Most individuals consider Massage Therapy as a means of relaxation and consider it as a luxury. What a lot of people don’t understand is that massage therapy is a preventative means of care for your body.

Massage Therapy is a regulated health care profession that treats the soft tissues of your body (muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and fascia). A massage treatment involves applying pressure, kneading and manipulation of soft tissues to improve your well-being. It can help alleviate every day stress on your muscles, physical manifestations of mental distress and many pain associated conditions.

Benefits of a Massage Treatment

Massages are used for treatment of injuries and rehabilitation and should be a part of maintenance for your overall health and well-being. Similar to taking your car in for regular maintenance, treatments offer benefits such as

• Reducing or eliminating pain

• Improving joint mobility

• Reducing muscle tension

• Improving circulation

• Contributing to a relaxed state of mind

Massage therapy can benefit many conditions (acute and chronic), including but not limited to:

Helpful Tip – How to minimize your back aches and pains while shovelling snow.

With winter approaching, let’s talk about snow removal. With improper technique, both methods can be strenuous on your body, resulting in injuries, such as muscle and joint pain. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended that you bend your knees and use your legs, not your back, to either push or lift snow.

What to do if your back is sore?

If you experience some aches and pain in your back, whether on a regular basis or from shovelling snow, here are a few things you could try to help reduce your soreness.

1. Apply a heating pad or magic bag to the area on your back that is sore for about 20-30 minutes or until the magic bag has cooled off. The heat will increase blood flow to the area to help heal and soothe your muscles.

2. Take a warm to hot epsom salt bath for 20 minutes. Make sure the water temperature is tolerable and put about 2 measuring cups of epsom salts in the bath. The epsom salt is good for muscle aches as it has magnesium in it which acts as a natural muscle relaxant.

3. Stretching your glutes (bum), hamstrings (back of your thigh) and back muscles will help elongate and realign your muscle fibres to help reduce your back aches and pains. Hold the following stretches for a minimum of 30 seconds or until you stop feeling the pull during your stretch.

4. Yoga pose, cat. This will help elongate some of your back muscles and create some movement in your spine.

If you require a visual image or description on how to do these stretches, please visit my website www.kaitlynford.ca

607 Main Street East, Miton, ON, L9T 3J2

647.405.7962 | www.kaitlynford.ca