Prioritizing Self Care

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Self Care Isn’t Selfish I have seen the meme, “Self-Care Is Not Selfish” show up on virtually all social media outlets that I subscribe to. Often it is accompanied by the analogy of the airline safety instructions to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others. It seems that people are beginning to take… Read more »

Support the Doctor Within (Stay Healthy Pt.3)

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“Each patient carries his own doctor inside him. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within a chance to work.” Albert Schweitzer, M.D., Philosopher & Nobel Prize Winner My friend and colleague has a beautiful poster with this quote in the reception area of his office.  I have always loved… Read more »

No Band-Aid Approach to Massage

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I recently read a fantastic blog post by Sally Fraser Wellness where she questions the “Band-Aid Approach” that is often practiced in the American healthcare system. Her post was spurred by the recent removal of a common heartburn medication from pharmacy shelves. The main point of her post is to question why, as a society,… Read more »

Massage Therapy and the Opioid Crisis

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Massage Therapy Research Influencing Policy Recently, the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) released guidelines for the education of health care providers on many non-drug options for treating pain. The guidelines were developed with input from representatives from the Complementary and Integrative Health community (including the American Massage Therapy Association AMTA) This is a big step in the right… Read more »

Don’t FALL for massage.

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Last month I attended a massage seminar on Balance and Postural Stability.  The presenter was co-author of a research study that looked at the effects of massage on ankle flexibility and balance.  He began his presentation by giving some statistics about falls. Falls are a big problem for our healthcare system  The annual cost of falls- According… Read more »

Insurance Should Pay For Massage!

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I hear that statement quite frequently, usually as a client is paying for a session. But honestly, if health insurers decided to cover massage services tomorrow, I would not accept insurance payment.  You may be asking, “Why not?”  The reason is not because I think that health insurance shouldn’t cover massage services. It’s because I wouldn’t… Read more »

Get the Massage You Want

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We’ve all heard the phrase, “Ask and you shall receive.” While there are no guarantees, asking for what you want greatly improves the odds that you will get it. This is certainly the case when it comes to your massage. My husband and I recently took advantage of a spa package that included a couple’s… Read more »

Massage Nutrition

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March is National Nutrition Month, so to celebrate I dedicate this post to “Massage Nutrition”.  Let me start by saying that I am NOT a nutritionist or a dietician. And as far as I know, there is not a specific field of study on nutrition as it relates to massage.  So what do I mean by “Massage Nutrition?” … Read more »

Surrounding The Pain Dragon

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In massage school, I took a class called Commonly Encountered Conditions. As the name suggests, we learned about common issues that we would likely come across in our massage practices. We then learned strategies for dealing with the conditions. The instructor would frequently use the phrase, “Surround the Dragon” to describe his approach to pain… Read more »