Neuromuscular Massage Therapy of Maine with Anita Smith LMT CR

02/17/2024

Just walking uses all of your muscles, moves fluids like lymph, hormones, interstitial fluids and blood thus improving your circulation over your whole body.
Just walking builds bones and muscle strength, improves venous return especially in your legs.
Just walking improves your balance, increases endorphins, clears the mind, improves digestion and gut motility and improves your vision because your eye muscles focus on close and far away, breaking up a static position.
Just walking decreases depression, is not stressful on your joints, and recently discovered; improves your immune system by exposing you to a variety of microbes in the air around you.
And It's free!
Tips for walking: Start small and build up endurance. Go outside if you can. Slowly work up to varied terrains. Invest in a good pair of shoes that have a big toe box (room for all your toes) and no high heel. Swing your arms naturally, let them hang down freely. In Winter wear a good set of cleats/spikes. Take your time and enjoy.

02/07/2024

https://youtu.be/Z1_sb1auiV8?si=yKUVkMrpgYwAXtxO

For anybody who has any kind of back pain I highly recommend this interview with Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Stewart McGill.
There are some incredible helping beneficial gifts in this interview that can change your life.
I see a lot of people with back pain. It’s very common and very depressing.
This podcast can set you on a journey that will change your life.
Love, Anita

View show notes here: https://peterattiamd.com/stuartmcgill/Become a member to receive exclusive content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe/Sign up to recei...

01/29/2024

10/28/2023

Over the last 11 years as a massage therapist I have changed my mind about a lot of things.

Something that I feel strongly about now, that was not on my radar before, is that most muscle pain that we experience in our lifetime is from "not being prepared" for a random, novel, unaccustomed movement. (not counting sever injury, accidents, disease)

An example of this is the first snowfall. Most of us hurt ourselves when we shovel the first snowfall. Why? Because we are not accustomed to the movement of lifting and tossing heavy snow.

Our muscles are UNDERPREPARED.

Most of us are taught that we need to stretch more. That if we feel cranky muscles, we should stretch. Now, while there is a benefit to stretching, I now feel that we need to STRENGTHEN our muscles WAAAYYY more than always stretching them.

Muscles loves movement and being used. Tendons love tension.

Strong muscles protect our joints from injuries. Strong muscles feel good. They make so many things in life easier.

Muscles are a reservoir of amino acids, our bodies building blocks for growth, healing, remodeling etc. Muscle is a dumping ground for excess blood sugar. Muscle moves blood, hormones, lymph and chemical messengers throughout our bodies.

I could go on and on.

Are you, like me, aging?

Are you getting to the part of your life where you feel weaker and worry about balance? Are you afraid of falling?

A HUGE help to you in all of these worries is strength. Muscle strength will improve your quality of life as you age.

I stumbled into strength training when I broke my arm this year. I am so glad for that event because I am better for it. I am learning about strength training and I encourage you to look into it too. The stronger we are at baseline, the less fear/worry/rumination we experience when pain flares or accidental injuries happen.
The stronger we are at baseline, the more confident we are continuing daily activities when pain does happen
Being strong does not mean eliminating pain forever,
but it really changes the way we relate to ourselves and experience threatening moments, like, shoveling snow.

09/16/2023

No advice is more treacherous than this: “Now that you’re getting older, you ought to slow down a bit.”

This is a pathway leading directly to decrepitude. Such advice is not only debilitating, it is also deadly. 

The truth is very different. If you want to pin a motto on your wall, pin up this one: “function maintains structure“. The more popular motto is, “use it or lose it“.

J Hannah

08/30/2023

“Pain’s function is to get our attention and shift our behavior.
So  work with your clients attention when working with their pain. “

Til Luchau

08/22/2023

“Sleep is the first line of defense against pain. “

Kelly Starrett

08/16/2023

Today is the future.

Your actions today are creating your future tomorrow.

This current moment is a result of all past current moments.

Our past, the way we tend to our relationships or our own bodies, whether we lived in kindness or spread kindness or made healthy choices and decisions for ourselves in our relationships shows up in our current experience.

Our present is made up of a collection of our past actions.

This is why the current moment that we are living in is so important. This is the only place we have the power to change something for our future or the future of those we love or the future of our planet.

So right now you can cultivate habits that will create the future that you want.

Water the seeds you want to grow.

08/07/2023

If you have musculoskeletal pain, not attributed to an acute injury I want you to try something.
Pain like that usually means you need to change something. The pain is saying that something you are doing is offending your body.
So, what kind of things do we change to bring relief?
How about your shoes? How old are they? Are they worn out and do they keep your feet in unhealthy position?
How about your mattress? How old is it? Are you sleeping in a cushioned bowl? Is that bed maintaining poor posture?
How about your work chair? Does it wreck you? Change it.
How about your posture when you work? Does it need to be changed?
How about that couch you watch TV in. Are you leaning on the arm of that couch night after night, propagating poor posture?
Do you sleep on your tummy? Your neck won’t like that as you age.
There are so many things that we can do ourselves to ease our own discomfort. It will require you to pay attention to what you do, how you move every moment of your day, and what things you subject your body to. Once you identify the offending item/movement/positions you can then make the change.

07/17/2023

My Massage techniques will leave you relaxed and comfortable in your own body. Just as comfortable as a frog held by water.
If the issues in your tissues are deep and long held it may take time to relearn “how” to hold yourself, but thank goodness we are so dag gone adaptable.

07/13/2023

I love how so much in nature looks like our own bodies.
The branches of trees look like our arterial system. And it is at the teeny tiny branches where the leaves grow and are fed.
Just like us where the muscles are fed by the teeny tiny capillaries.