repetitive strain injury

Alignment, SI Joint Pain & Massage Therapy

Amanda Sullivan Educational, Healthy Lifestyle, Massage Therapy, Zen Massage , , , , , , , , ,

Each body tells a personal story.  The different ways we use our bodies daily is not always a conscious decision. Let’s be honest our alignment and posture are not always optimal. We have to work, read, hunched over 8 hours at the desk, drive and then we wonder where’s our pain coming from?

​Repetitive motion creates patterns that build our posture. The fascia that lies underneath, throughout your body gets pulled in different directions and creates patches and areas with condensed tissue that need to be smoothed out.​

Massage therapy can provide significant improvement for pain and for works best as part of an integrated approach with your doctor and/or physical therapist.

Physical therapy will alleviate pain through guided and supervised stretching and exercises that increase the stability of the joint. Massage therapy can also help reduce the pain associated with SI joint dysfunction by addressing the muscles and ligaments that support it.

For example, cranial-sacral therapy (balancing the rhythm of the cerebral-spinal pulse) will realign the body and reduce the stress on the SI joint. Using Swedish massage techniques, your massage therapist can relax the muscles and improve circulation in the area.

Massage can relieve the pain and discomfort of SIJ dysfunction by correcting imbalances of the musculoskeletal system. This is the connection between your muscles and your joints and bones. Some practitioners use a therapeutic strategy involving piriformis techniques that address the stability of the pelvis in order to alleviate the SI joint pain.

Corrective massage is designed to counteract harmful muscle imbalances that result in poor body posture. With the repetitiveness of occupation and daily activities, pain occurs due to imbalances created by overuse of certain muscles and under use of others. Our body posture provides a window into musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction.

Muscle imbalances affect the whole body, causing stress and fatigue that tighten the muscles and limit oxygen to the cells. Poor posture can limit our body’s potential range of motion creating stress on the musculoskeletal system. The result is chronic pain caused by the weak underused muscles being pushed to their limit. Muscle pain is a strong signal of body misalignment.

Chronic conditions develop over time, and will often require multiple sessions to change the patterns and posture of your body.  As your massage therapist, we listen to the pain and make the healthy alignment changes that are needed using massage. The goal is for you to be pain free and capable of  living an active lifestyle.

It’s important to try the least invasive routes before leaping to potentially addictive prescription painkillers and costly surgeries with lengthy recovery times. In addition to your doctor, seek advice from massage therapists, physical therapists, and holistic health practitioners who can offer alternative approaches to your sacroiliac joint pain management.

The tools offered by doctors to treat pain (pills and surgery) mask the issue and do not get to the root problem, muscular skeletal imbalance. With corrective massage, sessions are interactive requiring you to flex and release certain muscles during the massage to accelerate the results and to re-educate the body so that stretched muscles are contracted and shortened muscles are lengthened. This creates balance in the body. When the body is in balance, it is pain free and strong.

Good communication with your massage therapist is key to getting the best treatment for your body.

Personalized Massage Therapy in Salt Lake City @ http://zenmassage.net/

Sources:

Low Back, Piriformis and SI Joint Pain

Impact of Massage Therapy on Pain

SI Joint Dysfunction

Sacroiliac Joint Pain Relief Through Massage

Repetitive Strain Injuries and Massage Therapy

Amanda Sullivan Educational, Massage Advantage, Massage Service, Massage Therapy , , , ,

For those suffering with a Repetitive Strain Injury, there is no question that, conservative therapy is the best option.

Repetitive strain injury (RSI) can also be called tenosynovitis or chronic tendinopathy by your doctor. Tendinitis happens when you repeat a motion frequently on tight tissues and when the rate of damage exceeds your body’s natural rate of repair. From Trigger Finger to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, conservative therapy produces the best results, quicker results, and long-lasting relief.

There are many types of conservative treatments with a variety of positive benefits. Massage Therapy is a wonderful conservative treatment providing good results by itself, and even greater results when combined with a stretch and exercise routine.

Massage helps relax and lengthen tight, restricted muscles. It helps break down scar tissue in injured muscles, reduce adhesions (an abnormal union of membranous surfaces due to inflammation or injury) on affected tendons at their point of attachment to the muscle or to the bone. Massage helps remove toxins from muscles and increase overall circulation and nutrient delivery to the associated tissues. All of these wonderful benefits help overworked muscles to relax and injured muscles begin to heal.

Massage Therapy, even with all of its benefits, sadly, does not correct the muscle imbalances causing the Repetitive Strain Injury. Although Massage Therapy can greatly assist the rehabilitation process, once a muscle has been injured and has atrophied to any significant degree, other therapeutic elements must be added to the treatment schedule in order to completely eliminate the Repetitive Strain Injury.

An essential part of treating any Repetitive Strain Injury is a stretch and exercise routine. One that is specifically designed to create structural integrity and muscle balance at the injury site. By creating strong flexible muscles surrounding the specific joint, that joint will no longer be as susceptible to Repetitive Strain Injuries.

According to Mr. Anliker (Therapist and Inventor of Therapeutic Exercise Products for the prevention and rehabilitation of repetitive strain injuries) the integration of Massage Therapy, stretches, exercises and hydrotherapy is a highly effective treatment protocol for many types of injuries. An example of a treatment sequence for a ‘chronic injury’ should follow along these lines:

. Hydrotherapy Heat – Heat to increase circulation to the area, making the soft tissues relaxed and pliable.

. Massage Phase-I – Specific massage treatment utilizing Trigger Point Release techniques to release muscle spasm and Transverse Friction Massage to break down adhesions.

. Stretch – Stretch overly restrictive tissues to increase their length and reduce their compression of underlying tissues.

. Exercise – Perform strengthening exercises for the affected tissues in order to reduce tensile strain on the injured area, heal micro-tears and increase healing nutrients to the injured area. Strong muscles create stability and prevent future reoccurrence of micro-tears to a previously affected area.

. Massage Phase-II – Perform light Petrissage and Effleurage towards the heart to remove the toxins created from undergoing Trigger Point Release, Transverse Friction Massage, stretches, and exercises.

. Hydrotherapy Cold – Cool the injured tissues in an elongated position as to not lose range-of-motion (ROM) of the affected tissues and to further remove toxins from the area.

Massage Therapy along with the techniques above are very effective in eliminating chronic Repetitive Strain Injuries. Any one element by itself is useful, but by implementing several conservative techniques, the success rate of the treatment increases dramatically.

Offering Effective Conservative Massage Therapy @ Zen Massage in Salt Lake City.

References 

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