Below are quick explanations of some of the techniques and approaches I use. They are sometimes used individually or blended together depending on client needs. These are a work in progress and being constantly developed. I aim to get a little better everyday. Check back here often.
*All bodywork sessions are performed with the client wearing loose comfortable clothing. Shorts and a t-shirt work great. Jeans and thicker clothes make it challenging, so please refrain from wearing them. You can change when you get to the office if you need to.
Advanced Myofascial Techniques - Over the passed 20 years, I have found the most effective treatment plans involve increasing movement options and refining proprioception. When they are blended properly, often pain decreases and is replaced with a sense of ease in the body. There are a lot of ways to do this, many are described below. I’m working on an article to elaborate on this one. Stay tuned.
Positional Release Therapy - Positional release therapy, also know by it's parent term strain counterstrain, is a therapeutic technique that uses a position of comfort of the body, its appendages, and its tissues to resolve somatic dysfunction. PRT is basically the opposite of stretching. A gentle and passive technique that I have personally found very effective in the treatment of acute, subacute, and chronic dysfunction in people of all ages.
Sports Massage - Sports massage therapy is geared toward athletes of every kind, from world-class professionals to weekend joggers. The techniques of Sports Massage are specific to the athlete’s sport of choice, particularly focusing on areas of the body that are overused and stressed from repetitive and often aggressive movements.
Medically Necessary Massage – The application of Physical Medicine by a massage therapist using specific tests to evaluate, target and treat specific problem areas. Medically Necessary Massage is used for people suffering from a variety of injuries like disc herniations, nerve impingements, back surgery, hip replacements and concussions. Motor vehicle accidents usually require a Medically Necessary Massage approach as well.
Bodymap Refinement - The body map is your self-representation (regarding structure, function and size) in your own brain. When your body map is accurate, movement is good. If your body map is inaccurate or inadequate, movement is inefficient and injury-producing. In Body Mapping, you'll learn to gain access to your own body map through self-observation and self-inquiry which ultimately leads to more efficient posture and ease of movement.
Breathwork - How we breathe affects how we feel and heal. I’ve spent many years studying how the human body breathes and have developed techniques that maximize breath to optimize how you feel. Mobilizing the rib cage, neck, shoulder blades, collarbones, diaphragm and pelvic floor can dramatically improve how you breathe. This work very often positively affects any other part of the body we are working on.
Ligament and Myofascial work - Ligaments and fascia are the ultimate connective tissue of the body. Working on these tissues often requires a different approach than working with muscles.
IASTM - "Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization" Use of tools to efficiently locate and treat individual areas with soft-tissue dysfunction. Often these areas are referred to as congested, having scar tissue or adhesions. Under the right conditions IASTM reduces pain and increases movement very effectively.
Muscle Activation – Often people overuse some muscles and under use others. Sometimes muscles are asked to do a job they aren’t designed to while another may not be working at all. In this approach, we locate muscles that are overworking and muscles that are underworking and get them performing the way they are supposed to. This requires more active participation on the clients part. It can be an eye opening experience.
Trigger point neutralization – Using light pressure along dermotome (skin nerve) pathways to interfere with the signal a trigger point is sending to the brain. Very helpful in quickly reminding muscles how to relax.
Lymph drainage – This process involves the use of gentle manual maneuvers to aid in the recirculation of body fluids. For clients this technique is very comfortable and induces deep states of relaxation while improving immune function, circulating body fluids and balancing the autonomic nervous system. It’s like cleaning out the body’s sewer system.
Somatic Education - Somatic Education is the improvement of bodily awareness to gain greater voluntary control of your bodily processes, basically it improves the connection of the muscles to the brain.
Personal Movement Training - These sessions consist of core strength, balance, mobility and conditioning movements designed to get you stronger and able to do more of what you want to do in life. The focus is on body weight movements as well as squats, presses and deadlifts. Form is always addressed, corrected and progressed and sessions are kept exciting and fresh. Please feel free to contact me for a more detailed description.