What is Myofascial Release? By Claire Swora   Myo refers to muscles, and fascia is the connective tissue that bind muscles, bones, and organs together. We all remember the diagrams of muscles from textbooks in elementary school, but what is the function of the fascia? It connects and covers all parts of the body in a strong, fibrous sheeting, but it also plays a...

To put it simply, it is the people.  The people I get to work with everyday and the clients I have the privilege of helping.  There is no better feeling in the world than seeing the look of relief on someone’s face after they get of the table.  Knowing that you were able to help that person, even if it is temporary, experience relief from an injury or the...

A client came in with very limited range of motion (ROM) in her left shoulder, as well as neck issues. After a couple of sessions where we working with myofascial release techniques and some muscle stripping to open the shoulder, neck, and rotator cuff, the client has been steadily improving. She has reduced the frequency of her chiropractic adjustments. We...

I love being a massage therapist; it is the best job that I have ever had! Ever since I was little I knew that whatever career I pursued would involve helping people. I have held numerous professional positions throughout my life that did help others, but only tangentially. However, the lack of face to face interaction with others and the mounting stress of surviving in corporate...

Tips for Avoiding Stress   Stress seems to come from everywhere nowadays: job, family, social media, TV, the commute, etc. While massage is great for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, massage is not something one can do every day (unfortunately!). So what can you do on a daily basis to de-stress? Here are some tips to get you started:   Listening...

Benefits of Chair Massage in the Workplace   Luxury and spa are commonly associated with massage. Massage therapy has been found to be effective in reducing anxiety and job stress (Field, Quintino, Henteleff, Wells-Keife, & Delvecchio-Feinberg, 1997), as well as improve musculoskeletal pain and discomfort (Šiško, Videmšek, & Karpljuk, 2011)....

Last year I was working with a client who had just been in an intense car accident. Even though she was the one with the least number of injuries, she was living with severe whiplash and trauma, from the event and also losing a friend. The first few times we worked together on her whiplash, she was also emotionally releasing her trauma and pain, as we slowly softened and opened...

Not every client is here to "get better".  For some clients getting better is not the hand they were dealt.  Terminal illness, degenerative disease, and paralyzed limbs are just a few examples of conditions I've helped clients manage.  Treatment is focused on feeling a little bit lighter, more aligned, and stronger to carry on with daily medical...

     Dealing with everyday, chronic pain is difficult. One of my clients has fibromyalgia (FM). Fibromyalgia impacts a person's life via perpetual nerve end stimulation, resulting in highly variable pain. The constant bombardment of pain affects quality of life through raised levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue and others.      Massage has...

Tips for properly stretching your arms.