Advance NMT

02/06/2024

I currently have Friday the 7th of June available for appointments at my clinic in Silverdale.
This week only!

17/03/2024

Therapeutic or relaxation?

Therapeutic massage is aimed at dealing with your "ouchy" problem. It incorporates some relaxation, myofascial release, firmer pressure (deep tissue), trigger point therapy (compression techniques), and PNF stretching. All aimed getting dysfunctional tissues working properly again.

Relaxation has smooth, slow flowing strokes of traditional Swedish massage, which calms the body and therefore the mind. Pressure can still be firm but the massage aims to to ease the nervous system by its rhythmic and full bodied strokes.

(This picture is mostly unrelated to the post but it looks cool so I added it anyway)

28/02/2024

Did you know? 'CO2 actually helps with the unloading of oxygen from Red Blood Cells into our body.' Uncover more about this fascinating process and how it impacts your health in our detailed blog.

Fatigue? Muscle spasms? Chronic pain? Headaches? You may not be breathing right! This blog covers how to breathe correctly and what happens when we don't.

05/02/2024

Nagging shoulder blade pain?
The Y - W - T exercise is one of favourites for dealing with this. Holding (isometric contraction) is the best way to do this.

Some other pointers:
√Don't just use your arm muscles, squeeze your shoulder blades together.
√ During Y formation "slide" your shoulder blades into your back pockets. This activates lower trapezius, a muscle that helps counter the pull of pec minor, which gives us those rounded shoulders.

How often? People love high repetitions and sets. I say, instead of once a week, do three isometric holds of each Y-W-T every day for 5-10 seconds.
Easy to do and it adds up.

After all, you're trying to counter the computer work, driving, sitting on the couch. Once a week isn't going to cut it.

Think you have to have weights to train your back? Give this a shot.1. Lay on your stomach and extend your arms out into a Y formation with your thumbs turne...

29/01/2024

Pain lasting more that 3 months is determined chronic. It can really impact on your day-to-day life; mood, movement, completing even the easiest tasks.

We often let pain rule us, and that comes from a place of fearing pain.
But if we understand more about pain, we can fear it less. If we fear it less, we can come from a better place. A place where we have hope that things can change, will change, and get better.

I found this website in my search to understand more about pain and I think everyone who's dealing with pain right now needs to see it.

Your journey to recovery starts somewhere, and what better place than here, where you can start to understand more.

Professor Lorimer Moseley narrates an animation about rethinking persistent pain, a new approach to taming the beast.

04/12/2023

What is a trigger point?

Here's the short answer:
It's a tight band of muscle tissue that causes an irritating, steady ache (sometimes painful). It's what you'd call a knot.

Here's a more text-book answer:
A myofascial trigger point is a hyper irritable nodule within a taut band of congested muscle tissue that, due to ischemia (lack of blood supply), is hypersensitive and sometimes radiates pain to other areas.

Why does it hurt?
To put it simply the trigger point is a sustained contraction. It’s tiring. More over the “congested” tissue has a lack of blood supply locally. That really annoys the nerves supplying that tissue.

Massage therapy can really help to release these trigger points and stop that ache.

As an added bonus the release of tension helps the joints move more freely!

28/11/2023

What do muscle contractions and Romeo and Juliet have in common? Nothing. But that didn’t stop me linking the two in order to explain how muscles work. Awkward.

The intricate dance of two wee intimate filaments!

18/11/2023

What is a trigger point?
Well, the short answer is: a knot. But that’s a little vague. Find out more of why you feel those aches, here:

Trigger points are tight band of muscle tissue that causes an irritating, steady ache (sometimes painful). It's what you'd call a knot. But what's really going on? Learn from a Neuromuscular Therapist based in Orewa, Auckland.

01/11/2023

Welcome to advanceNMT! I'm a massage therapist with over 7 years of experience. I specialise in Neuromuscular Therapy, a type of massage that helps with pain management.

I help those suffering from back pain, headaches, shoulder issues, sports recovery, and even those just wishing to relax!

Formerly located in the historical Orewa House I am now located at The Connection (Silverdale) and offer mobile services.