Van Isle Massage Therapy

01/22/2025

Yup. True story.🤔

14 Of The Best Comebacks We Found On The Internet This Week 👇👇👇

06/11/2024

Uncooked spaghetti. The "Laymans Terms" of massage. It's how I describe what it is I'm feeling and what I'm actually seeking out to fix. My favorite is to tell people that muscles in a state of contracture, spasm or "knot" feel different from the normal length muscles surrounding it due to its increased density. I use the analogy of normal tissues feel like cooked spaghetti; soft, yielding and quite easy to push around. What I'm looking for the uncooked, raw and resistant strands that stand out in contrast to all the softer tissues. These are the problematic strands that need to be addressed to help with regaining pain free mobility. I engage these muscle strands that can be the size of a pin head up to almost 12 inches (30 cm), maybe more in the leg muscles!! Also width of the tense tissues can vary depending on how many strands are involved.
What I do is engage the muscles and force a response from the central nervous system, ie. brain, to the sensory organs in the muscles that control their tension and length. This measured induced stress in the muscles allows the tension to gradually decrease and finally release the muscle, allowing for an increase in pain free range of motion.

04/22/2024

Ever wonder what massage therapy actually does to you muscles to help them relax? Well, there are a few different things at play.
One, the compression and rebounding of muscles once decompressed and the resulting fluid movement within the tissues. Picture that the muscles are designed like sponges, except for that instead of water filled circular cells, we have blood filled linear tubes. Now with compression, like a sponge filled with dirty water held in a bucket of fresh water, the original dirty water is expelled out and when the pressure is released, a vacuum/void is formed and fresh water is absorbed into the sponge. Very similar mechanism of action in muscle tissue. Being spongy and filled with fluid, when muscles are compressed, blood filled with metabolic wastes are moved/expelled leaving room for fresh and nutrient rich blood to arrive. This of course, helps move stagnant metabolic wastes like the notorious lactic acid to move on out of localized muscles and into the circulatory system to be dealt with and broken down. Kind of works like a basic pump. Now there's new highly oxygenated and nutritious fluids to the area, allowing muscle tissues to expand andin turn, subsequently relax.
And that, in a nutshell, is one of the ways Massage Therapy can help with an increase in pain free range of motion and can help with sleep, chronic sporting injuries, aches and pains from work and life in general.
Stay tuned for more ways Massage Therapy can help improve your life!!

10/18/2023

Top three tips post-treatment: HYDRATE! Drink plenty of water, avoid sugary drinks and caffeine for bit, keep moving - practice a gentle range of motion technique as discussed after your treatment, and ice is your friend after a treatment! Each experience is individual, however, but these are the top conversations I have with patients after their treatment. Let me know if you want more tips and tricks.

08/18/2023

As summer starts wrapping up, it's time to get back into routines. Don't forget to schedule your next massage! We have A/C and a cool clinic pup to get you back into the your routine.

07/13/2023

Wow! Thanks to whoever nominated me for best RMT services in Nanaimo Community Votes 2023! I appreciate all of longterm and new patients over the last 11, almost 12 years in Nanaimo!

07/06/2023

It's hot out there. Book your next treatment and enjoy some A/C 🥶

07/04/2023

Summer is here, don't forget to book in for that much needed treatment! Openings available

03/03/2023

The website is updated with new hours and availability!

03/03/2023

Update on scheduling:
Tues - Fridays 9:30 - 5:30
Emergency appointments may be possible outside of regular hours, contact for more info.