Where's Your Head At? Part 2

Where’s Your Head At? Part 2

In the last post I discussed how our lives tend to lead us to position our head in front of our body, which overtime can cause neck strains, herniated discs, nerve entrapment, and other related conditions. If we have been injured in an accident, this pathway to pain can accelerate rapidly.

With our approach here at Surgical Alternative with SET Bodywork, we know how to address the key areas causing pain, even if they are not the places where our clients are feeling their pain. It wasn’t until I learned this specialized therapeutic approach to structural bodywork in SET that I realized how much the front of the neck plays a key role in back and shoulder pain.

The muscles in the front of your neck and chest are often very tight when you are experiencing neck pain, but not every massage therapist knows to release them, or how to do this effectively. Now that I practice SET Bodywork, I have seen dramatic changes in my clients. Often after just one session.

As one client who was experiencing chronic pain in her neck noted, “I never had that much of a shift from just one session before.” That was last Spring. I haven’t seen her since because she still feels great. What are you waiting for?

We feel very fortunate and excited to do what we love to do, help others. We have been dealing with clients in severe pain for over 14 years now, that are suffering from herniated discs, bulging discs, hiatal hernias, peripheral nerve damage, nerve entrapments, pinched sciatic nerve issues, degenerative disk disease and many more symptoms that people think they either have to have surgery for or are told they just have to deal with the pain. We use a combination of deep tissues massages and cranial structural techniques to balance and align the body. The reason we started blogging was so that we could reach and help some of those people that suffer from these and many other painful conditions. Surgical Alternative is now located in Lutz near New Tampa. We proudly service Tampa, St. Petersburg, Land O Lakes, New Port Richey, Wesley Chapel, Trinity and all surrounding areas. Please call today, or schedule your appointment online!

About the Author: This post contributed by a member of the Surgical Alternative team, Nyssa Hanger, to find out more about her click here.

Healing with Heat, Part 2

Heat is an amazing therapeutic tool that sometimes gets overlooked because of its own simplicity. Though heat may not relieve long term pain permanently, it can provide temporary relief and is really very easy to do.

Providing heat to an area of pain will help to lengthen and relax over tight muscles, improve circulation, and reduce muscle spasms. The increase in blood flow allows the cells to receive nutrients and exchange their waste materials, allowing tissues to repair where damaged. Plus, as I mentioned in the last post, it feels comforting. As someone who practices therapeutic bodywork, I know that just feeling safe, supported, and cared for is sometimes enough to let our body heal itself.

At home, heat therapy can be as simple as drawing a bath; use some epsom salt for additional release of toxins from your body. Or you can heat up a rice sock or one of our Mother Earth Pillows, sold here in the office.

When using heat, always remember to be MINDFUL OF TEMPERATURE. Never put a hot pack directly on your skin, and always test out the water before getting in. There is no use in burning while trying to feel better.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use both hot and cold therapy for pain relief, be sure to come to my talk at 11:30am at our Grand Opening here at Surgical Alternative on December 10th.

As an advanced deep tissue massage therapist in Tampa, I believe in helping people who live with chronic pain to learn how to also help themselves. Though our SET Bodywork ( a combination of advanced deep tissue massage and cranial structural techniques)is highly effective for many conditions such as herniated discs, bulging dics, scoliosis, plantar fascitis, heal spurs, myofascial relief and more, the therapist and the client are a team. I can’t be with my clients all the time, but I can help them learn what they can do for themselves in between sessions. That’s empowerment.

Surgical Alternative is now located in Lutz,FL near New Tampa. We proudly service Tampa, St. Petersburg, Land O Lakes, New Port Richey, Wesley Chapel, Trinity and all surrounding areas. Please call today, or schedule your appointment online!

About the Author: This post contributed by a member of the Surgical Alternative team, Nyssa Hanger, to find out more about her click here.

Healing with Heat, part 1

Healing with Heat, part 1

Now that it is getting cooler out, the use of heat for therapy seems to feel even more comforting. Whether you suffer from chronic pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, backache during pregnancy, or just are looking for an easy way to relax and unwind, heat therapy is an easy and inexpensive form of alternative medicine.

Cultures from all over the world and across time have acknowledged the power of the sun as a source of health and vitality. I don’t know about you, but getting my skin in a little bit of sun is sometimes just what I need. The sun’s rays feel so good partly because they help our body produce chemicals essential to our well-being, but I think it is also because warmth soothes our bodies.

There are physiological reasons why heat therapy in the form of baths or hot packs can help alleviate the pain of muscle aches and soreness, chronic lower back pain, chronic neck pain, muscle spasms, tension headaches and more, which you can learn more about my talk on Hot/Cold Therapy for Pain Relief at 11:30 am on December 10 at our Grand Opening and experience our new product, Mother Earth Pillows.

Heat is a great compliment to types of myofasical release therapy like SET Bodywork and why I use it in my sessions in the office.

We feel very fortunate and excited to do what we love to do, help others. We have been dealing with clients in severe pain for over 14 years now, that are suffering from herniated discs, bulging discs, hiatal hernias, peripheral nerve damage, nerve entrapments, pinched sciatic nerve issues, degenerative disk disease and many more symptoms that people think they either have to have surgery for or are told they just have to deal with the pain. We use a combination of deep tissues massages and cranial structural techniques to balance and align the body. The reason we started blogging was so that we could reach and help some of those people that suffer from these and many other painful conditions. Surgical Alternative is now located in Lutz near New Tampa. We proudly service Tampa, St. Petersburg, Land O Lakes, New Port Richey, Wesley Chapel, Trinity and all surrounding areas. Please call today, or schedule your appointment online!

About the Author: This post contributed by a member of the Surgical Alternative team, Nyssa Hanger, to find out more about her click here.

Check back soon for how to use heat at home in part 2!