Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Do you suffer from headaches and/or neck pain?

A few weeks ago, I participated in a webinar put on by Dr. Ben Benjamin (yes, that's his name!), who has been practicing massage for over 40 years and is a leader within the massage field.


Dr. Benjamin shared the 3 main causes of neck pain: injuries to the neck ligaments, loss of range of motion (ROM), and chronic accumulation of muscle tension. Did you know there are 18 ligaments in the neck that can cause referral pain throughout the entire upper body? Did you know our range of motion naturally decreases as we age? Did you know the "normal" number of headaches per year is just 3-4? 


Chronic tension in the face, jaw and occipital area (the back, lower portion of the skull) can cause tension headaches, and clenching your teeth can actually increase the tension in your neck also. 


The good news is that massage is very effective at decreasing the frequency and intensity of headaches and neck pain. Treatments may take as long as 3-4 months or longer if the issue has been present for a long time, or as few as 6-8 sessions if the issue has only been bothering you for a couple months. The even better news is that you can speed the process towards living a more pain-free and headache-free life by doing some self-care between massage appointments.


I highly recommend you watch Dr. Ben Benjamin's video on neck stretches and practice this routine at least once a day. I've done these stretches before bed, and when I woke up, my neck still felt fabulous, not stiff at all. I've also done the stretches first thing in the morning when I wake up, and it helps loosen my neck for the day, particularly if I'd forgotten to stretch the night before.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Meet Robo-ssage

Check this out! For a mere $6,799, you too can enjoy yourself a robotic massage. 


My initial thoughts are:
**Hmm...looks enjoyable...probably better than the massage chair experience I had when I got my pedicure last week, minus the pedicure.
**What about the front of the body?
**There's no stretching involved.
**Doesn't look suitable for larger body types.
**Are buyers really going to see $6,799 worth of value from this thing before it starts collecting dust and holding laundry? 
**Buyers miss out on one major factor that drives my clients to get a massage from me: HUMAN TOUCH. There's no substitute for it, including this.
**Comparable to paying $6,799 for a CD that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home, versus spending $60 every so often to go to the actual concert. 


If you'd like, just pay me $6,799 and I'll be happy to give you a massage every day for 113 days. I'd be thrilled to take part in a study comparing the use of this fake massager every day, versus a real massage every day for the same amount of time and cost. Sure, some might argue that after 113 days, the value in the chair goes on, but I contend it to be gathering dust by then. And those receiving real massage would be flying high on cloud 9. 


What do YOU think?

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Upcoming Improvements

Wow, a lot has been going on lately! A few of my clients already know that I've been plugging away at a whole new website. The good news is, it's almost ready to launch. The bad news is, I think it needs to wait a little longer to launch until my other improvements are ready to go also.


What does that mean? A LOT.


I'm nearly caught in limbo now. My next moves are dependent upon some incoming dollars I am expecting. Once I see some green, there will be a new logo, a new slogan, and a flux of new marketing: business cards, signs, magnets, postcards, the whole shabang.


And let's not forget some of the best news! Jeana, the therapist I've been sharing my massage room with at Heidi's Too, will be moving her business elsewhere in just over a week. The fantastic part is I will now have my room all to myself! Clients coming in for treatments in the next few weeks will be seeing lots of these changes gradually take place. I will be painting the room and refurnishing it with only myself and my clients in mind. It will be gorgeous when I'm done, I can hardly wait!