Saturday, September 19, 2009
MASSAGE AS PREVENTATIVE HEALTH CARE
How often do you check that mole in the middle of your back between your shoulder blades?
How about that small patch of skin on the back of your neck that has been changing texture over the last several weeks?
Did you notice the red spot behind your knee that just appeared within the last month?
Are your ankles slowly swelling?
Let me tell you a story:
I have a friend whom I have been providing weekly massage to for years now. Recently his son started having sore ankles and asked me for massage. The first time I gave him a gentle exploratory massage just to see what I could discern. I noticed that there was a bit of swelling in his ankles. I asked him to try keeping his ankles elevated above his heart especially in the evenings while he was relaxing. The next week I came by, the swelling was worse.
I must tell you I was not immediately alerted but when I got home I started doing some reading and research as I do with all of my regular clients who develop some interesting anomaly that I am not familiar enough with. The information I read alarmed me. I did not want to be an alarmist so the next week I told the son that I did not feel comfortable giving him massage at this time and asked him to check with his doctor and specifically bring up this swelling problem which now seemed to be advancing to his knees. His father informed me that his son had just seen his family physician the week prior and was given a clean bill of health. I held off on the massage that week and explained that I was a bit concerned and would like to do some more investigation into what could be going on in this young mans system.
Within that next week unrelated events occurred that alarmed mom and dad enough to take their son to the hospital emergency ward where they found out their son had a defective aorta with an infection significant enough to put him into emergency surgery to repair the valve and start on an antibiotic program to reverse the infection.
My observation was only one of many that were not tied together yet it made me acutely aware of the role I may sometimes play in the recognition of health issues in my clients.
While diagnosing illness is not in my realm of service I am in a position to observe conditions of change that may otherwise be overlooked by the client. This may very well be the subtle clue that leads you to “acquire” an early diagnosis to a problem or condition that may even be life threatening in the long term.
Give another thought to massage therapy as another tool in your health care regimen.
Thai Massage
In the holistic community, is the concept, Thai massage has many names will be referenced. Some of these names are Ancient Thai Massage and Yoga Massage. In Thailand, Thai massage is known as Nuad Boran Phaen.
In the center of a Thai massage is the wrong orientation of the energies of the body. Unlike European-style massage, Thai massage emphasizes, transport and pressure points, thus enhancing the internal health as well as muscular flexibility. The mainDifference between Western and Thai massage is the Thai massage involves peripheral stimulation, ie it acts as an external source of stimulation to specific internal effects within the body to create.
In a traditional Thai massage, the masseuse using her hands, elbows, knees to make, and the feet to different pressures, the power lines are known as sen along the body. These energy lines are used as the key to a happy and healthy lifestyle.If a power line is moved or blocked, the client may suffer a range of diseases, chronic pain, illness and possibly death.