A few years ago, my wife was experiencing some health problems. The doctor’s diagnosis was that her job was too stressful. Six months later, she left that job to start her own company, and those health problems completely disappeared (that’s a pretty stressful job if starting a business is less stressful!).

My wife’s job/stress-related health problems are common: According to one study, 40% of American employees feel their job is stressful. In fact, stress related problems are the most common cause of employee absenteeism and the stress-related problems cost about 150 billion dollars in the US.

Unfortunately, most people can’t quit their job to get rid of stress. So what can they do? Fortunately, the list is pretty long: exercise, eat right, take time every day to meditate and relax, and find hobbies that give you pleasure to name a few. And, get regular massage.

A study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience looked at the impact of massage on job performance over a five week period. The study showed the following:

Massaged adults showed:
1) decreased frontal EEG alpha and beta power and increased delta power consistent with enhanced alertness;
2) math problems were completed in significantly less time with significantly fewer errors after the massage; and
3) anxiety, cortisol (stress hormone) and job stress levels were lower at the end of the 5 week period.

Field, T., Ironson, G., Scafidi, F., Nawrocki, T., Goncalves, A., Burman, I., Pickens, J., Fox, N., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1996). Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertness and math computations. International Journal of Neuroscience, 86, 197-205.

In case you’re wondering what the most common causes of work place stress are, they’re:

And the top four most stressful professions are:

(Data from Stress Focus)

My aunt came into our massage center last completely unable to move her neck. I worked on her, but I was very gentle…I didn’t want to hurt her, even though I knew she needed deep therapy. Two days later, one of my therapists worked on her. Since he’s not related to her, he had no trouble giving her the treatment her body needed. She came out of that massage with significantly more mobility, and it was obvious the treatment had helped. Yet, she said it had hurt at times, when she really wanted to just relax. She preferred my gentle massage, even though it didn’t help her as much.

To be effective, your massage should be a relaxing experience. If you’re uncomfortable during the massage, you’ll tense up and the massage becomes counter productive. However, sometimes a little pain is necessary to treat the problem. The book Body Work: What Type of Massage to Get And How to Make the Most of it (Thomas Claire, Basic Health; 2006) says:

Some deep-tissue techniques used to address sports injuries or chronic pain require intense pressure to realign muscle fibers, break up scar tissue or restore oxygen-rich blood to fluid-depleted areas. This can smart momentarily and cause some soreness afterward, but it pays off with healthier tissue.

How much pain is too much? That depends on you. I have clients who can tolerate tremendous amounts of discomfort, and others who simply can’t. Most of my clients endure the discomfort because they know how good they feel for weeks after. Communicating with your therapist is the best way to ensure you get the therapeutic benefit without overdoing the pain. I can tell you personally that I’ll do what I need to do to address the problem, but if the client asks me to ease off, I will. The most important thing during your massage is that you feel comfortable. But remember that a little bit of discomfort or pain is normal, and when it comes to reducing chronic pain, it is probably necessary.

It’s July…time for picnics, lazy days at the pool, ice cream, and code orange days that drive people with respiratory problems inside. It seems unfair that we make it through Spring’s pollen, only to face the (literally) hazy days of summer.

All kidding aside, the air quality in the summer is very hard on people with asthma and other respiratory problems. I know massage helps for many health problems, so I did some research to see if there is any evidence to support that it helps with asthma. The bottom line is that there hasn’t been enough research done. In most of the studies I found, patients found relief…mostly in that the massage decreased their stress levels, which helped them relax and breath better.

The University of Maryland Medical Center said this:

A few studies of small numbers of children and adults with asthma have suggested that massage therapy may reduce anxiety associated with asthma, improve symptoms, and even improve lung function. Given the limited scope of these studies, however, more research is needed to understand the relationship between massage therapy and asthma, beyond the ability of this technique to reduce stress and induce relaxation.

I think you should never underestimate the power of reducing stress and inducing relaxation. So I suggest that if you’re having trouble breathing on these code orange days, take a trip to visit your massage therapist.

Rejuvenations Massage was just voted one of the top three places to get a massage in the DC area by Washingtonian Magazine! We are so thrilled to receive this honor in their yearly Best and Worst of reader poll. We want to thank all of our fantastic clients who voted for us…we wouldn’t be able to provide the services we offer if we didn’t have wonderful people supporting us. Thank you!

I like doing yard work, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. So I set out to find some justification for letting it go another week. I came across a survey from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, it didn’t give me the data I needed to stay out of the yard for the rest of the summer.

According to the study, of the 2.1 million people who did gardening or yard work, about 1.1% injured themselves. Men and women were equally likely to be injured doing yard work, but younger people (18-44 yr) were more likely to be injured than older people (45 + yr). Most injuries were minor.

Bottom line, it’s pretty safe to work in the yard, especially if you’re being careful about your posture while weeding (note: DO NOT bend over at a 90% angle! You’ll hurt your back. Squatting is the best stance for weeding.)

That said, I guess I have to go mow the lawn now.