cheshire-massage.com

What do people mean when they say transitions? Well in the most part life changes of some kind. The majority of clients I see are in their 40's to 90's. Between those years there are different life stages that they may have reached. A change can be resisted or can be welcomed. People finding the pace of change stressful need to find time to relax deeply and feel renewed and rejuvenated again in order to face the day. Regular massage is great for this and can help people to integrate a new sense of themselves. Some client examples I have had have been a number of clients who are transitioning out of one job and into another or studying in a new direction. I have also had clients who have experienced transitions in their homelife whether that is teenagers flying the nest or a new home or relationship change. We all need a little me-time to help support us in our times of growth and change. I'll leave you with a quote about change which I hope you'll like, "If life's own mysterious timing can bring a rose to the fullness of beauty from the bare winter stem...think what it can do with your life." Susan Squellati Florence

I have had a number of clients with lower back pain and neck pain. These have included sciatica symptoms and disc protrusions and arthritic diagnoses and those taking medications such as Co-codamol, Morphine or Gabapentin. They have all gained relief.

Something has led those clients to seek a more natural method of dealing with their pain. They may not want to take strong prescription medication as unfortunately it tends to numb out everything in the persons body – not just the pain area. 

Having suffered sciatica in my 20's I do know how it feels when the pain is everything and it is hard to sit comfortable, walk or lift things. How I work is that I tend to follow a natural approach by using massage therapy for pain. Let me explain how this works. If a person's attention is focused on just one body area because of pain they are missing a lot of other information from their body.

By stretching out compressed joints, fascia and muscles I gently give the body the space it needs to move more easily with reduced pain. This sets up a kind of background hum of relaxation, that typically brings the person aware of more of the rest of the body. The pleasant effect of this is that the pain signals may still be there but they are overlaid with the comfortable feelings from the rest of the body. The result in the brain where the messages are received is that actually this pain is just one part of my body (or life) it is not my whole body awareness or my entire life.l

In the majority of cases people have been in body postures, doing activities or undergoing physical and emotional stresses that may have contributed to their pain over a considerable amount of time. Because of this I prefer that this is not a “one time and you are done” treatment. (If it was it would be way more than £32!) There is usually a lot of unwinding to do, although saying that I guarantee you will feel a great deal more relaxed and you may well have a lot more more movement than you thought after just one treatment.

I prefer to see my work as pre-hab rather than re-hab. I can remedy musculo-skeletal issues, but prevention is better than cure so ongoing maintenance is better to keep mobile and functioning. You wouldn't expect a car to continue driving without a check-over at least annually so why skimp on your most valuable asset – your own body.

Check out my great value 5 session package for maintenance of a relaxed mind and healthy body.

For prices see

http://www.cheshire-massage.com/professional-fees.php

I have had a number of clients with both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis and really the benefits of treatment with massage and in combination with other approaches speak for themselves.

If you have painful joints there are a number of things you can do for yourself to help. You see arthritis is quite prevalent in society today, even at younger ages in the population, however even if you have had a definite diagnosis from a doctor it doesn't mean that life is downhill from then on.

When working with me we can go into more depth on what works for neck, back, hip or knee pain. But for now I'd like to give you 3 tips that you can use for yourself for free. Remember before undertaking any exercise programme it would be wise to check with a doctor if that would be appropriate for you.

That being said each of your joints has a range of motion, although because of restriction that may be less than when you were younger. However movement is medicine. We were born to move. If you gently (by that I mean no pain) move your joints through their natural ranges of motion then every day you are literally lubricating and feeding the joints with nutritious synovial fluid. So Tip 1 is that I recommend a daily joint mobility practice where you take all your main joints through their natural ranges of motion, not just the painful ones, all of them. Yoga or Tai-Chi in their gentler forms do utilise some of these movements, but I mean a systematic full body joint health programme.

I can teach you the one I use one to one, or can point you to resources for you to learn this yourself at home. Drop me an email if you want to know more about this. Daryl@cheshire-massage.com or call me on 07941 789549

Tip 2 is to make sure that your diet is getting the right nutrients into your body and hence your joints. There's a lot of information out there on supplements for joint health and you can google or bing it yourself, but in my experience I have found the following to be a good foundation.

Daily Multivitamin and Mineral

Omega 3-6-9 Mix

MSM/Glucosamine/Chondroitin mix

Tip 3 is to make sure to do some activity every day. A walk, swim or cycle if you can. Exercise in other words ideally more than 15 minutes a day fills the body with a beneficial cocktail of natural feel good chemicals like serotonin and endorphins. Endorphins are the bodies natural pain killing chemicals that also stimulate the immune system by activating killer white blood cells called T lymphocytes. There is also evidence of postponing ageing.  Serotonin has been called "the happy chemical," that your body naturally produces.  Some people supplement with 5htp for a natural anti-depressant  without the side-effects of prescription medication.  Ask yourself why in every modern sheltered housing complex for the elderly there is a gym or at least activity classes?

If you want to find out more please call on 07941 789 549 or email me at Daryl@cheshire-massage.com