Soothing Hands Massage & Bodywork

07/21/2023

🔊 RHOMBOID MUSCLE PAIN

Each one of us has had muscle pain at some point in our lives. Some people, however, experience worsening and commonly occurring muscle pain in certain areas. Among this is rhomboid muscle pain which is more common and worse than other pain and is one of the most frustrating pains. There are many people who don't know where exactly is rhomboid muscle situated, but they have felt pain in that region at some time or other for sure.
Pain of the rhomboid muscle is the pain, which is present in the upper back region, just beneath the neck and between the upper shoulder blades.

CAUSES OF RHOMBOID MUSCLE PAIN
Bending over awkwardly or twisting the body, or lifting too heavily at the gym.

TREATMENT FOR RHOMBOID MUSCLE PAIN
Rest is important in healing of the sprained rhomboid muscle. You should try to relax and rest as much as possible. The tear in the muscle occurs as a result of the body's straining against resistance. Rehab with gentle stretching exercises will help in gradually providing relief from rhomboid muscle pain, but be sure not to overexert. Having a professional massage will also be beneficial and may speed up the recovery process.

EXERCISES

Exercise 1 - Scapular squeeze
While sitting or standing with your arms by your sides, squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold for 5 seconds. Do 3 sets of 10.

Exercise 2 - Thoracic stretch
Sit on the floor with your legs out straight in front of you. Hold your mid-thighs with your hands. Curl your head and neck toward your belly button. Hold for a count of 15. Repeat 3 times.

Exercise 3 - Mid-trap exercise
Lie on your stomach on a firm surface and place a folded pillow underneath your chest. Place your arms out straight to your sides with your elbows straight and thumbs toward the ceiling. Slowly raise your arms toward the ceiling as you squeeze your shoulder blades together. Lower slowly. Do 3 sets of 15. Progress to holding soup cans or small weights in your hands.

PREVENTION OF RHOMBOID MUSCLE PAIN
Always warm up before any type of exercise, as warming up and stretching help in loosening the muscles and improving blood circulation and flexibility.

04/11/2022

🔈 ROTATOR CUFF SYNDROME
What Does A Torn Rotator Cuff Feel Like?

Rotator cuff injury is one of the common causes of shoulder pain in individuals. To ensure that your shoulder pain is only because of torn rotator cuff, it is important to study the causes of pain, symptoms and also the reason of such condition. It is important to know what it feels like to have a torn rotator cuff and how long does rotator cuff injury take to heal. This information can give you an insight into understanding the possibility of rotator cuff in your case and prompt you to seek timely medical opinion.

Torn rotator cuff can be defined as a tear in one or more of the tendons of the four rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder. This rotator cuff tear can be chronic or acute due to pathological reason or traumatic injury.

What Does A Torn Rotator Cuff Feel Like?
When you wonder what it feels like to have a torn rotator cuff, you need to know the signs and symptoms of torn rotator cuff. Some of the commonest signs of what rotator cuff looks like include:

Pain
The pain occurring from rotator cuff injury occurs at the outer side of shoulder and the upper arm. Such pain also occurs while performing overhead activities or usually happens in the night. If in case the torn rotator cuff is serious, then the pain might awaken the patients from sleep and make them feel stressed.

Decreased Strength
Strength of each rotator cuff tendons can be tested separately by the doctor. They can isolate each tendon and work to find out the extent of tear on each one of them. If in case, significant tears have occurred, the patient will find it difficult to raise their arms over head. Individuals might also find it difficult to hold arm directly out from the body and this is one of the prominent signs of rotator cuff tear.

Inability To Do Normal Tasks
Individuals suffering from rotator cuff tear find it difficult to perform their day to day activities, which include combing their hair, sleeping on the affected shoulder, hooking or unhooking their bra buttons etc. While approaching the doctor patient should ensure to specify activities which have got limited due to shoulder pain.

On average, with appropriate treatment for a torn rotator cuff, it may take around four to six months to heal. However, it depends on the severity of the injury, type of treatment and the rehabilitation.

EXERCISE TO PREVENT SHOULDER PAIN

Pendulum exercise
Stand with your good hand resting on a chair. Let your other
arm hang down and try to swing it gently backwards and forwards and in a circular motion.
Repeat about 5 times. Try this 2–3 times a day.

Shoulder stretch
Stand and raise your shoulders. Hold for 5 seconds. Squeeze your shoulder blades back and together and hold for 5 seconds. Pull your shoulder blades downward and hold
for 5 seconds. Relax and repeat 10 times.

Door lean
Stand in a doorway with both arms on the wall slightly above your head. Slowly lean forward until you feel a stretch in the
front of your shoulders. Hold for 15–30 seconds.
Repeat 3 times. This exercise isn’t suitable if you have a shoulder impingement.

04/01/2022

🔈DO NOT ROLL OUT THESE AREAS OF YOUR BODY

Foam rollers or lacrosse balls can be really useful to self-release tight muscles or trigger points however not every part of the body can be rolled out. We need to keep common sense about where to and where NOT to be rolling out.

It is not recommend to roll out the following 5 areas of the body.

1. Side of your neck, especially behind your collar bone. There are lots of nerves there.

2. Armpit; there are some important muscles accessible in this region, but it’s also easy to press your nerves against your arm bone and thinking it’s good because ‘it hurts’.

3. Between your triceps and biceps, on the inside of your arm. This area is often worked to help with ‘fascial planes and sliding’, which probably isn’t happening the way we think. It’s also an area where you are able to directly press your nerves and blood vessels against the bone. Never a good idea.

4. Your abdomen. Stop pressing heavy objects into your abdomen. Are you trying to roll out your liver and kidneys? Your psoas is underneath all your organs. Not going to happen.

5. Back of your knee. You have nerves and blood vessels directly in the back of your knee, proceed gently in this region if at all.

When foam rolling, focus on areas of muscle mass, not arteries, nerves or organs.

Are there any other areas that you would add to the list?

03/29/2022

🔈 HEADACHE AT THE BACK OF THE HEAD

There are many different types of headaches. One of the more common headaches is the suboccipital headache.

At the base of the skull there is a group of muscles, the suboccipital muscles, which can cause headache pain for many people. These four pairs of muscles are responsible for subtle movements between the skull and first and second vertebrae in the neck.

When the suboccipital muscles go into spasms they can entrap the nerves that travel through the suboccipital region. By compressing the suboccipital nerves they set off a series of events that lead to either a tension or a migraine like headaches.

CAUSES

The suboccipital muscles commonly become tense and tender due to factors such as

- Eye strain, wearing new eyeglasses.
- Sitting at a computer with our head forward and our head slightly tipped these muscles are doing a significant amount of work. This poor posture eventually causes the muscles to become tired, fatigue, and injured.
- Grinding the teeth, slouching posture, and trauma (such as a whiplash injury).

SYMPTOMS

Common signs and symptoms of a headache stemming from the suboccipitals include

- Pain, stiffness, and a dull ache in the upper neck and base of the skull
- Pain on the back of the head, and pain in the forehead and behind the eyes.
- Sometimes there may be visual disturbances or nausea, but those tend to be more common in migraine type headaches.

TREATMENT

People often feel relief when icing, stretching, or rubbing the suboccipital muscles. In the early stages rubbing the suboccipital region can reduce or eliminate a headache.

When the headaches progress often palpating the suboccipital muscles intensifies the headache. Some people feel a tension band or headache that moves towards the eye. When pushing on the suboccipital muscles, it may increase the intensity of eye pain.

Suboccipital headaches are improved with over-the-counter NSAIDs, ice, stretching, therapy, electric, ultrasound, and cold laser treatments. Goals of treatment are to decrease muscle spasms of the suboccipital muscles and trapezius. The poor posture of slouching forward and tipping the head up causes additional injury and spasms to the trapezius and upper back muscles. Treatment always looks at improving these muscles as well.

Treatment will focus on improving posture when standing and sitting, to relieve stress and strain on the muscles. In addition massage therapy is excellent at decreasing muscle spasms, pain, tenderness, and tension in these muscles. Stretching will be utilized to enhance flexibility. Strengthening exercises will be utilized for the weak muscles of the neck and shoulder complex.

Graston Technique is a very effective tool at decreasing the scar tissue and spasms associated with poor posture, headaches, and suboccipital spasms. Often people with suboccipital headaches have had poor posture for many years, and Graston helps decrease the fascial adhesions and scar tissue from years of poor posture.

03/25/2022

🔈 IMPROVE YOUR HIP MOBILITY

The hip joint is also known as a ball and a socket joint. It is where the top of the thigh meets the pelvis. There are certain health conditions such as arthritis, limit the range of motion of the hip joint. Also, strenuous exercise, wearing high heels, and certain leg and back injuries can have a similar effect on this joint. All this affect the motility. However, certain exercises that can help loosen the soft tissue and improve the flexibility and mobility in the hip area are of great help.

The following moves will mobilize the hip flexors, the hip extensors and the hip rotators, all of which contribute to pain-free function and improved athleticism.

Try these exercises postworkout or pre-bedtime for better movement in and out of the gym.

🔒 Hip-Flexor Stretch

1. Stand inside a doorway and turn to face the door frame on your right.
2. Step back with your left foot and place your knee and lower leg on the floor to the left of the wall behind you (place a pad under your left knee if necessary).
3. Slide your left leg backward along the wall until you feel a stretch in the front on your left hip.
4. Raise your chest and torso and extend your arms overhead.
5. Grab the doorjamb behind you and slide your arms as far overhead as possible.
6. Press your lower back toward the doorjamb and hold it there for the duration of the stretch.
7. Breathe deeply, hold for one to two minutes, and repeat on the other side.

🔒 Flex-and-Rotate Hip Stretch

1. Stand facing a thigh-high table, desk, high bench, or the armrest of a couch.
2. Bend your right knee and raise your leg to rest your shin on the table, as if you’re doing a modified pigeon-pose stretch.
3. Bend your torso directly forward over your leg.
4. Press your elevated leg into the table for a five-count, then release for a 10-count, moving more deeply into the stretch. Contract and release five times.
5. Repeat the stretch with your torso rotated gently to the left, and again rotated to the right. Keep your back neutral and avoid rounding forward.
6. Slowly come out of the stretch.
7. Repeat the entire sequence with your left leg on the table.

It is not necessary that everyone can pull up the exercise with ease. It will take time for some, while a few might experience pain and stiffness in the muscles in the beginning. In any case, if the pain persists for long do not delay getting an advice from the health professional. For those with known joint and muscle problems or previous injuries and pain, it is better to seek medical advice before beginning with any exercises.

03/14/2022

Stop. Take a deep breath. 🤍

03/11/2022

03/09/2022

If you want to be successful in this world, you have to follow your passion, not a paycheck ✨🙌🏻

03/08/2022

Have a beautiful day 🌈✨

03/08/2022

🔈 VIPARITA KARANI POSE - FOR LYMPH CIRCULATION, KNEE PAIN, CONGESTED PELVIC ORGANS

HOW TO DO IT?

Stack a couple of folded blankets on top of a bolster near a wall. Put a block between the bolster and the wall and a blanket on the floor in front of the bolster for your head and shoulders.
Sit on the side of the bolster and roll your sacrum onto it, lifting your legs up the wall. Scoot yourself close to the wall so that the buttocks touch or come near the wall. Gently lower your shoulders and head to the floor. If you slide off the bolster, you can push yourself closer with your hands on the floor. Straighten your legs and press the thighs into the wall as you open your chest. Rest for 5 minutes. To come down, bend your knees, push your feet into the wall, slide away from the wall, and rest your back on the floor.

BENEFITS

When you put your legs up the wall with your pelvis elevated on a folded blanket, lymph and other fluids that can lead to swollen ankles, tired knees and congested pelvic organs flow into the lower belly; this refreshes the legs and the reproductive area (source: yoga journal).

This pose also gives blood circulation a gentle boost toward the upper body and head, which creates a pleasant re-balancing after you have been standing or sitting for a long time.

If you are stressed, fatigued or jet-lagged, this pose is especially refreshing. When you relax with your legs up the wall, you are practising the polar opposite of activity, which is receptivity. Some additional benefits include:

- alleviates headaches
- boosts energy
- soothes menstrual cramps
- relieves lower-back pain

It's worth giving a try. Enjoy.

12/23/2020

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12/23/2019

We'll be here til 5:30!
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12/15/2019

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Stop in or purchase a gift certificate online!
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732-714-6120

07/25/2019

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06/15/2019

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We'll be here from 10-2:30 today!
732-714-6120
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05/12/2019

Wishing a happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there!