Education

My goal for the New Year has been to keep up with regular health treatments such as acupuncture, massage therapy and chiropractic.  It’s January 26th and I’m happy to say that I’ve had two acupuncture treatments so far this month!

I have to admit, that I usually only do things for my health when I am in desperate need- so massage therapy was the one thing I kept up with last year. Whenever I had aches and pains or was feeling like I needed some healing touch, it was the first thing I would turn to.

With acupuncture, I tried it, but because the needles are addressing unseen and unfelt organs, and the treatment involved less sensory stimulation, I don’t think that I appreciated it in the same way that I did massage therapy. That was until my first treatment this year…

Since I got back from my Holidays, my partner and I have made a concentrated effort to eat really healthily- salads for lunch with shredded beets, carrots and ground flax seed, lots of lean proteins and vegetables with dinner. I have also been going to yoga regularly. These steps had me feeling like I was right on top of my health.  Then I had my acupuncture treatment and a whole lot of ’shifting’ occurred.   I won’t get into detail, but I apparently needed some balancing out internally and the acupuncture facilitated that.

This experience really gave me a strong appreciation for the understated nature of acupuncture. It made me realize how I take my body for granted and assume that everything is functioning optimally, unless I feel something drastic. I now have a whole new respect for the needle and this will be a habit that I keep up.

If you’re curious about acupuncture- make sure to come to our Whole Health Event February 4th. Our doctor of Chinese Medicine, Mahsa Ahmadi, will be discussing the benefits of regular acupuncture.

I’m a little late getting back to my blog- the Holidays and the New Year have flown by and I find myself struggling to get back into routines. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

The Holidays impose a total shift in lifestyle that throws most people off- mainly in the areas of excess. ie: lots of drinking, eating and not so much exercise.  To make matters worse, if one dares not to take part, the scrooge moniker is rapidly applied.

Then we have the New Year welcoming us after all of our Holiday extremes. Back to reality- or perhaps an unrealistic version of reality for some- I’m speaking of New Years resolutions of course!  Weight loss, not drinking, not eating sugar, running a marathon- these are all common resolutions that people set for themselves. I wonder if peoples’ zeal for the fresh start of the year sets them up for failure.

This in turn, creates the ‘anti-resolutioners’. People that see no point in resolutions because they’re never really actualized.

It makes me sad to think that because people set unattainable goals, they give up on improving themselves all together.

I personally love the New Year. I feel like it’s an opportunity to reflect on what worked for me in the year before  and what I’d like to see come to fruition in the year ahead.

When it comes to more long-term lifestyle changes, I’ve learned that I need to make a commitment to whatever it may be, create a plan and stick to it.

This year, my goal is to use my extended benefits- chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy, to their fullest. In 2009, I used a fraction of my benefits. Why? My only excuse is that I didn’t prioritize it. So my goal is to book regular, repeat treatments, so that I get into a routine and it becomes second nature.

I think the same can be said of any goal you may have- enlisting the help of a professional who can steer you in the right direction and keep you accountable is going to set you up for success.

I’m resolved to be realistic about my goals. It makes life a lot more fun and I can actually accomplish something.

Do you have any health-related goals for 2010? What’s your plan to get there?

The Holiday Season is upon us.  It’s that time of year that seems to foster a build up of tension and stress. What to buy people? What to wear to all the Holiday parties? Can I fit it all in?- and family dynamics… Yay!

Something that came to mind for me when I was thinking about the Holidays is how nice it is to receive a gift certificate for a spa treatment. In fact, that is how I got started in the industry. When I was in my teens, my Dad started the tradition of buying everyone in my family gift certificates for a massage and facial every year at Christmas, and the rest is history. It was like nothing I had experienced before. I felt so taken care of- not just on the surface. What was I experiencing? The benefits of touch.

This year, the staff here at Spruce Body Lab, have had the pleasure of treating an elderly couple who have exemplified the benefits of the spa experience to me. The woman, who is in her mid seventies, started coming in to see one of our Registered Massage Therapists who was referred to her by her physical therapist.  She had been injured in a car accident, and her therapist had plateaued in the results they could give her, so they recommended proceeding with massage therapy.  While she was at it, she decided to try a facial.

This lady has since become a regular client, coming in bi-weekly for massage and monthly for skin treatments. She has raved about how her treatments have restored much of her vitality and health. She has significantly reduced her pain and improved her mobility. People have commented that she’s looking more youthful.  I believe that the therapeutic benefits of touch and the feeling of being cared for, are due as much credit for how good she looks and feels, as the science behind the treatments she has received.

As a special treat, she gave her husband a gift on his eightieth birthday, of a massage and facial.  He just came in again for his second massage this week.

It is one of the gifts to us as a therapists to see people getting so much out of the work that we’re doing. And it’s a good reminder to me that sometimes people need to be given these gifts, as they are not always likely to “treat” themselves to a spa experience.

I think in part, it’s about shifting how we view going to the spa; it needn’t be a rare treat. I think that culturally we could stand to start thinking of the spa as a resource for enriching our health and our lives- much like European cultures.

Do you think of spa treatments as a luxury, or have  they become part of your lifestyle and self-care?

Be sure to join us at our Holiday Party- gift certificates are 10% off!

It’s always so sad to see elderly people who’s spines are so curved forward that they can  not longer stand erect. I’ve always thought- how do they get to that point? Little did I know that the majority of people with desk jobs are in a repetitive posture that can lead to this state of affairs.

As we hunch over our keyboards in the luminous glow of the computer screen, certain muscles are tightening while others are loosening. Our spinal curvature begins to change as muscles become weak and imbalanced. For every inch our heads moves forward, there is an added strain on our cervical spine to support our cranium and this leads to pain and discomfort in the upper back and shoulders and possibly headaches.

Unfortunately I’m all too familiar with this feeling, but fortunately I work in an environment where massage therapy is at my fingertips. Registered Massage Therapists are trained to address such specific pain and tension cycles associated with ergonomics.  Through regular work on the muscles as well as corrective exercises and stretches assigned for home care, your massage therapist can correct your postural alignment. That- I must say, is a relief!

With the end of the fiscal year looming ahead- it’s the perfect time to come in for a series of massage therapy treatments to use up benefits that have gone by the way side. Booking in once a week is ideal to create a corrective program for strains and pains. While the rest of us are hunching our way through our Holiday shopping, you’ll be enjoying an early gift!

There are many different techniques involved in massage therapy. Registered Massage Therapists in Vancouver need to have studied for 3000 hours and pass rigorous exams before they can be a practicing member of the Massage Therapy Association. This means that each hand placement and nuance of pressure has medical reasoning behind it.

That’s really the beauty of massage therapy; the fact that human touch has the ability to improve our physical health and sense of well being.

One of the most effective massage therapy treatments I’ve experienced is Geo-Thermal Stone Therapy.  This treatment involves the use of hot basalt stones and cool carved marble to create shifts in blood and lymphatic circulation to the muscles.

Have you ever experienced mild aches in your muscles post-massage? This is due to the lactic acid still present in the muscle tissue. Massage therapy helps to flush this out somewhat; however, the contrasting temperatures used in  geo-thermal stone therapy ameliorates this process, resulting in refreshed muscles full of oxygenated blood.

The warmth of the basalt stones is comforting, relaxing and grounding. The cool marble may seem like the farthest thing from relaxing, however after the initial temperature transition, the cold has a soothes muscle strain and helps reduce inflammation.

So if it’s been a while since your last massage, or you’re looking to intensify your treatment- I’d highly recommend you book yourself  in for some geo-thermal stone therapy.  It’s deep therapy for stressed limbs and the perfect warming treatment during the chilly fall and winter seasons.