You may have heard the term fascia thrown around, especially if you’re familiar with bodywork or fitness jargon. But what exactly is fascia? Fascia is simply a type of connective tissue, and it’s actually quite complex; not so much because of what it is, but rather the enormous job that it has within the body. Fascia weaves in and out of every single part of your body, binding muscle fibers and muscle groups (called myofascia), wrapping around bones, nerves, and blood vessels, essentially holding everything in place as it should be. The amazing thing about it, is that fascia is strong yet flexible, in the sense that it acts as a mild shock absorber for the structures it encompasses, and is constantly changing length and shape to accommodate the necessary movements of all these structures. So, with this intricate work, what happens if something goes wrong?

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal, the space that contains the spinal cord. This is most often caused by degenerative changes; some sort of normal shift or loss that occurs over time, such as with herniated discs, arthritic changes, compression fractures, etc.

To learn more about this condition and how to live with it, continue reading this blog!

Whether you get regular massages to help with an injury, loosen your muscles after a training session, ease the pain of an injury or medical condition you’re experiencing, or just as pure relaxation, we want you to get the most out of your massage. There are ways to maximize the benefits of your massage, and there are ways that can have the opposite effect you’re going for. Here are a few dos and don’ts to help you get the most out of your massage.

If you’re in need of a bit of a boost, and want to combine a delicious massage with an invigorating, skin reviving body scrub, why not give a body scrub treatment a go?

Salt & Sugar scrubs are fabulous for brightening up dull skin, and a good scrub will help give your skin a zing while giving you all the benefits of a body massage too.

There are 5 basic human senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Touch is the first sense we develop. It is also the most vital to our well-being. There are several sensations of touch we experience such as pressure, temperature, light touch, vibration, and pain. Just take a second to think. How often do you reach out to touch someone? How often does someone reach out to touch you? Did you know that you may be touch deprived? Touch deprivation is a real issue, with real symptoms, as well as real solutions.

Workout; the word that so many of us dread. I wish that we all woke up one day and just had the inspiration to do it naturally like some, but many of us don’t. For me, my relationship with working out has been a love/hate relationship. I love how I feel afterwards, but I hate waking up early and getting motivated to do it. For me, I know that if I don’t do it first thing in the morning, I will not come back around to it, and by the end of the day I feel defeated that I didn’t get my workout in. Here I will give you a few tips on how to choose the perfect workout for you to help you be more motivated to work out.

Did you know that diabetes affects almost 10% of the population? It’s a frustrating condition for many people that can completely alter their day-to-day activities. Every bite of food and any physical activity has to be taken into account….While Diabetes can restrict a lot in life, getting a massage shouldn’t be one of those things.

Many fitness instructors still teach the importance of stretching extensively before and after any sort of exercise, and if you’re a member of a gym, you’ll undoubtedly see this being done often. But what if I told you that many of us have been stretching all wrong? While it’s hard to change old habits, this change is imperative if you want to get the most out of your workouts, and prevent injuries along the way.

Massage therapists have worked and struggled for years to educate the public on the reality of the profession; not just about the benefits of the therapy, but also to disassociate the industry from those who use the legitimacy of the profession to hide illicit activities. Television and movies haven’t helped over the years, often acting to perpetuate this unfortunate association. In an effort to combat this, there are certain terms we use as massage therapists, to maintain professionalism and separate ourselves from those not-so-professional individuals and businesses.

While we don’t expect the general public to always use the correct terminology, it’s important that we, as professionals do, so keep an ear out for these things when you’re looking for a legitimate massage professional.

When we’re deep in the cold, wet clutches of winter, all we can think of is the lazy, hazy summer days. Picnics, barbecues, days out and sunshine are all we remember from the last summer.

Then, when we reach summer time, we remember why summer has stresses of its own. Who hasn’t day dreamed about the last summer vacation but forgotten the fact that driving hours to get there left the entire family hot, cranky and dehydrated? Or that on the second day of the break, one of the kids had an allergic reaction to a bug sting and spent the entire week whining about it itching?

With the kids at home, the planned fun and games can also turn into fighting and complaining about being bored. Some days you just wish it was winter again after all! That’s why, whether you have kids or not, and wherever you are planning to spend time this summer, you

need to schedule in some down time. Summer can really stress you out, so making sure that you’re well prepared with pre-vacation treatments and a massage or two will give you that extra relaxation top up and also helps you make your summer holiday about you as well as everybody else.

Communication seems like an easy thing to master, but for most of us, proves to be a very difficult concept to implement at times. Everyone has different backgrounds, experiences, and lifestyles that affect the way we speak and how we interpret the words of others. This is why it’s so important to make sure you’re communicating properly with your massage therapist. Without proper communication, we often don’t know your real wants and needs for each session, as well as your overall goals for treatment. 

The key to a healthy lifestyle is making healthy food choices and staying active, right? While that seems like an easy goal to achieve, we all know that life gets in the way. If you work at a job that doesn’t allow you to get enough movement or your schedule doesn’t make time for working out, living an active lifestyle can be difficult. You may have heard that sitting is the new smoking, but just how does sitting affect your health?

There are a few issues that immediately come to mind and, if you keep up with any health news, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, such as a decrease in metabolism and increased risk of obesity; but there are other health issues associated with prolonged inactivity that you need to be aware of as well.

The rotator cuff is a group of muscles whose job is to keep the head of your upper-arm bone (humerus) in your shoulder socket. It also aids in the raising, lowering, and rotating of your arm, keeping the shoulder stable and safe throughout these movements. There are 4 muscles that make up your rotator cuff; supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis…

Neuropathy refers to any condition that causes a dysfunction of the nerves, typically caused by some sort of damage, such as that associated with decreased circulation, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, or localized trauma. Most often, the area affected will have sensations of tingling, numbness, shooting pains, weakness, and/or a heavy feeling. While neuropathy can happen anywhere, you’ll usually hear this term interchanged with one that is actually a bit more specific; peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy refers specifically to neuropathy that affects the hands and feet, which may or may not move its way up toward the trunk. 

If you’ve ever done any activity out of the ordinary, you know what it’s like to be sore after. If you’ve done squats, you know walking up and down steps is like torture the day after. Or have your arms shaking after an intense workout. Whether you’re still working toward that New Year’s resolution of getting into shape, or just pushing yourself a bit past your normal, it’s important to be aware that there are many misconceptions about muscle soreness. 

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the result of microscopic tears in the muscles and surrounding connective tissues, causing inflammation. This term is used frequently when it comes to both cardio workouts as well as strength training, but knowing the facts about it is important when deciding what is true and what isn’t. Let’s disperse some myths associated with DOMS so you can know what to expect after your gym session.