pain

A Comprehensive Guide To Describing Pain: Helping Us Help You

pain
Art by us, using images from: apa.org & wired.com.
When asked by your massage therapist, manual therapist or other medical professional to describe pain, it can be quite difficult to put it into words. It’s more important than you may realize to give your wellness-team a clear description so that they can use best-practices and ensure your safety, and an effective treatment. We’ve put this guide together for you, to help you help us in your treatment! Using these terms and expanding your pain-vocabulary to be able to clearly describe your pain or sensation helps us take the best possible approach when working with you.

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intimacy as defined by pop culture

Massage & Intimacy: The Issues, The Discussion & The Solution

intimacy as defined by pop culture
Image Source: powerofpositivity.com.

Massage is intimate. Right out of the gate, let’s get that one thing clear. Human touch is an intimate experience. You simply cannot change that. Whether it’s Thai massage with clothes on or Swedish massage, with clothes off – or even social contact. The thing is, intimacy is mostly [and incorrectly] confused with sexuality. This is a far-reaching issue that goes beyond massage alone and relates to our overall lack of touch vocabulary as a disconnected society.

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perfect massage pressure

“Hungry Tissues” – How Do We Know Where To Apply Pressure?

perfect massage pressure
Normally my writing is very scientific and supported with research. This particular post is backed by smaller a degree of science, and a larger degree of experience and “feeling”. Part of the reason why is because the science hasn’t yet been able to describe these things through study. So I will do my best to share with you, how we know the “just right” spots in massage, with less defined language.

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trigger point

Trigger Points: Those “Money Spots” in Massage.

trigger point
Image Source: massagefreo.com.au/.

When you hear [or say] “I have knots in my back”, you’re really being told about a range of different physiological phenomena. One of these, and possibly the most common, is myofascial trigger points (TrPs). They can show up almost anywhere in your body, and they can seemingly have no known cause. TrPs can also cause a surprising amount of pain and discomfort, and their patterns of pain aren’t generally localized to the area of insult, but often referred to other regions of the body. Trigger Points are tricky beasts that can create surprisingly intense and odd sensations given that the physiology behind them is relatively subtle.

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Chordae tendineae in heart

Tendinosis Is Far More Common Than Tendinitis

Chordae tendineae in heart
Image Source: punctualdork.com

Building on a previous post where I mentioned that Plantar Fasciitis should more accurately be referred to as “Plantar Fasciosis“, we’re revisiting that discussion in more depth. It’s important to understand the physiological differences in these conditions, because it helps us to provide more effective treatment. More appropriate treatment means faster recovery with less chance of re-injury.

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next generation of touch technology

NextGen Touch Technology: The Future of Human-Computer Interfaces

next generation of touch technology
Image Source: weburbanist.com.

5 of the latest developments and what they could mean for our future touch-devices.

The future of touch technology is mind-blowing! We’re on the verge of some incredibly powerful tools that could change the world. We found 5 really exciting innovations that we wanted to share:

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touch technology

Technology Hijacking Biology – Why We All Want Touch Screens.

touch technology
Image Source: weburbanist.com.

The biology of touch is something that we’ve been exploring for a significant amount of time. We’ve seen and repeatedly demonstrated that not only is physical touch incredibly important for health, happiness and overall wellbeing, we’ve also been able to analyze and understand why that happens. It turns out that we are very deeply hardwired for touch. Here’s where touch technology comes in.

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massage chair

Massage Chairs Will Never Replace Humans

massage chair
Image Source: panasonic.com.

Advancements in technology has created some great conveniences for all of us. When electronic massage chairs came out, they appeared commonly in many retail settings; especially in malls. More recently we might see them scattered throughout airports or even available for home-purchase. Even though they’re convenient, they’ll never replace massage by a human.

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scoliosis and massage

Thai Massage & Scoliosis

scoliosis and massage
Image Source: restoreorthopedics.com.

About 3 percent of people around the world have scoliosis, the majority of whom are girls and women (reference). Scoliosis is characterized by a lateral/sideways “S” or “C” curve in the spine. Depending on the severity of an individual’s curvature, it can have a significant impact on breathing and the functioning of certain organs. Different strategies and interventions exist to try and prevent scoliosis from getting worse or reverse it altogether. Before we delve into the role that Thai Massage can play, here are some essentials.

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touch rules

What’s Better Than “No Touch Rules” For Kids? Education. That’s What.

touch rules
Image Source: mentalfloss.com.

It’s so typical of our culture to say “In case something bad could happen, or because someone complained we’ve decided to BAN __[insert normal, natural human thing here]__ altogether”. You know, I’m surprised they haven’t banned walking. I mean, the potential of falling over and hurting yourself whilst locomoting is really scary. It’s such a high-risk activity. I would even say a higher risk than touching other people.

Yes. This is a rant. But a well-informed rant. There are also actionable items. So listen up.

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deep tissue massage

Just Because It Hurts Doesn’t Make It A “Deep Tissue Massage”.

deep tissue massage
Image Source: painscience.com.

When you think of a “deep tissue massage” you’re typically led to believe that this is going to be an inherently painful experience. This misconception is a widely believed notion. Not only should deep tissue massage NOT be painful, I’m going to tell you that if it’s painful it’s not actually as deep tissue as you want it to be.

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post-massage soreness, DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness

PMSM: Post-Massage Soreness & Malaise And How Thai Massage Avoids It

post-massage soreness, DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness
Image Source: manchesterphysio.co.uk/.

There are many reports of feeling post-massage soreness a day or two after a regular Swedish Massage session. This is more pronounced when deeper tissues are accessed with stronger/heavier pressure. The interesting thing is that Thai Massage rarely induces this feeling. Why is this the case?

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