Swansea Massage Clinic

Swansea Massage Clinic
Evidence based Registered Massage Therapy

Tuesday 17 December 2013

10 reasons why a massage is the best gift ever.

1) Always fits.
2) Won't have to be exchanged.
3) Good for all ages.
4) Won't clutter up a home.
5) Never goes out of style.
6) You don't have to unpack it.
7) You don't even have to wrap it!

8) Leaves you feeling better then you were before.
9) Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
10) It is the gift of good health - without which everything else is pretty useless.

And now available to purchase online at SwanseaRMT.ca

Tuesday 10 December 2013

When life throws you a curve: Managing Scoliosis


This is a topic that I can speak about from personal experience, both as an RMT and as a patient. While my spinal curve may not be extreme, it IS typical of what I see commonly in my practice and does affect me personally on a daily basis. For as long as I can remember I have had back pain, most likely a combination of unfortunate genetics and poor posture from a lifetime of slouching from being so tall (I'm 6 ft). On my Mother's side it is known as the "Karpiak back" since almost everyone has chronic and often crippling back problems. As a young girl my Mom knew I would be at a disadvantage so she encouraged me to exercise and use physical therapy, which is where I was first introduced to Massage Therapy, Chiropractic and Physiotherapy. Over the years I have found a few things that help ease the pain, short-term and long and have watched, felt and experienced profound change on my massage table when doing scoliosis treatments. It is more common then you may think and often I am the first person to mention the curve in my clients spine. As RMTs we are in a great position to notice these sometimes subtle changes and help educate our client so that they can best take care of themselves. 

First you must understand a little bit about scoliosis. Scoliosis, by definition, is a medical condition in which a person's spine curves from side to side. If viewed from behind the person's spine appears to have an S or C shape instead of being perfectly straight as it should be. It can be either congenital (you are born with it) or idiopathic (acquired later in life, cause unknown but can be the result of another condition). 

Want to know which yours is? Grab a friend and try this easy test: 
- ask your friend to feel your spine when you are in a seated position (they should feel the curve from side to side as they follow your spine up your back with their fingertips)
- bend forward as far as you can and have them feel your spine again 
- if the curve remains while you are bent it is congenital 
- if the curve disappears, it is idiopathic

What causes scoliosis? For some it's the result of bad genetics, for others the result of another imbalance in the body such as one flat foot, one leg being shorter than the other or the consequence of years of bad posture. And sometimes, most frustratingly, there isn't an obvious reason at all. 


Scoliosis can present in many different ways throughout the spine as you can see above. Take a close look at the posture in each image and how it is affected by the scoliotic curve, particularly the balance between the right and left shoulders and hips. The image on the far right is of an S curve type scoliosis. Notice how the posture looks balanced but the spine is far from being straight. This is often our body's way of trying to correct a problem - when we have a curve in one part of the spine, another curve appears to balance the posture. It certainly doesn't eliminate the pain or problems though! 


A lot of the pain associated with scoliosis comes from the muscles that surround the spine and from the direct affect from the curve itself. When the spine curves, all of the muscles on the inside of the curve (concave) become tight and begin to pull on other parts of the body where they attach such as the hip, ribs and shoulder. The muscles on the outside of the curve (convex) are overstretched and irritated and generally weakened. You become very a-symmetrical and over time this curvature worsens as your muscles get even tighter, weaker and your posture is pulled more and more out of proper alignment. 


But wait - before you panic and feel doomed to pain and suffering, take a deep breath and relax. There are all kinds of things that you can do to correct this imbalance and manage your pain and discomfort. And the good news? They don't have to cost a fortune. 




1) Hydrotherapy: basically, the use of heat and cold for a therapeutic purpose. One of my favourites is the basic salt bath, it has amazing restorative powers. There is nothing like a good, hot, salt bath to take away the aches and pains. Salt is also relatively inexpensive and easy to come by and helps to detoxifying your muscles and joints while infusing them with essential minerals. I prefer himalayan sea salt but you can use dead sea salt or epsom salts. The basic recipe is 1-2 cups for an epsom salt bath, 1/4 - 1/3 cup for a sea salt bath, add it to hot water and soak for 20 minutes. You can also find relief at the end of a heating pad targeted to your worst area or an ice pack when you've overdone it and have inflammation. And when you have a chance - saunas, steam rooms and hot tubs will be your best friend. 


2) Massage Therapy: whether massaging yourself, getting massage from a friend or a professional RMT, it is a great tool to have in your healthcare regime. Tools like the Acuball and Acuback (above) are handy for at home care and giving yourself relief any time of the day or night (they even heat up!). There are many different self-massage tools out there, but in a pinch a hard tennis ball or even a dog toy (believe me I've been there!) will do the trick. The general idea is to focus on the concave side of the back to try and relieve the pressure on the muscles there. You will be using your body weight to apply pressure onto the ball and in turn your muscles to get the relief you desperately need (be careful to avoid the actual spine itself). I also recommend seeing a professional Registered Massage Therapist about once a month to keep everything on track and in alignment. They have very specific training and know exactly how to release shortened/tightened muscles and can even apply joint mobilizing techniques to the spine itself. It's pretty amazing how much of a difference massage can make on scoliosis. Since a lot of scoliotic curves are there because of imbalances in the muscles, you can reverse it significantly or even entirely by releasing those imbalances.


3) Spinal Mobilization: with Scoliosis, the more mobile you are the better for both the short-term and the long. Keeping your spine loose and limber is key to your wellbeing. The yoga pose above is one that I recommend to my scoliosis clients a lot, it's called "Cat/Cow". Think of arching your back like a cat and then bending the opposite way and upwards to "Moo" like a cow. Go back and forth 10x every day. Another great exercise in this position is to curve your back from side to side, turning your body into the shape of a "C". And don't forget to add spinal twists to your routine! I would also recommend seeing a professional - either an Osteopath or Chiropractor on a regular basis. They are spinal specialists who can loosen areas of restriction in your back. I've felt a huge weight lifted off my back on many chiropractic visits and thought "no wonder I was in so much pain!". Aim for about once a month for maintenance. 


4) Strength Training: long-term, strength is your best bet. The stronger you are the more able you are to handle day to day physical stresses and manage your pain and mobility. The only trick? Not to overdo it! Which is why I recommend starting with an expert such as a Physiotherapist, Clinical Pilates Instructor or a Personal Trainer with a strong medical background and knowledge. They can get you started and do it safely and effectively, which is important because your training will be a little bit asymmetrical. The focus is on increasing strength to the side of your back that is overstretched and weakened (convex), which will help bring your spine back into alignment. The "Superman" exercise above is easy to do at home and can be done just on one side of the body. Simply lay face down and bring your arm and leg up at the same time, engaging the back muscles and then release back down. Repeat 10 times. 


5) Regular Stretching: it's free, you can do it almost anywhere and it feels oh so good. It's also an important part of self-care for scoliosis. Focus your stretches on the concave section of the back and spine, aiming to release the tightened sections of muscle on that side. Torso lengthening stretches like the one above are ideal. This video by Elise Browning Miller is a great start for home practice: Yoga For Scoliosis 


6) Postural Awareness: Pay attention to how you do things during the day - are you sleeping or sitting often to one side? Tend to use one side more then the other? You know that old saying if you keep your face like that it will stay like that? It's true! The more time you spend in a certain position, the more your body will tend to stay in that position. So every day, make the conscious effort to move and stand in a straight alignment. Imagine that there is a piece of string running through your body all the way up through the top of your head. And like a marionette you are being pulled up and lengthened. Many scoliotic curves are caused by improper posture, so by changing your postural habits you can often change the scoliosis altogether. It's not easy, since many of our bad postural habits begin in adolescence and our very hard to break, but day-by-day make your best effort to recognize these bad habits and change them and along with strength training and stretching it will become easier over time. 

For more information or to book an appointment please visit: SwanseaRMT.ca



















Thursday 28 November 2013

DIY Holiday Decor


I know this isn't exactly massage related but I loved this creation that my talented Mother and business partner Beverly made so much I just had to share! Come see it in person at the clinic over the holidays more info at SwanseaRMT.ca 

Time to make: several hours (depends on how big you make it!)

Materials: 4 large coloured Christmas balls (these are Martha Stewart)
                15 empty glass ornaments (can get at a craft store)
                 Peacock feathers
                 Silver ribbon 
                 Clear fishing line
                 S hook 

Preparation: Fill the empty glass ornaments with the peacock feathers and ribbons (or anything else you like). Tie a long piece of fishing line to each ornament. 

The tricky part: Hang the S hook up and start tying the ornaments to it so that they fall at different lengths. My Mom somehow managed to get the clear ornaments to spiral around the coloured ornaments which is not an easy thing to do! We got our handyman to install a hook in the ceiling above the stairs at the clinic earlier in the week and hung it from that. One of the first clients to see it was amazed we made it ourselves and wanted to buy one! This is a great entrance statement piece. 

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Touring Toronto One Treatment at a Time


I was recently inspired by an article in Massage Therapy Canada Magazine's fall publication written by Jules Torti, RMT. In it, she talks about some bizarre treatments around the world, 2 of which can be experienced right here in Toronto. I don't know why I never considered taking advantage of the most multicultural city in the world to sample the wide range of treatments out there, but I will now!

I'm a bit of a self-professed spa junkie and one of my favorite things to do is travel and try different treatments - the more bizarre the better. I wrote about a lot of my experiences in Thailand in this blog and have been to many of the top spas in Ontario and a few let's just say more interesting nooks in the city. I've been scrubbed in a Turkish bath, soaked neck deep in mud and been poked and prodded in places I didn't even know could be massaged - and it all leaves me wanting to try more!

Unfortunately due to time and money restraints I'm not able to spend more days experiencing the health treatments the world has to offer. But I'm putting this out there, universe, one day I would love to be paid to travel the world and write about spa and health treatments. If you think it, it will come, right? A girl has to dream!

Next stop - a Russian Banya in Mississauga: South Western Bathhouse. Stay tuned!

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Relaxation massage - a blessing or curse for the massage industry?


Massage Therapy is one of the few health professions that bridges the gap between strictly therapeutic and relaxation/stress reduction. You wouldn't think of calling your chiropractor if you were stressed and wanted to unwind, would you? Or your Dentist because you had recently dealt with a loss in your life and needed some TLC? You wouldn't expect to see a Physiotherapist at a spa, either. But you could see a Massage Therapist.

We RMT's live in this hazy world somewhere in between "service" and "therapy" that is sometimes a tricky place to be. RMT's are employed in a wide range of settings from hospitals to high end spas and everywhere in between and because of this there is often a confusion within the public as to what massage is and also how to behave as a client. For example, one issue that has come up in the industry is tipping and whether or not it is appropriate or necessary to tip your Registered Massage Therapist. The College Of Massage Therapists of Ontario cmto.com that governs the profession, while not having a formal position on tipping, does asks registrants to "carefully think about how accepting a tip contributes to the perception that Massage Therapy is not a regulated healthcare profession but part of the service industry." This is why, in my clinic, we have instituted a no tipping policy for all services. We simply tell our clients to "come back or send a friend", because that is the best tip we can get. It is amazing how often the clients at our clinic are surprised at this and ask us why not? We simply explain that just as you wouldn't tip your Dr. or Chiropractor, you don't need to tip your RMT. A fair portion of the population does not know if RMT's are health professionals or service providers. Think about that for a second and think about how that affects our profession as a whole. RMTs are often not taken seriously by other health professionals - people who are governed by the exact same laws as we are, the Regulated Health Professionals Act RHPA. If they won't take us seriously, how can we expect the general public to?

It is both our blessing and curse that we are present in health and spa settings. We may not be taken seriously sometimes but we are, increasingly, everywhere.  Have you ever looked at a spa menu before? Have you ever NOT seen massage on that menu? On the opposite front, how many Chiropractic or multidisciplinary clinics do you know of that have several RMT's working for them? We are the bread and butter of both the health and spa industries and most people still have no idea about the range of conditions that can be helped by Massage Therapy - psychological, physical and emotional. We are able to help with all three and treat the body as a whole - body, mind and soul. And this is why the massage profession is booming. There are more schools popping up then ever before, the demand for RMT's is high and there are more jobs available, in a wider range of settings. But how do we define ourselves as RMT's if we don't know where we fit in? It's not always easy! I've had a hard time justifying certain treatments that present as mostly "relaxation" to my fellow colleagues and staff. I've not been taken seriously at times. But as I thought about it a little bit longer I realized that relaxation massage should be something to stand up for, be proud of. In my mind, "relaxation massage" is just as therapeutic as any "medical" massage treatment. And here is why:

Stress is a silent killer. Heart disease and stroke (which can both be caused from prolonged stress) are two of the three leading causes of death in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008). Massage reduces stress and lowers blood pressure allowing our "rest and digest" parasympathetic nervous system to kick in which handles many of our internal body processes. Sadly, most of us are in a stressed state a large portion of the time (fight or flight sympathetic nervous system). Stress is ok in small doses, like when you need to make a deadline or are in a situation where you need to run for your life. But staying stressed all the time is deadly. Chronic stress exposes your body to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that over time puts you at risk for numerous health problems such as anxiety, depression, heart disease, sleep problems and weight gain. It's like your body is constantly in "attack" mode and doesn't know how to shut off, as if you were running from a bear 24/7. And we get so used to feeling that way that it seems normal when it is far from it. Relaxation massage treatments in particular can help stop the stress cycle and allow your brain to switch off, returning to the "rest and digest" state that we should be in most of the time. Not to mention the fact that most clients that are in a stressed state are also suffering from chronically tight muscles, trigger points and other musculoskeletal complaints that massage can help with.

So the next time you write off a relaxation massage as being too "fluffy" - think again. It may just be what the Doctor ordered.




Thursday 7 March 2013

Peter Rabbit Nursery


My Peter Rabbit themed nursery by request! 




Cooper & Benny guarding the crib

A new beginning

With baby in the hospital

A lot to catch up on! I had my baby on Dec. 27 2012 and he's a healthy baby boy named Connor. Nothing went as planned, just as everyone told me it would. All those hynobirthing classes, breathing practice, natural induction methods and well laid out plans went totally to waste. I ended up with an epidural, a c-section and not being able to keep my placenta to have made into dehydrated capsules (it was whisked away to the lab for some unknown reason). I was almost 42 weeks, never dilated past 4cm and my big boy (10.1 lbs!) was just not coming out the usual way, no matter how hard I tried and how long I laboured. But that's ok, because he's with me now and both of us are safe. It took a bit of time to mourn the birth I wanted and never had but I've come to terms with the fact that I tried everything possible and waited as long as I could and that it was the safest choice. Better luck next time?

The recovery wasn't as bad as I was expecting and within no time we were trucking out to the Bloor Jane Restaurant for breaky, making 4 generations to go to the local greasy spoon. (if you are a local, you will know these people well!)


I was also getting my first massage from Melanie McIvor, RMT (who also gave me my last massage before I gave birth) at Swansea Massage Clinic two weeks after having Connor. And it was much needed! I now totally understand all of the new Mom's who come in with the dreaded "Mom shoulders" - between carrying an infant, breastfeeding and all the aches and pains from having a baby and recovering, it really is awful. I always gave a great pre and post-partum massage before, but it is always nice to walk in your clients shoes for a while to really understand where they are coming from.

I've joined the "Mom-club!" It's still hard to believe sometimes that I'm a Mother, but it's amazing how easily it comes. He's only 2 months old and I already feel like so much more of a pro at this baby stuff. I'm loving every minute (well almost every minute to be honest!) and have bonded so much with my little man, I couldn't imagine life without him. It's so wonderful watching him, watching my husband with him (they are adorable together) and settling into this beautiful family life. We couldn't be happier with our addition, it really has made our love together even stronger.

Connor at 2 months
And as much as I love being home with him, it's time to return to work. I've missed being at the clinic and all the great staff and clients, although it's hard to leave your baby especially so young! But that's the life of an RMT and small business owner and as of today I am officially back on the schedule. Just part-time for now, Sundays and 2 evenings a week (Thursday & Friday) and the occasional Saturday when someone else needs me to cover a shift. It's been 3 months since I've massaged at the clinic and I'm sure a lot of my clients are missing me. Don't worry, thankfully massaging is like riding a bike - you never forget how! I clipped my nails short again yesterday and I'm ready to throw myself elbow deep (quite literally) into work again. See you all soon!