect was stomach problems. She was able to effectively stop migraines by taking prescription medication. "But I worried about its long-term effects," she says.

Knight wanted to do better than treat a headache once it showed up. She wanted freedom from the disruption of chronic headaches. "It was just one more thing to worry about on a big day," Knight says. "It seemed like whenever I had a big test or a job interview, I would get a headache."

A breakthrough came in fall 2009 when Knight joined Massage Envy in Beachwood, Ohio, where she was living at the time. "through deep tissue and trigger point massage, my massage therapist, Carrie, worked miracles," she says. "Not only do I go months without a headache, but I sleep better and have better posture. Working through chronic tension has helped me learn body awareness so I can correct small imbalances before they turn into bigger problems."

After years of chronic pain, regular massage has changed Knight's life. "I consider it as important as exercising and eating well," she says. "I encourage friends to think of massage as a tool for health management, not a luxurious experience."

Pleasant Grove Therapist Spotlight - Malcolm Cross

Malcolm has been at the Pleasant Grove location since opening and has done 3,065 hours of massage!  He is also one of our lead therapists!

His favorite types of massage to do are trigger point as well as deep tissue.  His technique and pressure is smooth and deep, creating a relaxing experience as well as getting into the deeper layers of muscle hold ups.

He has always been a big supporter of holistic healing and later decided that massage therapy would help lead him to a career path where he
could provide that for others.

His favorite quote is, "We are all one or none."  His interests outside of doing massage are human rights activism, spreading world peace, hiking, traveling, and anything else that is fun and adventurous!

He says the greatest part about being a massage therapist is being able to help people with their muscular pain issues through natural means. 

Send Pain Packing!

As if your day weren’t full enough, here it comes — the unwelcome intrusion of a headache. It might be the vise grip of a tension headache, the pressure and ache of sinus pain, or the throbbing pain and nausea of a migraine. But you want it gone.

Before you simply pop a pill, “Take a step back and ask, ‘Why am I getting this headache?’ ” says Tara C. Sharma, M.D., board member of the American Association of Integrative Medicine.

Create friendly head space
Headaches can be a wake-up call from your body, inviting you to pay more attention to taking care of yourself. “Making yourself a priority isn’t selfish,” Dr. Sharma says. “It’s an investment in your well-being.”

Arrange the rhythms of your day to make room for regular meals and adequate rest since hunger and tiredness trigger headaches. And keep your mind and body on speaking terms through enjoyable exercise and relaxing rituals. Practice yoga, take an evening bath or, like Dr. Sharma, get a weekly massage.

Even a single massage may boost your body’s immune response, suggests a 2010 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Fewer colds can mean fewer sinus infections and headaches.

Ease the Ache 
When a headache does come calling, how do you chase it away? Since overuse of medication can trigger rebound headaches, consider these tips:

1. Try a little do-it-yourself acupressure. Press your thumb into the web between your opposite thumb and index finger. Hold for 30 to 40 seconds to relieve headache pain. Repeat on the other side.

2. Steam away sinus pain and pressure. Put a few drops of eucalyptus and tea tree oil in a bowl of boiling water and breathe in the steam to relieve congestion.

3. Breathe. Slow, deep breaths short-circuit the fight-or-flight stress response and activate the calming effects of the parasympathetic nervous system, Dr. Sharma explains.

“The jungle out there is not going to change,” Dr. Sharma says. “It’s how you respond to stress that makes a difference.”

Stand Up to Back Pain

Chronic back pain is the second most common cause of disability and a top reason for missing work. We all know the soreness associated with an overly exuberant exercise session. But did you know that most Americans experience pain as the result of improper posture while sitting and standing? It’s true, we can cause back pain by just sitting. Being overweight, poor posture, and repetitive or overuse movements all can put strain on the low back, as can sleeping on a bad mattress and using a workstation that isn’t set up ergonomically.

So literally, it’s time to stand up to back pain. Changing your posture and position change help ease lower back pain. If you have a desk job, plan in short breaks every half-hour or so to stand, stretch and walk around for a few minutes.

Therapeutic massage gets to the root of the pain by relaxing those tight muscles and addressing trigger points to put a stop to the pain cycle. Massage also increases blood flow to the affected muscles, which brings in healing oxygen and nutrients, and helps remove the waste products of cellular metabolism. All of this activity reduces swelling and stiffness and increases flexibility to help eliminate pain. Massage therapy also releases endorphins and boosts your levels of serotonin and dopamine, all hormones your body produces to help you feel good, promote healing and pain management, and calm the nerves sending those cyclical pain signals.

Q & Ahhh: March 3, 2010

Introducing the Q & Ahhh column!  Each month, we'll answer one of our reader's questions.  Here's the first:


Q: How does receiving massage help reduce stress?

A: We all know that certain types of constant stress in our lives are not healthy. But did you know that recent evidence indicates the physical changes associated with stress may contribute to the leading causes of death – heart disease and cancer. In addition, stress can create and/or exacerbate many physical and emotional conditions such as chronic fatigue, digestive upset, headaches, back pain, high blood pressure and risk of stroke.

A recent study conducted by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recruited 53 healthy adults and assigned them to receive deep tissue, Swedish and light touch massage. Blood samples were taken immediately before the massage and up to an hour afterward. The researchers found that a single session of massage caused biological changes.

Volunteers showed significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol. They also had increases in white blood cells that are part of the immune system.  Volunteers experienced greater increases in a hormone associated with contentment and bigger decreases in adrenal hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol. While cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, higher and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream, such as those associated with chronic stress, have been shown to have negative effects. What this study shows is that receiving massage actually activates the body on an internal level to respond and correct the physiological imbalance caused by our stressful lives.

- C.G. Funk, Licensed Massage Therapist and Vice President of Industry
Relations and Product Development for Massage Envy