What Does that Mean??? Swedish Massage

Swedish Massage is a term you probably hear often with regards to massage... but what exactly does that mean??  And why is it named after the Swedish???

Source

 

We have Per Henrik Ling to thank for this!!  He developed a system of medical exercises and massage... This system deeply influenced both physical therapy and massage therapy.  The massage elements of his work gave rise to Swedish Massage.

These main elements are: effleurage, petrissage, friction, tapotement and vibration.  A Swedish Massage can incorporate any of these techniques.

Effleurage is those nice long strokes the massage therapist uses to warm up and test the tissue.

Petrissage is also known as kneading and can help break up adhesions and work on tissue holding patterns.

Friction is deep circular rubbing movements.  This is excellent for warming tissue!

Tapotement is percussive movement.  It can be finger tips tapping, or hands chopping.

Vibration  is rapid shaking or vibration of specific muscles.  This works great to check tissue mobility and to help release tissue from other tissues it might be holding onto, and should not be!

Swedish Massage can be incorporated into other styles of massage.  It tends to be your general massage that you think of right off when you think of a massage for relaxation!

Guess where Per Henrik Ling is from???  Oh you guessed it!  Sweeden!

What Does that Mean??? Myofascial Release (MFR)

As defined by Susan G. Salvo in Massage Therapy Principles and Practice (3rd Edition) Myofascial Release (MFR) "refers to a group of manual techniques used to reduce fascial restrictions.  Several variations for achieving this result can be used, including deep gliding, torquing and skin rolling".

My interpretation of MFR, based on my training in massage school (which was primarily provided by a Rolfer) and my continuing education on this topic, is that with MFR the therapist provides a vector of force against tissue.  It's concentrated force, not necessarily strong force, just a force.  This continues as the tissue melts and change can occur.

You can expect several different techniques if you receive MFR at Breathe Massage Therapy LLC:

• Skin Rolling.  Skin rolling works to release the superficial layers of fascia from deeper layers.  This allows the therapist to work deeper.
• Deep glide.  Deep glide involves the slow long concentrated strokes that provide a concentrated force against your tissue, helping it flow from solid to gel states.  This also helps to direct the scar tissue as to which direction to lay itself down.
• Cross Hand Stretches.  This has pressure being applied by the hands in opposing directions to allow the tissue to stretch and unwind.
• Scar Tissue Release.  Several techniques are employed to release healed scar tissue.  This can be painful at times.  As with other forms of MFR, it may take several sessions to release a scar.

What Does that Mean??? Cross-linkages and Adhesions

This is just one of a multi-post series explaining some common massage terms, issues, and situations.

In order to better understand cross-linkages and adhesions it's important to have a basic understanding of the fascia.

As we age, injure our fascia, or create scar tissue collagen fibers tend to be packed in closer together, and to form more connections.

These connections are called "cross-linkages".  Cross linkages reduce the glide and movement of your muscles.  Things don't feel as smooth and supple as we'd like!

When those cross-linkages develop between layers of fascia they are called adhesions.

As time goes on and these adhesions or cross-linkages are allowed to remain the collagen fibers will actually bond between neighboring layers of fascia.

These bonds are what make these neighboring muscles lose their Independence from the adjoining muscles.

So... why does this matter to you?

Well, think of it this way... If you had to drag a bag of sand around with you everywhere, not by choice, you'd expend waaaayyyy more energy than if you were to just be walking on your own.  And it could become rather painful.  It's the same way for your muscles.

To further complicate matters, often adjacent muscles have similar but different functions.  An example of this would be your calves.
People generally know about their gastrocnemius' (gastrocs).  It attaches at one end to the back of your heel by way of your Achilles tendon, and splits into two "heads" to attach at the back of the knee to the thigh bone.  This means it crosses two joints (the ankle and the knee)  The actions created by this muscle are to either flex the ankle (basically to go on tippy-toes) or to bend the knee backwards.
However, underneath the gastrocs is located the soleus.  The soleus attaches at one end to the heel bone and Achilles tendon, just like your gastrocs however it attaches to your fibula (the smaller bone in the bottom part of your leg) and to a bony landmark on your tibia (the bigger bone in the bottom part of your leg).  As a result of this muscle only crossing one joint, it only has one action.  It flexes the ankle (again with the tippy-toes!).

I'm sure at this point you're hoping i get to the point soon...
Well here it is...  If you have those muscles sticking together, what will happen when you go to bend your knee back?  Well, if the soleus is stuck to your gastrocs it could cause that soleus to also be activated and therefore also point your toe.

It's just an issue of your body not being able to move the way it should.  This issue can happen between any layer of fascia.  Your bones are covered with fascia called periosteum... Think about what it could feel like if you were to have your muscles stick to your bones and unable to glide... why walking would even be painful. Or breathing if it's the muscles between your rib cage sticking to the rib bones!

Stretching helps with reducing adhesions, as does massage.  Myofacial release is particularly good at releasing.  Thai yoga massage is as well, as the therapist assists the client in stretching.

What Does that Mean??? Fascia

This is the first of a multi-post series explaining some common massage terms, issues and situations.

A simple explanation of fascia is that it's the connective tissue that covers or binds parts of the body structure.  You'll find fascia around your muscles, bones, organs, veins, arteries, lymphatic system, etc.  

Fascia acts as an organizer... The collagen and elastin fibers create a translucent, strong sheet of connective tissue.  While very thin, fascia is very strong.  Almost every structure of the body is surrounded by fascia.  Fascia is what surrounds nerve fibers.  Fascia is what holds our fat in place.  Fascia is what holds our muscles in place.  Fascia is in our veins and arteries.

Muscles connect to tendons which connect to a fascia layer (periosteum) on bones.  Ligaments work in a similar way, but are connecting bones to bones.

So to summarize, your fascia helps your muscles connect to your bones, is in your muscles, arteries, veins, fat, and organs...  It's everywhere man!!!

When it's found between the skin and the underlying muscles, it is called the superficial fascia layer.  Go a little deeper and you'll find deep fascia... which protects the muscles and divides them into separate muscles.  Go deeper still you will find subserous fascia.  This fascia is found between the deep fascia and the major organs.  These different types of fascia also are different in terms of flexibility or firmness, as would be required by their function.  The flexibility or firmness is created by different concentrations of the building blocks that make up connective tissue; collagen, elastin and ground substance.  

What is collagen???  Collagen is a protein that is made up of three polypeptide chains.  When they line up they form white fibrils.  They have great tensile strength.  They are very resilient and have excellent structural integrity.  

Okay, then what is elastin???  Elastin is elastic in nature as the name suggests.  It helps tissue to stretch and absorb shock.

And then we have ground substance.  To me ground substance is absolutely fascinating.  It's a viscous fluid that alternates between states of "gel" and "liquid".  (Trivia: This ability to alter between states is called thixotrophy) When it's cool it's like a jelly, but when it's warm it becomes more liquidy... kinda like jello!  Ground substance is made of up two main components... hyaluronic acid and proteoglycans.  The hyaluronic acid is viscous and helps to lubricate the collagen, elastin and whatever else it is gliding up against (muscles, organs etc.).  The proteoglycans are responsible for the gel aspect.  This gel aspect is awesome at dispersing shock, and at holding tissues in place.  

As your fascia ages or you injure it, the ground substance becomes less liquid.  This harder gel like state makes fascia glide more difficult.  Heat (from heating packs, muscle use, massage) and mechanical stretch help to bring back that liquid state.

The liquid state is so important as that is what allows movement, stretch and also the exchange of nutrients and cellular waste (toxins) to occur more easily.  Dry and/or hard ground substance restricts movement.

I hope this gives you a high level explanation of what your fascia is and what it does!  Feel free to email me with questions or areas that might be vague (info@breathemassage.com).

Now that you have a basic explanation of fascia, stay tuned for information on cross-linkages and adhesions next!

What in the World Does that Mean???

Sometimes I find that I throw around massage-y words when talking to client and forget that maybe they don't know what it means.  And maybe they can infer from the conversation the general idea of what a trigger point is... or what an adhesion is... or what myofascial release is... or any number of other things!!!  But really, to be a better communicator with my clients they shouldn't have to guess the meaning, or if I forget to explain it, there should be a resource I provide for them to look it up.

I will be posting a series of "What is" or "Why does this happen" style posts.  I plan to cover some of the buzzwords in the massage world and some general questions I had before going down this path.

Feel free to email me questions you want covered as well!!  BreatheRoanoke@gmail.com

New Year's Resolutions... or Am I a Hypocrite???

I always think that getting more massage should be on everyone's New Year's Resolution list...

Except mine apparently...

As I was reviewing my little list, I saw massage was not on it at all!!!  The calamity!

How could I, a massage therapist, forget this?  I think often when we give bodywork, we forget how important it is for us to receive it as well...
Massage is a very body intensive career, and I certainly don't stretch and do yoga as I should...  Add skimping on the bodywork receipt and I'm asking for trouble!!

So now... a little late but better than never.. I'm adding to my list to receive body work more than I did last year!!

Who else wants to add this to their list? :)