3 Myths About Back Pain November 7, 2019 One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year. Back pain accounts for more than 264 million lost workdays in one year, that's two work days for every full-time worker in the country. Experts estimate that up to 80% of the population will experience back pain at some time in their lives. Do more than a cursory Google search into this common issue and you will quickly be bombarded with three widely held truths, back pain is due to poor posture, poor core strength, or structural abnormalities, such as bulging discs. Unfortunately, as with.. Read More
Can Massage Help With Lower Back Pain? October 10, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers Approximately,85 percent of all American adults will experience some form of back pain during their lifetime and lower back pain remains one of the leading causes of job disability in the world. The most common form of prescribed relief from lower back pain is opioid pain relievers. In the United States, opioid prescription for low back pain has increased, and opioids are now the most commonly prescribed drug class and rates of opioid prescribing in the US and Canada are two to three times higher than in most European countries. However, in the face of rising concerns about the use.. Read More
4 Yoga Poses You Can Do at Your Work Desk September 21, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers We all know that sitting slouched over at our desks is bad for our bodies, but, at the end of the day, your desk is where you work and most of us don’t have the option of leaving that behind. To help you keep supple and avoid some of the common back and neck complaints suffered by office workers, here are four simple and easy to do yoga poses you can do at your work desk. Seated Crescent Moon Pose One of the most common issues with spending hours sat at a desk is that your side body tends to.. Read More
Why Deep Tissue Massage Should Be a Part of Your Workout Routine August 29, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers Hitting the gym is an excellent way to improve your health, with plenty of benefits to both your physical and mental wellness. However, with the rise in popularity of workout activities such as powerlifting and CrossFit training, people are putting more stress on their body than ever before. Protein, stretching and hydration are all recognized parts of an effective warm-down after strenuous exercise, but there is one thing that people often miss that can have a significant impact on your muscles ability to heal and repair, deep tissue massage. In this article, we will be looking at the.. Read More
Why Do My Muscles Feel Tight? August 19, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers If you say you feel “tight” in a particular area, that might mean several different things. You might have a poor range of motion or maybe your range of motion is fine, but the movement to the end range feels uncomfortable or takes excess effort. Or maybe the problem isn’t really with movement, but just that the area never reels feels relaxed. Or maybe the area feels basically relaxed but has some vague sense of discomfort, a feeling that is unpleasant but too mild to be called pain. This ambiguity means that the feeling of tightness is just.. Read More
A Brief History of Massage Therapy June 19, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers Massage therapy has, rightly, gained traction in the medical community recently as research show sit can have a beneficial effect on patients suffering from a range of maladies, from cancer to depression. However, as a species, we have been employing massage therapy for over 400 thousand years, with our ancestors using it to treat many of the same things we treat today. The first written records of massage being used for medical and treatment purposes were written by some of the world’s oldest civilizations, the Egyptians and the Chinese. So, to get a better idea of how our ancestors.. Read More
How Can Massage Therapy Help With Tennis Elbow? May 17, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers Tennis elbow is a condition that is not usually anything to do with tennis, most sufferers of tennis elbow have probably not been near a tennis racket since school! Tennis elbow is, in fact, the term for a condition known clinically as lateral epicondylitis. Pain is felt around the outside of the elbow, around the outside of the upper forearm and is most keenly felt when lifting or bending the arm. People with tennis elbow may also have difficulty in gripping and twisting the forearm - such as holding pens or opening a jar or turning handles, they may.. Read More
Why You Should Make Massage Therapy a Regular Part of Your Lifestyle? April 29, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers Regular massage is as important a part of a pro-active plan of preventative medicine as exercise and healthy eating is. It’s estimated that more than 51 million Americans discussed massage therapy with their doctors or health care practitioners in 2018. This rise in interest in massage therapy as a an essential part of a healthy lifestyle is due to increasing evidence that is can be used to treat a wide range of conditions. Stress Reduction Every year, more than 74 million American adults spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and significant amounts of time seeking relief from stress-based illnesses... Read More
Working As An Office Massage Therapist March 15, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair M. A. Organizational Management, University of Phoenix B.A. University of Minnesota, American Studies L.M.T. Northwest Health Careers The vast majority of Americans work in an office and work-related stress has become one of the major healthcare factors of the modern workforce. 62% of US workers routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% reported stressed-out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands and 34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out To counteract the rising rate of workplace stress and it’s physical consequences, companies are increasingly employing in-office massage therapists. A 15-minute chair massage has been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, help staff concentrate more effectively, and reduce the risk of.. Read More
Combatting Seasonal Affective Disorder With Massage Therapy February 25, 2019 Barbara Alcaraz, M.A., B.A., L.M.T. Massage Therapy Program Chair Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is recognized as a major depressive disorder with seasonal patterns. One in five Americans are impacted by seasonal change, and that number is even higher in states such as Utah and Nevada. A less severe form of seasonal mood disorder, commonly referred to as the winter blues, impacts an even larger portion of the American public and may be aggravated by the change to Daylight Savings Time. In this article, we will be looking at the causes of SAD and how massage therapy represents a viable treatment for this common depressive disorder What causes SAD?.. Read More