Often I have conversations with clients about how much, or in reality, how little they stretch. I often try to keep perspective and reflect back on my own methods to incorporate stretching into my exercise routines and recovery days. I’ve come up with a simple plan that I think most people could relate to and I promote it as often as I have stretching conversations.

Here’s my take on stretching:

1. Ignore the suggestions made in health magazines that you NEED to stretch after exercise. Ignore the suggestions that stretching before exercise isn’t good because your muscles are “cold” or not warmed up.
2. Instead stretch whenever you feel the need to. My philosophy is centred around stretching anytime which is better than not at all.
3. Begin with a muscle group that is problematic or particularly tight, i.e., pectoralis (chest) muscles, that may be short and tight because of poor posture.
4. Stretch at the water cooler, while waiting for the subway, or better yet while WATCHING T.V.! You’re just sitting around anyway so why not kill two birds with one stone?
5. Muscles are either short and tight or long and tight. Stretch the short and tight ones.
6. Often people feel pain in a particular area of their body, i.e., upper back muscles between the shoulder blades. If you feel pain in your upper back think about the muscles that oppose them. Your pain may be caused by muscle and soft tissue length imbalances, so stretch your chest muscles instead. This reestablishes a length balance between agonist/antogonist muscle groups.
7. Stretch problem muscles FIRST and multiple times per day. Stretch other muscles as they need it or as they fit into your exercise routines.
8. Don’t get overwhelmed by stretching for 20-30 minute sessions per day. That’s just plain ridiculous! If you stretch periodically, say 2 minutes at a time starting with a problem muscle group FIRST, you will notice results without the unrealistic idea of stretching for prolonged periods of time. Who does that anyway? Maybe professional athletes do like goalies and that’s because they get paid to do it!

Plain and simple…try it!

I was reading in the Toronto Star about a week ago about a study that claimed students perform better on exams when properly hydrated. The study included a test group of 1st year students who typically arrived for exams without water and compared their results to older, year 3 and 4 students who typically brought water to their exams. The results indicated approximately 4.2 % increase in test scores for those year 3 and 4 students. Furthermore, students expressed the effects of drinking water during tests as: having a break in a bottle, feelings of being refreshed and that they were able to think more clearly. Unfortunately, I can’t find the link but if you’re wondering how it might improve your mental focus and energy levels, try consuming more water daily.

I think this article really made me think that many people are really walking around dehydrated. When the body is dehydrated you might feel thirsty but you’re also more likely to feel fatigued, less focused and hold more muscle tension. Most of these effects are scientifically proven somewhere but I’m not going to go there. If you want to search that information out then you know, use Google.

To get to my point, try consuming more water and document how you feel each day. Note feelings of fatigue-less vs. more, mental focus, and consider how your body is working or how tense your muscles feel.

If you are an active individual, then consider how well muscles perform when you are well hydrated and think about drinking more water daily to improve performance, but then make sure that before the big event you are consuming water 1 week prior to the event especially if you are running a marathon. And remember that every time you drink coffee, tea, or alcohol they all have diuretic effects, so drink a glass of water afterward.

Our latest addition happens to be Judy. Judy comes with a wealth of experience and expertise, see her autobiography, and one of those specialities that she brings to our dynamic team is Tui na.

I asked Judy to help us all better understand what Tui na is all about. So here are a few bits of information that you might find useful.

What is Tui na?
Tui na is a type of massage therapy that involves using two key actions with the hands on the patient’s body: tui (A Chinese word for push) and na (A Chinese word for grasp). Other actions include rolling, kneading, brushing, and rubbing of the affected areas. A major focus of the tui na method is the areas between the joints, otherwise known as the eight gates.

What can Tui na do for me?
It gets energy moving in muscles by sensing and opening the body’s chi gate. Tui na creates a rhythmic flow of pressure along channels of energy. It is used to massage and lubricate joints and to relieve stress or pain. A practitioner can focus on specific problems such as chronic pain and tension but when used regularly,  Tui na helps in a proactive way to maintain good health. The principal of Tui na is based on energy flow in the body from an inner level. A practitioner is able to facilitate energy flow and distribution of energy throughout the body.

Where did Tui na originate?
Similar techniques were first used and documented in China during the Shang Dynasty. It was shown to be used to treat infants and various digestive problems amongst adults. It then spread and developed to other Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, which began popularizing it as a form of massage. It was originally named Anmo.

What does a Tui na experience feel like?
To some, they would say that it is a combination of Shiatsu and acupressure. The techniques mostly consists of steady, paced movements of pressure along the energy lines of the body. It is very similar to many Chinese methods of massage by pinpointing the pressure points of the body. It is an entwined combination of kneading, gliding, pushing, rotating and vibrating the skin.

What are the benefits of Tui na compared to other types of massage?
Tui na has similar benefits to other types of massage. It is primarily used in a therapeutic manner to  help solve various musculoskeletal conditions. By treating trigger points and other points that are symptoms of a variety of conditions, Tui na either lessens the pain or resolves the problem. It is similar to many other styles of Chinese massage, but what distinguishes it from others is its ability to treat specific problems.

What problems can Tui na help resolve?
It can help a number of conditions, especially chronic pain in muscles, joints or the skeletal system. It could also be used to treat joint pain such as arthritis, sciatica, neck, back and shoulder pain, and muscle spasms. It could also be used to treat more unorthodox conditions such as insomnia, constipation, migraines, and tension.

What is Tui na today?
It is widely practiced in China, but has long spread and influenced western therapists as well. Tui na could be classified closer to the work of chiropractors and physical therapists than massage therapists. It is equally as difficult to earn a degree as an acupuncturist or herbalist.

Why else is Tui na important for well being?
Tui na corrects anomalies in the body; it senses the flow of energy and evenly distributes it. It relaxes muscles, and it promotes blood circulation. Overall, it’s a very effective treatment to try.

So if Tui na is something that you’re interested in giving a try book a massage with Judy and ask her to apply Tui na techniques during the treatment.

Stretching is as important as any other exercise, e.g., jogging, weight lifting, playing sports like hockey or ultimate, but it is often undervalued. The problem is that most people don’t consider stretching exercise and therefore, I think you’ll agree, it often gets neglected. It’s something that many of us really don’t take the time to do often enough and I attribute that mostly to the simple fact that it’s boring and it sometimes hurts.

Something that I’ve been experiementing with is stretching hip flexor muscles to combat low back tension. What I’m really referring to is stretching the quadriceps muscle group and involving a bit of hip extension to include the iliopsoas muscle and tensor fascia latae. I know, too technical but if you just think hip flexor muscles you’ll be in a good head space.

I like to call my stretches “lazy” because I hate to work hard while I stretch, so I often look for easier ways to accomplish the same benefits of stretching with minimal work. Besides, I’m not much different than most people and I too neglect stretching enough at times.

Check out my latest quad/hip flexor stretch video. Quad/Hip Flexor Lazy Stretching

The benefits are amazing! If you detect tight hip flexor muscles and low back pain then try what I’ve suggested. It helps me tremendously and it could be the key to a healthier back.

TBM for Rotator Cuff Dysfunction

Often it’s easy to assume that everybody should know the ins and outs of how to deal with muscle aches and pains but unfortunately it’s not the case. I’m definitely a guy who likes to dabble with lots of things: motorcycles, computer stuff, and building projects. Those are things you can learn to do quite easily but just don’t ask me about doing income taxes or doing a brake job on my car. I simply leave those jobs to the expert accountants and mechanics that have all the tools to get it right the first time. I suppose that many other people out their may consider taking care of their muscle aches and pains in a similar light… let a Massage Therapist handle it because that’s what they do daily and they do it really well.

So what happens when the pain is too much? Or you just can squeeze in an appointment? Search the web, bookmark my site and then visit my video blogs on YouTube. It’s a self help project in itself and it’s amazing how easy it is. Check out my latest at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMHGsZzUon0

It’s that easy!

This is pretty exciting especially for a newbee video guy like myself. I have to admit it was very weird sitting in front of my macbook and talking to an inanimate object – a computer screen and camera, and all the time trying to engage my video audience. Consider it an experiment and a work in progress. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gm1G41_e8k

On another note, I want to share with all our friends out there that Hillsview Massage will be supporting Strides for Stroke 5k Run/Walk again this year. We are community partners with York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill and support their fundraiser by offering complementary 10 minute sport massages to run/walk participants. Yes, I did say complimentary, whcih is in fact a synonym for FREE! All you have to do is register and participate and our team of great RMT’s will be waiting for you at the finish line. Massage therapy is a great way to help recover from sporting events especially from running.

I almost forgot to mention that we’ll also be giving out more FREE tennis balls at the event too! So if you haven’t had a chance to get one from the clinic here’s your chance. We’ll be at Richmond Green on Saturday May 1 between 9:30 am and 11:30 am. Come visit us and you can gladly pick our brains for some self help approaches to treating your muscle aches and pain. Check out the run/walk event at: http://www.yorkcentralrun.com/

So now that free coffee has come to an end I thought that I’d share another freebee with everyone out there.  Starting March 13th at Hillsview Massage and Therapy Centre or HMTC as I like to call us, we are giving out free tennis balls! Ok, it’s not quite as good as coffee, it doesn’t come with a caffeine kick – or should I say enough cream and sugar to turn your java into a sweet tooth desert but they are FREE! I really don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep this free kick up – I’m afraid I could run out of free items to promote or give out – without giving the shirt off my back to someone. Anyway, we are recycling good used tennis balls, not the cheap three for a buck kind that break after lying on it for 30 minutes.  I mean the hardcore kind: Dunlop,  Wilson, and Penn that people serve at 100 km an hour developing a trademark grunt because they hit so hard. So if they can stand up to that kind of beating then they should do us just fine.

Drop by the clinic, book a massage, or just come by and pick up your free tennis ball. Oh, and keep on the lookout for a “how to” video coming soon.