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Welcome to the One Body Massage blog, where we share insights and information about massage therapy and its benefits for your well-being.

Exploring relaxation massage

Relaxation massage is often described as soft, fluffy, light pressure, gentle massage. Well it is, and it is not. My version of relaxation massage will always be altered to cater to the individual needs of the client.

Using techniques like long, sweeping, gliding strokes, with varied degrees of pressure, I can slowly bring a person down into a state of calm.

It's all about the speed! The more I want a person to relax, the slower I will go. I often use broad, flat-handed moves with a deeper pressure to help the client connect with their inner self while increasing their circulation and easing pain.

Relaxation massage eases the stressful mind - it's not just about touching that person! It's about the environment, calm music, muted lighting, warmth and positioning on the table. I've used relaxation to help the extra stressed, busy-minded people, as well as people who are new to massage and uncomfortable with people touching them, and there are some clients who cannot have deeper massages due to neurological pathologies. 

Swedish massage - the baseline for relaxation massage - has been around for centuries and comprises of effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading), friction (rubbing), and tapotement (tapping). It also incorporates gentle stretching and joint mobility, to overall increase flexibility, release muscle tension, improve circulation and ease pain.

Understanding remedial massage

I was first introduced to the benefits of remedial massage in 2013 after an accident left both of my feet with serious soft tissue damage from a crush injury. From that time on, walking and running became a constant battle and I was literally walking through a haze of pain. I was at the peak of my zoo keeping volunteer work and vet nursing, which meant I was constantly on my feet working and walking. I decided to try a massage to ease the pain.

Enter the relief! It was a long steady road of treatments to help me back to functioning normally, and I thought "how good is this?!" Just simply touching someone can ease their pain. It opened up a wonderful door for me when my term in the animal industry came to an end, I enrolled as a student of massage therapy in 2015 and never looked back.

I found a had a natural talent for understanding anatomy and physiology, no doubt from my time as a vet nurse which also aided my ability to palpate areas of tension and pain in the body - something you must do as a vet nurse when animals can't tell you where their pain is, you have to FEEL for it. I also found a surprising element to my new work that the veterinary industry seriously lacks - gratitude and appreciation from people. People enjoyed coming to see me, I was helping them feel better.

Remedial massage has a depth to it (pun intended) that most people don't know. Aside from an extraordinary range of techniques at my disposal, it has the ability to change the body at a microscopic, biochemical level. Remedial massage increases circulation and reprograms nervous system functioning - bringing in oxygenated blood cells, hormones, and immune system cells - all things that increase the proper functioning of physiological processes in the body, promoting healing and pain relief. It's almost never about 'deep pressure', it's about manipulation of the structures of the body to make a person feel better.

So if someone wrongly informs you that Remedial massage is just 'deep pressure', come back and ask me what Remedial massage actually does. It's life changing.

Pregnancy and post-natal massage

There is a stigma in the industry that pregnant women are fragile, breakable, and need to be treated with feather-light touch in case massage hurts them. Nothing could be further from the truth!

There is nothing stronger in this world than a woman who is growing life in her body. It's hard work, physically and physiologically, because pregnancy creates changes from the very beginning to the end. Massage therapy can help support women through these changes at every stage.

I started working in the massage industry in a spa setting, and when pregnant clients presented with pleas to help ease their significant discomforts, I felt helpless as it wasn't something I had learned during my Diploma studies. My co-workers were similarly clueless and under the impression that we treat these clients with 'relaxation massage'. I often felt that they left the spa dissatisfied and just as sore as when they had arrived. This was not good enough! 

I enrolled in a course with Pregnancy Massage Australia, an intensive face-to-face, all day workshop with founder Catherine McInerney, who with her co-founder had over 40 years worth of experience in massage and midwifery. The experience changed my whole perspective and I grew in skill and confidence since then.

I am able to treat pregnant clients from the first trimester all the way to postpartum using specialised techniques that have been adapted from deep tissue modalities like myofascial release, cross-fibre frictioning, and pressure point release, all modified to be safe for pregnant bodies and ensure that mum-to-be feels amazing, nurtured and supported during this special time.

 

The benefits of dry needling

I often get asked if dry needling is the same as acupuncture, and the answer is, no, it isn't. Dry needling is a therapeutic technique involving the insertion of thin, solid needles into muscle trigger points to relieve pain and improve muscle function. It's a westernized approach to treating musculoskeletal pain, distinct from acupuncture, though both utilize similar needles. Dry needling aims to stimulate a healing response in the body by causing a local twitch response in the muscle, which can help to reduce pain and muscle tension. 

Trigger Points:

Dry needling focuses on trigger points, which are hyperirritable spots in muscles that can cause pain and stiffness. 

Needle Insertion:

Fine, sterile needles are inserted into these trigger points, sometimes causing a local twitch response in the muscle. 

No Medication:

Unlike injections, dry needling does not involve injecting any medication. 

Purpose:

The goal is to release muscle tension, improve blood flow, and reduce pain. 

How it works:

Trigger Point Deactivation:

The needle insertion can deactivate the trigger point, leading to muscle relaxation and pain relief. 

Local Twitch Response:

The twitch response is a sign that the muscle is reacting to the needle, which can be a positive sign of treatment effectiveness. 

Pain Modulation:

Dry needling can also affect the nervous system, potentially reducing pain signals. 

I learned to do Dry Needling through CPD Health Courses, doing first the two-day workshop, then the Advanced follow up class. During dry needling sessions I will use a combination of needles and remedial massage to perform the most effective treatment I can for my clients.

Scar tissue massage demystified

Learn about scar tissue massage as a therapy option offered by One Body Massage. Stay tuned for more blog posts, updated a couple of times a year. We address a common question: How will massage help?

Sports massage 

When I studied my Diploma of remedial massage, my teacher was an avid sports massage therapist and our class had the great fortune to share our wing of the Tafe with the Newcastle Knights under 18s NRL team, whom we practiced on each week, learning the physiology of athletes and how to modify our massages to cater to various sporting injuries. It was during this we learned the about the healing process, the inflammatory response, the immune system, the beginning of scar tissue, and how massage can help with it all.

Sports massage encompasses preparation for athletic activity, post-sports recovery, and prevention/treatment of sports-related injuries.

One Body, all bodies

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