An Ode to You and the New Year

I wish I could say I wrote this but I didn't. It was written by another wonderful massage therapist who works in Arlington, Amanda Long. It says it all so well.

Thanks for being part of my world in 2013. I hope I can continue to bring massage to yours in 2014.

A New Year's Ode

What would I be without you?

A woman with table, tater tot thumbs and nothing to do?

Who would I text "I'm running a bit late"
Who would make me think daily, "Damn, this gig is great."

Who would give my elbows a place to land
Who would keep me from an office oh, so bland?

I need not ponder these inquiries,
For you've dutifully filled out your client histories.

Magic, you say, that's what I do
But you're the prize, really it's YOU

So thanks for the shoulders up to your ears
Thanks for tight hammies and keeping me out of arrears

Thanks for sharing your vino
and letting me actualize my dream-OH,

Holidays make the gratitude flow, wouldn't you know it
But, luckily, thanks to you, I'm not a paid poet!

Preferred Technique for Fibromyalgia?

A research study comparing Swedish massage and myofascial release for persons with fibromyalgia.

The Study Question: Does a manual therapy that addresses fascia offer more benefit than one that focuses on muscle relaxation for reducing symptoms of fibromyalgia?

Participants:  12 female participants with self-reported widespread muscle pain for at least 3 consecutive months, with tenderness in at least 11 out of 18 specific soft tissue tender points. Their average age was 34.5 and each had lived with fibromyalgia for an average of 2.6 years.

The Study Plan: Weekly 90-minute sessions of either Swedish massage or myofascial release for 4 consecutive weeks (total of 6 hours of treatment per participant). Delivered by 3 licensed massage therapists who had used Swedish massage with clients with fibromyalgia and had advanced training in myofascial release. Work was performed on the same regions (neck, back, legs, arms) on all participants.

Results: Both groups showed improvements in symptoms. There was no significant difference between the two groups. However, a secondary analysis showed the 5 of the 8 participants in the myofascial release group reported clinically significant improvement while only one of the four participants in the Swedish massage group reported comparable improvement. Overall, the results appeared to suggest that myofascial release was more effective than Swedish massage.

My Take-Away: We should try both techniques if you are living with fibromyalgia and determine what works best for you (including a combination of both techniques). The more experience you have of bodywork, the better your intuition for what will work best improves. Fibromyalgia is different for each person and different each day for any given person. We need to determine at each session what your goals are and choose accordingly.

From the AMTA Massage Therapy Journal, Winter 2013. Study originally reported in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (Jul 2013).

How (not) to change things

Talking to another small business owner last night. Talking about what it takes to make change.

No good change is fueled by hate. Changes fueled by hate rarely endure. Not in your body, your relationships, your community, or your world. This is what I've observed over time, especially when it comes to your body (of course).

If you are changing your living habits because you hate your body as it is, it's going to be tough to maintain the change. Hate fuels hot but it doesn't fuel well or over the long haul. It's too corrosive.

Hate isn't native to us. Babies are rarely born hating. It has to be installed at some point. After-market add-ons are never as strong as original factory equipment.

Think about the changes you've tried to make, especially for your body -- diets, stretching regimens, workout plans -- that you've undertaken out of hatred/anger about your body. Did it endure? Did it feel good? Would you want to live that way your entire life? (Fear as a motivator functions a lot like hate.)

Now, think about the changes you've tried to make when you were motivated by love -- for a person, a community, and (yes) your body. Do these changes still bring a smile to your face? Which ones still feel good? Which ones are still active in your life?

One of the things I've learned about being in a long-term relationship is this: it's like someone whipping out a mirror so you can see yourself at your most unattractive. Not because that person is mean and likes to make you feel bad (if it is, get out!!). In my case it's because my love for that person made me acutely aware of my nasty habits and ways because I saw how they affected someone I cared deeply for. I saw the results of my less-than-attractive ways play out in the life of someone I would never want to hurt.

That has spurred more change than anything else ever has. Loving my body and wanting to be kind and gentle with it has spurred more consistent change than any catchy phrase or guilt trip from Weight Watchers / Jenny Craig / The Biggest Loser / late night infomercials ever has.

What I have observed over the years is this paradox -- if you want to change something about yourself, you have to love what you currently have. How can both of these things be true at the same time (which is a good working definition of paradox)? Love the belly fat, the painful low back, the aching neck, the crazy feet. Love your body. Love it enough to want to be kind to it like you'd be kind to your very closest friend.

Yes, I may be crazy. You would not be the first person to suggest that.  :)  It is, however, worth a moment of consideration.

Love might actually be the answer.

Today is the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. He talked about how he chose to give up the hate he felt for his imprisonment and his jailors. Compare the changes fueled by apartheid vs. the changes fueled by Mandela's decision to move towards love and away from hate. Which one do you think is more profound, more important, more likely to endure?

Love might actually be the answer.

Simple ways to change your health (no deprivation required)

There are simple things you can do to improve your body's general health and wellbeing. The two I would probably start any list with are:

Sleep

Movement

Sleep
How would your days change, how would you feel if you got a reasonable amount of sleep most (or even every) nights? Not just enough to get through the next day (and you'll "catch up" on the weekend) (which, by the way, doesn't actually work). Enough to feel genuinely rested.

Do you even know how much sleep that is? Next time you're on vacation or have a few days with no schedule, leave the alarm clock off (or, if that's too hard, set it for 12 hours). Notice, over the course of a few days, how many hours you sleep when left alone. For me, it's 8-9 hours. For some people it's 7, for others 10.

What would happen if you made a full night's sleep your #1 health priority? How would you have to change your life to make that happen? Would you have to quit stuffing activities into the wee hours of the dawn? Would you have to record your favorite late-night show and watch it when you get home the next day? Would you have to eat dinner earlier or later?

A few years ago I decided to try just that -- make getting a full night's sleep my #1 priority for the week. The first few days were a bit ragged; like most everyone else I have long-established habits that keep me from getting enough sleep. But by the end of the week, I was managing 7-9 hours every night.

What a difference. Can you imagine facing your day fully re-charged? Virtually everything else becomes easier.

Movement
There are things the body is well-designed for and things the body isn't well-designed for. The body is built to move. Conversely, it really stinks at holding a static position for an extended period of time. Driving. Computer work. Watching TV. Even reading a book.

When you're not moving, muscles get over-tired, blood flow from the feet and lower legs gets sluggish, joints get stiff, ligaments tighten up, tendons get tense, your digestive track has to work harder...sounds exhausting, doesn't it?

Now, by "movement" I don't mean "exercise". Not running, jumping, lifting, riding, sweating, grunting, etc. I mean movement. Standing up. Sitting down. Walking over there. Coming back here. Picking that up. Moving that other thing. Looking around. Finding something under your desk.

Doing the laundry. Cooking dinner. Making the bed. Cleaning out the car. Bathing the dog. Shooing the cat off the couch. (Bathing the cat would probably actually count as "exercise".) Putting the groceries away. Walking down the driveway to get the mail. Playing peek-a-boo with the baby. Changing a light bulb. Brushing your teeth. Taking a shower.

You get the picture.

There is a place for exercise but what too many of us are lacking even more than exercise is a day full of simple movement. What we tend to have instead is hours on our butt.

Think that's not you? I bet your phone / iPod / tablet / watch / etc. has a timer. Pick a day next week. Whenever your butt meets a sitting surface (couch, chair, car, bus, train, etc.), start the timer. When you stand up, pause the timer. Next time you sit down, start the timer again. Stand up? Pause the timer.

How much time do you think you'll find yourself on your butt? Just typing up today's session notes, writing this blog entry, and talking to my husband on the phone (he's in NY on business) has been 1:45 hours. There was 30 minutes of TV before that. That's more than 2 hours that didn't even start till 9:30 pm!


So pick one -- sleep or movement -- and make next week an experiment. How will you be different and feel different from either (or both!) of these very simple healthy habits?