Holistic Health Care & Massage Center

Natural Therapeutic bodymind healing with bodytalk certified practitioner.

Dr. Raul Gutierrrez

Relief and Recovery

The pain which brings you to get a massage often involves problems in the musculature. These problems might include:

 Nerve constriction.- Nerves run alongside of, between, and through muscles. Tight muscles can squeeze and put pressure on nerves causing construction, which interferes with the free flow of nerve impulses and sometimes causes pain. Through muscle relaxation, massage alleviates the constriction of nerve due to muscle tension.
Poor Circulation - Tight muscles may also constrict blood vessels, thus slowing blood flow to an area a condition called ischemia. Ischemia causes pain. By increasing circulation to an area, massage reduces ischemia and therefore the pain it causes.
Trigger points - Trigger points are specific spots in muscles and tendons which cause pain and which may radiate pain to a larger area. They are thought by some to be small areas of spasm. Trigger points may be caused by sudden trauma (from falling or being hit) by repeated use of a particular muscle, or may develop over time from chronic muscular. Direct pressure with the thumb or fingers on trigger point will often deactivate it, thus relieving the pain it causes.
Damaged Tissues - Accidents at home, work, play or on the road can leave bruises, sprains, and other injuries in the soft tissues. Massage improves general and local circulation, helping to clear cellular debris from an injury site, and bringing nutrients needed to heal the damaged tissues. Thus massage helps speed recovery.
Pain-Spasm-Pain Cycle - You may get caught in the pain-spasm-pain cycle. This phenomena is started either by pain or spasm in a muscle, which penetrates itself in an endless loop. For example, you may tense up from pain, this causes more tension- more pain- more tension- more pain and on and on.

Many of today's major health problem are caused by chronic stress and conditions of modern living and working. Prolonged mental and emotional stress may lead to tension headache, backache, ulcers, colitis, blood sugar irregularities, high blood pressure and heart disease. Too much stress has also been proven to impair the immune system leaving us vulnerable to many diseases, and inhibiting recovery as well.

Driving or ridding in daily commutes, and sitting for long periods of time at workstations tax the body. the repetitive movements required in certain occupations, for example, with some office work (computer date input, filing and sorting), physical labor (carpentry, gardening), playing musical instruments (violin, guitar), sports (tennis, golf) can lead to loss of flexibility in joints, misalignment and poor posture. Circulation in tense muscles is decreased causing ischemia and pain. Trigger points are common with chronic tension and the pain-spasm-pain cycle may set in.