Songbird Massage Therapy Studio

Massage therapy and chiropractic treatments

2011-10-09T23:54:00.001-05:00

I was chatting with a friend and was giving him some massage therapy advice, which I'm going to share with you all. This guy is/was having back pain that is hindering his ability to play sports and possibly to work. He lives a long way away from me, so I was trying to help him with his search for some massage therapy help. He was also seeking treatment from a chiropractor, which I highly recommend for some people. Massage therapy and chiropractic treatments work really well together. It helps to keep your whole being in alignment, stress-free, and improves overall wellness.

Here is what I told him:
Find yourself a really good massage therapist with years of experience and who knows how to treat sciatica and different issues. Try massage before chiro adjustments, and then afterward. Massage before chiro helps to relax the muscles beforehand so that the adjustment is easier on your body and easier for the chiro to do. Massage afterwards helps to ease out any soreness from the chiro adjustment.

Also for the pain that's in your hips and low back, I recommend for massage, trigger point therapy in the gluteals. I do it all the time. There are trigger points in a person's behind that with pressure, will release tension in the low back, mid back, hips, IT band, and the hamstrings, and even the knee caps. Works everytime!

Also may I suggest that you try some stretching exercises everyday. There are certain leg and arm stretches that involve the back or gluteals that will help you. Leg stretches, where the legs are moved away from the midline of the body whether forward or sideways or backwards, and squats, with the feet planted shoulder-width apart, are good for the gluteals, the low back, and the hips. The squats should not go all the way down. Your back should remain straight up as much as possible.

I hope this is valuable and helpful information for many of you. Blessings to you in your physical activities, your health and wellness, and your overall lives.

Janora

The Circulatory System and massage therapy

2011-10-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

Massage increases the blood oxygen supply and nutrition to
muscles without adding to their load of toxic lactic acid, produced
through voluntary muscle contraction. Massage thus helps
to overcome and remove harmful "fatigue" products resulting from
strenuous exercise, injury, or stress. Massage can compensate,
at least in part, for lack of exercise and muscular contraction
in persons who, because of injury, illness, or age, are forced to
remain inactive. In these cases, massage helps return venous
blood to the heart and so eases the strain on this vital organ.
Massage also is known to improve blood circulation throughout
the body, especially the extremeties, and can help minimize the
appearance and occurrence of spider veins and varicose veins.

Water Intake

2011-03-03T11:43:00.005-06:00

In 2009, we were having the worst drought here that we've had in years. In 2010, we had gotten so much wonderful rain. However, again in 2011 we had an even worse drought. Well, with that in mind, are you drinking enough water? Did you know that our bodies are made primarily of water, about 70% actually? Water is a primary, absolute need for our bodies to survive and function not only properly, but efficiently. Water helps our bodies to regulate body temperature and to transport nutrients to our body tissues. Water helps our skin to remain soft and supple and elastic and reduces wrinkles. Water helps to eliminate toxins and wastes from our bodies, and the more that you drink, the easier it is to eliminate, if you know what I mean!

Daily water intake should simply be a half ounce per pound of body weight, so approximately, if you are 128 pounds, you should be drinking 64 ounces or a half gallon of water every day. Likewise, 256 pounds, you should be drinking 100 to 128 ounces, or up to a whole gallon, of water every day. Unfortunately, sodas, coffee, teas, alcohol, and even sports drinks do not count towards this total. Actually, those beverages diminish and counteract the amount of intake of your water for the day, because caffeine and alcohol dehydrate the body. So if you're thirsty, don't drink alcohol or caffeine, because they will make you more thirsty! Those drinks also do not assist in the elimination of toxins and wastes from your body; they actually cause your body to retain those toxins.

On that note then, when you are getting a massage, drink lots of water for a day or two before, and for two or three days after a massage, to help your body to flush out the toxins that have been released from your muscles and tissues during the massage.

Isaiah 43:20 says, “The beasts of the field honor Me, even the jackals and ostriches, because I give WATERS in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen ones."

And Revelation 22:17 says, "The Holy Spirit and the bride (the church, Christians) say Come! And let everyone come who is thirsty (who is painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, and strengthened); and whoever earnestly desires to do it, let them come, take, and drink the WATER of Life without cost."

May your days be blessed, and please remember to setup your appointment for a massage with me today.

Take care and God bless,
Janora Alverson

Benefits of Massage Therapy

2011-02-28T00:39:00.008-06:00

The health benefits of regular, repetitive massage treatments can be very valuable. Massage relaxes the mind, body, and soul. While relieving stress and tension in the body, it also relieves anxiety and can promote a sense of renewed energy and well-being, allowing the body's own energy to heal itself. It can help a person feel healthier, invigorated, and more energetic, thus also bringing a person back to a more positive emotional state. Massage also improves a person's ability to sleep more restfully. Massage improves muscle tone and mobility, and generally, relieves soreness and stiffness in the muscles.

Research shows, also, that massage reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, strengthens the immune system, and facilitates postural alignment. Certain massage techniques can help to alleviate pain and discomfort for many health conditions and even improve some health problems or to manage health issues like Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, TMJ Disorder, Tendinitis, Sciatica, and Headaches, including Migraines. Massage can even bring strength and use back into muscles that have atrophied.

Enjoy your day and remember to contact me for your next massage today.

Take care and God bless,

Janora Alverson

Aromatherapy and Spring

2011-02-26T16:15:00.001-06:00

Hello friends,
Hope you and your families are doing well today. I am blessed and highly favored.
Are you enjoying your springtime, with the beautiful flowers and green grass and trees? Oh, how I love the Texas Mountain Laurels! I love the purple, sweet fragrant flowers that grow on them! They’re so beautiful with the vibrant lavender and purple colors, and they smell like super-sweet grape kool-aid or grape candies from my childhood.

You know, fragrances and smells can influence our thoughts, our moods, and sometimes our health. Have you ever been baking bread, or cookies, or a cake, and everybody comes to the kitchen, excited or happy, asking “What is that smell? It smells wonderful! It’s making me hungry!”? Many of us associate smells with comfort foods, which cause us to feel certain ways or be in certain moods.

Well, that’s the concept, somewhat, involving aromatherapy and using essential oils. Lavender and chamomile oils tend to cause people to relax and be calm. Eucalyptus oil is a natural disinfectant, and excites our respiratory system. It is often used to open up and clear the sinuses and the lungs to make breathing easier. And wow, does it work! Tea tree oil is also a disinfectant and antiseptic, that is also antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic. It is one of the only essential oils that can be used topically, meaning you can put it directly on your skin, to treat and heal athlete’s foot, cuts and scrapes, bug bites, acne, sunburn, yeast infections, any body fungal infections, and even get rid of certain parasitic infections.

There are so many more wonderful essential oils, and so much more that they can do, and I am still learning about them every day. Many of our medicines, creams, lotions, skin care products, contain one or more various essential oils at times.

Using straight, neat (without dilution) essential oils has to be done with caution and care, though, and usually just administered by professionals, because many of the oils can burn or damage skin, or cause an adverse or negative reaction. It is usually NOT recommended to take essential oils orally, as well. But I wanted to tell you about them, and tell you specifically about a few of them that you can use to help you in certain circumstances. I keep lots of different oils in a couple of places in my home. Many of you who have visited, have smelled them not only in my home, but even outside when walking up to my front door. And only a few drops were used.

Ephesians 5:2 tells us, “And walk in Love, (esteeming and delighting in one another) as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God (for you, so that it became) a sweet fragrance.”

May your days be blessed, and please remember to setup your appointment for a massage with me today.

Take care and God bless,
Janora Alverson

Back, Neck, or Shoulder Pain?

2011-02-26T16:10:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
Hope you and your families are you doing well today. I am blessed and highly favored.

Does your back hurt? Shoulders and neck? Back problems are often misdiagnosed. Your pain may have nothing to do with your spine. There’s a good chance it may be nothing more serious than referred pain from myofascial trigger points (contraction knots) in your back muscles, or even in muscles some distance away. During times of physical or emotional stress, the points cause muscles to spasm.

Pain in your low back, for example, can be referred from trigger points in a number of muscles, such as the gluteus medius in your buttocks. It’s a common mistake to assume that the problem is at the place that hurts. That is called referred pain, where someone has pain in one or more places of the body, but the point of origin of the pain is found in another area of the body.

There is a treatment that I do to help with those types of situations. Trigger point therapy is a massage technique that involves the application of pressure to tender muscle tissue in order to relieve pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body. When it was first introduced in the 1940’s, this therapy was performed by using an injection of saline or procaine (now Novocaine). It was a very painful procedure. Trigger point therapy now can be done by using fingertips, thumb, fist, knuckles, palm heel, forearm, elbow, or knees, to apply pressure for a few seconds to a minute to tender points or knots in various areas of the body. The depth or strength of the pressure depends on you, the client, according to your comfort level. If you want deeper or less pressure, just tell me, and I will adjust accordingly.

The list of conditions that benefit from trigger point therapy include arthritis; carpal tunnel syndrome; chronic pain in the back, neck, and shoulders; headaches and migraines; menstrual cramps; multiple sclerosis; muscle spasms, tension, and weakness; joint pain; postoperative pain; sciatica; temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ); tendinitis; and whiplash injuries.

Psalm 38:2 tells us, “ For Your arrows have sunk into me and stick fast, and Your hand has come down upon me and pressed me sorely.” I say this smiling. See, even God knows about trigger point therapy! It originated from Him.

May your days be blessed, and please remember to setup your appointment for a massage with me today.

Take care and God bless,
Janora Alverson

Tired and Weary?

2011-02-26T16:02:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
I have some healthful suggestions for today. Are you tired and weary? Whatever you're doing right now and today, take a moment, stand up, and stretch! Stretch your fingers towards heaven, roll your neck and shoulders around, stand on your tippy-toes, even jump a couple of times! Take a couple of great big deep breathes! That increases your blood flow through your system, and brings life-giving oxygen to your muscles and your brain. Feel more energized yet?!

Also, a massage helps to increase blood circulation and get oxygen and nutrients to your body tissues. Have you ever noticed that after a massage, especially your first one ever or the first one you've had in a long time, that you're a little dizzy and tingly?! Well, that's because your body tissues have not been getting the amount of oxygen that is needed for energy, and now your blood circulation and oxygen is suddenly increased. About an hour or two after the massage, you're surprisingly super-charged and energized! But also your muscles are relaxed and de-stressed at the same time! Cool, huh?! You just needed a little time to de-stress and relax in order to be energized for later.

Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28 NKJV).

Enjoy your day and remember to setup your appointment for a massage with me today.

Take care and God bless,
Janora Alverson