Category — Massage Therapy Benefits

Massage and Valentine’s Day go together like Kermit & Miss Piggy, Ben & Jerry, or chocolate and…well, just about anybody.  Perhaps you’ve treated your Valentine to a massage, and maybe got one in return.  Debating who should get whom a massage?  Many spas offer couples’ massages so you can share in the experience together.

But did you know massage is actually good for that ultimate Valentine – your Heart?  With hearts abounding this time of year, why not treat your own heart to some love.  According to Massage Envy, “From head to toe, therapeutic massage offers many benefits that directly affect the heart’s function and promotes good health.”  Among the benefits are anxiety reduction, increased blood flow, and hormone regulation.  Click Here to read the entire article.
By taking care of your own heart, you’ll have much love to share for many more Valentine’s to come.

On 12/7/10, KGO-TV featured interviews with National Holistic Institute staff and many shots of the school’s Emeryville campus for Health Reporter Carolyn Johnson’s interesting piece about the medical benefits of massage therapy which aired on “ABC 7 News” throughout  Northern California. Johnson’s story explains how a recently-released study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles demonstrates the clear health benefits of a single massage therapy session. The story describes the positive biologic effects of massage therapy including an increase in the number of white blood cells to a decrease in the stress hormone cortisol.

A couple of recent headlines show the growing strength of the massage therapy profession.

First, Massage Today reports the breaking news that Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed AB1822.  Sponsored by the California Police Chiefs Association, this bill originally would have eliminated state-recognized certification.  In its diluted final draft, it would have added two law enforcement officials to the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) Board, an unprecedented act for a professional board in the state of California.  The bill will need 2/3 vote to pass now, a bar it’s unlikely to achieve.  The governor’s veto recognizes the size, voice and respectability of the massage therapy profession.  Click Here for the full article.

Also in the news, the Los Angeles Times ran a story about how a single massage can boost the immune system.  This story appeared in several media outlets and highlighted research published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.  Click Here for the full article.

Thanks to the many individuals and organizations whose support of research and lobbying help make better working conditions for all massage therapists.

Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance

If you’re like thousands of other job seekers, you may dream of earning the big bucks without having to deal with the extreme stress that goes hand-in-hand with top-paying jobs. Of course, a high-salary, low-stress job sounds too good to be true. Or is it?

Believe it or not, you don’t have to take on a heart-pounding career as a brain surgeon, airline pilot or stock broker to bring home some serious bacon. As a matter of fact, some of the highest-stress jobs pay surprisingly scanty salaries. [Read more →]

The San Francisco Holistic Health Examiner recently featured National Holistic Institute San Jose student Anna Sallas and her personal quest to become certified in oncology massage.  Way to go, Anna!

Read the entire article here.

NHI Graduate Jenn Taylor with “American Idiot” cast members Tony Vincent ("St. Jimmy") and Christina Sajous ("Extraordinary Girl").

Jenn Taylor, a student of National Holistic Institute, is very excited about providing massage to the cast of American Idiot, a new musical based on the eponymous Green Day album.  She is completing her externship through the Saint Francis Center for Sports Medicine in Walnut Creek, under the supervision of DPT Patricia Commer.  NHI Student Life & Career Coordinator Aviana Lynn recently had the opportunity to visit with Jenn about the experience.

Jenn has extensive background in theatre and dance, including work with the famous Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat production years ago.  However, the opportunity to massage with American Idiot was [Read more →]

What better way to tell someone you care than with the healing gift of massage?

Gift cards from National Holistic Institute are good for one 50-minute student massage and never expire.  In a world cluttered with “stuff,” a massage offers the perfect opportunity to de-stress.

This holiday season, NHI offers a gift card special to help you give the ideal present without spending an arm and leg.

Buy 5 Gift Cards, Get 1 FREE!
Buy 10 Gift Cards, Get 3 FREE!

CLICK HERE to Buy Online

You can also buy gift cards at your local NHI campus, which may be offering additional holiday specials.

NHI wishes you a safe and happy Holiday Season!

Dan Magro of Current TV’s Dan About Town recently visited the National Holistic Institute Encino Campus to find out what it takes to become a massage therapist.

After getting basic chair massage tips from yours truly, Dan joined a class where he received muscular realignment work from student Amber Mathieu and instructor Jan Takeshita.  By the end of his stay, Dan began to realize just how much training goes into making a professional massage treatment so therapeutic.

The Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles South Bay news source, interviewed National Holistic Institute teacher Nancy Gouge for an article published this week about the health benefits of massage therapy.

Researchers think massage may stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers the body to release stress, said Nancy Gouge, an instructor at the National Holistic Institute massage therapy school in Encino. Once relieved of stress, the heart rate slows, blood vessels dilate and normal activity resumes throughout the body.

To read the article in its entirety, Click Here.

Has the economy got you down?  According to Yahoo! Hot Jobs, “A certificate program from a community college or vocational school is the swiftest way to pump up your earning potential.”

“Many people refer to community college as the new master’s degree,” says Laurence Shatkin, author of “150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs,” among other books for job hunters. “It’s a way to repurpose yourself.”

Find out where massage therapy makes the list at Yahoo! Hot Jobs and then visit www.nhi.edu to see how you can become a massage therapist in as little as 10 months.

Or perhaps you just want to supplement your current income to better meet your financial goals.  Massage therapy is ranked #1 on MSN/CareerBuilder.com’s Best Part-Time Job for 2009 list.

So, whether you’re looking for a new full or part-time career, see what National Holistic Institute can do for you!

Massage is one of those careers you take practically anywhere – even the canals of Venice.

As celebrations continue for its 50th anniversary year, the Hotel Cipriani has announced its freshest ever proposal, where the art of massage meets an emblem that is strictly Venetian: the Gondola.

In perfectly natural synergy, the gently rocking of the gondola and the talented hands of a massage therapist induce a profound sense of calm, allowing the mind and body to effortlessly drift into a natural state of relaxation that washes away every ounce of stress.

A mat that has been specially designed to embrace the shape of the gondola cradles the body during this total body massage, which places special focus on the back, shoulders, neck, and face, where soft rhythmic rocking alternates with kneading and gentle brushing effleurage. To protect sun sensitive skin, no essential oils or perfumes are used on the body. Instead, the Casanova Spa therapists have blended a special oil rich in vitamin E and F with a high SPF sun screen, coffee oil and peach milk.

This special 40-minute body treatment ends with a foot massage and the opportunity to relax in the hotel’s fragrant and shaded garden with a cooling iced tea.

A special venue for the ‘gondola massage’ has been created in a hidden corner of the Venetian lagoon, where the sounds of silence ebb and flow with the sea – a magnificent backdrop for a massage that is positively unique, just like Venice.

The Hotel Cipriani Gondola Massage is priced from 400 Euro plus 10% tax and can be booked directly with the Casanova Spa.

According to the American Massage Therapy Association, 44% of consumers over 65 years of age got their last massage for medical reasons.  This age group has tripled its use of massage over the last 10 years.  Massage is fast becoming a vital part of the health needs for seniors.

National Holistic Institute has reached out to seniors for a long time.  NHI Emeryville’s “Senior Center Day” during the recent holidays drew over 40 seniors from the Emeryville Senior Center!  They came to enjoy a free Shiatsu-style massage.

Student Life & Career Coordinator Aviana Lynn writes, ”Many seniors reported that their massages by the junior students were ‘fabulous,’ and they were eager to schedule future massages with the NHI student clinic as well as purchase gift cards for the enjoyment of friends and relatives.”

Holiday eggnog and pastries were provided by NHI, and many of the seniors were seen munching and chatting away long after their massages were over!

iStockphoto.com

NHI President Tim Veitzer and I just returned from the American Massage Therapy Association Council of Schools (AMTA-COS) in San Antonio.  Here it was announced that roughly 44 million Americans (20% of the adult population) had a total of around 209 million massages in 2008.  The most common factor for getting a massage was stress-relief at 36% followed by medical reasons at 31%.

On the heels of these outstanding numbers, National Public Radio (NPR) reported this morning that massage is faring well in a flagging economy.  It’s part of the ”comfort consumption” that experts say always spikes during stressful times like a recession.  People are cutting out their big expenses like vacation and travel — and spending more on smaller indulgences.  Click here to read the entire NPR article.

Our first continuing education class of the year, Gayle MacDonald’s Massage for People Living with Cancer, comes to the Encino campus Feb 6, 7 & 8.  This class is a must for massage therapists specializing in the medical community.  When we last hosted Gayle back in 2007, participants raved at the chance to learn from this oncology massage expert and renowned author.

Comfort-oriented massage or touch can be administered to people with cancer regardless of the severity of their condition.  The purpose of this class is to train touch therapists in the basics of oncology massage.  The experience derived from this training creates new-found confidence in bodyworkers about working with clients, particularly private practice clients, who have cancer or are recovering from it.  Therapists who focus on hospice and hospital work also find this course to be valuable for their special needs patients.

Participants must be a professional massage therapist or other touch practitioner, a student who has completed the basic Swedish massage course, or be licensed in another health care field, such as nursing or chiropractic, that involves touch therapy, or by permission of the instructor.

This course will take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – February 6, 7 & 8, 2009 – from 9am-6pm.  Students will receive 24 NCBTMB approved CE hours.  The cost is $495.  Enrollees who sign up before January 16 will save $25.  Call Denise at 818-788-0824 x 354 to register.

Gayle MacDonald, MS, LMT, is the author of Medicine Hands: Massage Therapy for People with Cancer, 2nd Ed. (Findhorn Press) and Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client (Lippincott Williams and Wilkin).  Her expertise comes from more than 13 years of work with oncology patients at Oregon Health and Science University.  She has also supervised massage students and therapists in the oncology unit, in chemo infusion, radiation oncology, and the bone marrow transplant unit. Find out more at http://www.medicinehands.com/.

It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it!

Okay, bad pun aside, I had great fun over the weekend participating in the Biotone Spa class taught by Travis Ochoa.  For 2 days, we got to both apply and experience an aromatherapy wrap, cellulite treatment, and more, concluding with a full body exfoliation and mud wrap.  I’m still glowing!  Thanks to my weekend partner Lila Lewis-Peace for putting up with my messy “painting.”

Melissa Wheeler explains why these 2 muscles are among her favorites…

I love these leg muscles because of their attachment and involvement with the FEET!

Massage Therapists often think of only the Gastrocnemius and Soleus when they think of calf muscles, but often the culprit in calf/foot pain is the deepest calf muscle, Tibialis posterior.  Tib Posterior has extensive attachments to the plantar surface of the foot and if you are aware of this, it can change your foot massage techniques forever!!!  Remember all those foot bones?  Navicular, cuneiforms, cuboid, metatarsals…

Then, wrapping around, from the Fibula (Peroneus and Fibula mean the same thing, one is Greek – one Latin) is the Peroneus longus muscle….it crosses under the plantar surface of the foot, from the lateral leg to the medial foot and attaches to the base of the first metatarsal and medial (or first) cuneiform.  Remember those old stirrup pants from the 80′s?  Something like that.

Working on the plantar surface of the foot, with these tendonious attachments in mind, can be a profound experience!  Clients will come running (literally) back to you.

“Infants who received massage therapy compared to those who were rocked experienced greater daily weight gain; more organized sleep/wake behaviors; less fussiness; improved sociability and soothability; improved interaction behaviors; and lower cortisol and norepinephrine and increased serotonin levels.”  This is according to a study led by Tiffany Field of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami.

Our school has long supported infant massage and it’s with great pride that we’ve watched one of our own become a leading expert in this field.  Since graduating from Touch Therapy Institute (before it became National Holistic Institute), Suzanne P. Reese has traveled the world first learning about infant massage and then becoming one of it’s most esteemed champions.  She has published both a book (Baby Massage) and a CD (Talk to Me), created a series of videos for NewBaby.com, and was featured in People magazine for her work with the orphans of Chernobyl.  Just this week, Suzanne wrote an article for Massage Magazine online about the benefits of infant massage for infants, families, and society.

Suzanne will be at our Encino campus this Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (September 18-21) teaching the Infant Massage Educator Certification course.  Students are trained to teach parents and caregivers how to massage their own infants.  For many hands-on practitioners, this offers a non-hands-on opportunity to expand their practice and possibly compliment their existing pre- and peri-natal care.  It is an ideal way to follow through with parents and caregivers who have sought out massage services for themselves.  The class is open to everyone and, as of this writing, there are only 4 spaces left.  Email Denise at boyled@nhi.edu to register.

For more information on Suzanne P. Reese, check out http://www.compassionatechild.com/.

I’m so delighted to have Melissa Wheeler as one of our guest bloggers.  She has been with NHI over 15 years and is one of the first teachers I met when I initially toured the school.  While Emeryville is her home campus, she is the Faculty Training Coordinator for all campuses.  She makes sure all NHI teachers continually meet our high level of training.  Her background is in Sports Massage and Rehabilitative work, having worked in a Physical Therapy clinic for a number of years – and with athletes at Cal Berkeley.

This is the first of Melissa Wheeler’s occasional series about interesting conditions that can benefit from massage.

Lace Bite.  Ouch!  What is THAT?  Runners, walkers, hikers:  Loosen your laces!

Lace Bite is a common condition that develops over the top of the foot where the long extensors of the toes pass under the extensor retinaculum. (see illustration below).  Compression of these tendons can cause a painful condition called tenosynovitis.  In this region it is commonly called “lace bite” because tight shoelaces are often the primary cause.

• Retinaculum:  Thickenings of deep fascia in distal portions of limbs that hold tendons in position.
• Tenosynovitis:  When tendons that pass through a synovial sheath become irritated and inflamed.

How to Treat with Massage?  Deep Transverse friction of the affected tendon along with myofascial release on the retinaculum (and loosening your laces) can resolve the problem!  I had a client who had this condition for months and could not figure out what was wrong.  After one massage specific to this area – the pain went away!  However, don’t work if acutely inflamed.