Blueline Massage London

What's the best sleeping position?

2011-05-20T20:30:00.002+01:00

Your preferred sleep position could be giving you back and neck pain, stomach troubles, or can even be aging you prematurely. CNN has listed both the best positions for your body, and the ones to avoid. (CNN)

The Best: Back position
Sleeping on your back prevents neck and back pain, reduces acid reflux, minimizes wrinkles, and helps maintain perky breasts. However, it is a bad position in terms of snoring.

Next Best: Side position
Sleeping on your side also prevents neck and back pain and reduces acid reflux, and it also reduces snoring. It's the best position for sleeping during pregnancy, if you sleep on your left side. However, it can be bad for your skin and your breasts.

Not Ideal: Fetal position
It's good for snoring less and sleeping during pregnancy, but it's not so good for neck and back pain, minimizing wrinkles, or maintaining your breasts.

The Worst: Stomach position
It's good for easing snoring, but it's bad for everything else. The pose puts pressure on your joints and muscles, which can irritate nerves and lead to pain, numbness, and tingling.

What Your Sleep Position Says About YouYour preferred sleep position may reveal clues about your personality, according to an analysis by Professor Chris Idzikowski of the

’s Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service. For instance:
The Fetus: Sleeping in the fetal position means you are tough on the outside but have a sensitive heart. You may also be shy at first when meeting new people.
Log: People who sleep on their side with legs straight and arms straight at their sides are easy-going and social, but may be gullible.
The Yearner: Side sleepers who stretch their arms out in front make slow decisions but stick with them once their mind is made up. They also tend to be open in nature with an air of cynicism.
Soldier: The solider position is flat on your back with arms down at your sides. Soldier sleepers are typically reserved and quiet but hold themselves to high standards.
Freefall: Freefall is sleeping on your stomach with your head turned to one side and arms cradling your pillow. Freefallers may be nervy and brash but dislike criticism.
Starfish: Sleeping on your back with both arms up over your head (bent at elbows) is the starfish position. Starfish sleepers are helpful and make good listeners, but they prefer not being the center of attention.

Interestingly, the analysis found that virtually everyone chooses one sleeping position to stick to, with only 5 percent sleeping in a different position each night. Overall, the most popular position was the fetus, with 41 percent of survey participants (including twice as many women as men) sleeping in this position.

Simple Tips for Sound, Restorative Sleep
Choosing the best sleep position for you is only one part of proper “sleep hygiene.” Also incredibly important is making your bedroom a sleep sanctuary that is cool in temperature and free from light-emitting distractions like a TV, computer or iPad. Even the dim glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your ability to sleep -- and more importantly, your long-term health and risk of developing cancer or major depression.

If your bedroom is not already pitch dark at night, I highly recommend installing blackout shades or thick drapes. Even the barely noticeable light from a streetlight, a full moon, or your neighbor‘s house can interfere with the circadian rhythm changes you need to fall asleep. You want your bedroom as pitch-black as possible.

Alternatively, wear an eye mask to block out light, but this is a poor second-best option. As for temperature in your bedroom, studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, as low as 60 to 68 degrees.

Keeping your room cooler than 60 degrees F or hotter than 70 degrees F can lead to restless sleep. This is because when you sleep your body's internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body's natural temperature drop.

For an additional boost, try taking a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready for sleep.

Researchers have linked poor sleep to a number of health ailments, from short-term memory loss and behavioral problems, to weight gain and diabetes, for example. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), lack of sleep can even adversely impact more serious diseases, such as

Parkinson disease
Alzheimer disease
Multiple sclerosis
Gastrointestinal tract disorders
Kidney disease

A disrupted sleep cycle also adversely affects your body's production of melatonin, which is both a hormone and a potent antioxidant against cancer, thus raising your risk of breast cancer. So it’s incredibly important that you’re getting a sound night’s sleep.
www.mercola.com

What's with all the low back pain?

2010-10-18T15:09:00.004+01:00

Did you know that your lumbar spine (low back) is the thickest and strongest part of your whole spine? With this in mind, it's really puzzling why so many people suffer low back pain and aches, and that the problem is becoming more and more common.
In industrialised countries up to 80% of the population will experience back pain at some stage in their life. During any one year, up to half of the adult population (15-49%) will have back pain. backcare.org

One idea is that if you're suffering from low back pain the likely cause is somewhere else - foot, knee, even the shoulder. But a huge contributor to the whole low back pain epidemic is almost certainly related to how much time we spend sitting (driving, watching tv, office work).

Our spine and hips are the two key players when it comes to supporting our body. They work well together to provide a very strong frame of support, allowing us to move, lift, bend and twist.

The reason sitting causes so much trouble for the low back is because this posture removes the support of your hips, forcing the spine (especially the lower spine), to do all of the work. The pressure on the low back when we sit is doubled!
Adding insult to injury, when we sit for hours we're no longer training or testing the spine in all it's possible movements - If you have ever groaned loudly when getting up after sitting down for some time you'll know what I mean.

Every movement we make, from swinging our arms when walking, to scrunching our toes, will be impact our lower back. The low back offers support in all situations - if one ankle is weaker than the other due to a sprain, if you weigh down one shoulder with a heavy bag, or when you tuck the phone between one shoulder and ear - it's no wonder the low back is where you'll feel pain or discomfort.

Obviously one solution is to keep as mobile and active as possible throughout the day. Reducing the amount of time we sit will also help, allowing the hips and spine to work together to support us. Testing and training the movement and ability of our spines is also a great way to keep the back pain away. And you probably guessed I was going to say it, but having a thorough massage to the hips and back can be a great way to help ease the pain, help the spine and hip joints move smoothly.

The importance of leg length difference

2010-08-04T12:39:00.000+01:00

An article by Brigitte Nath www.dornmethod.co.uk

If you own a car you want to make sure your car goes in for regular servicing, because you understand that without maintenance it’s only a matter of time before your car is likely to break down. The same thing applies to us and our bodies: we know for sure that without regular exercise and check-ups we are less likely to have a smooth journey through life.

One of the most important, but often overlooked, health checks is a simple leg length comparison test. Most of us are able to use our own two legs for transport and support every day of our lives, but these two vitally important support and transportation systems are also able to divulge secrets about our body’s health, helping us decode whether we are on course for a ‘roadside breakdown’, or indeed even revealing the cause of existing health problems.

The reason is easy to see and understand with a little imagination. On top of our legs sits the hip or pelvis, which is the foundation for our spinal column supporting our whole upper body. The spinal column is made up of man moveable vertebrae down through which runs our spinal cord. Through openings in the vertebrae the spinal cord is able to sprout literally millions of nerve fibres which route their way to connecting organs and other parts of our body, signalling important information to and from the brain.

If these important nerves become irritated or impaired, and are therefore unable to function or carry information properly, then those body parts which are attached to these nerve endings are also very likely to suffer in some way. In fact not only back pain, but all manner of health issues may arise as organs and body functions are unable to operate properly or efficiently. Health problems associated with such spinal connections may include gallbladder problems, liver disruption, digestive problems, headaches, allergies and more.

Our spinal column is seated on the pelvis, so as long as the pelvis is able to provide structurally sound foundation the spine will of course be able to sit upright and straight.

However if the pelvis is twisted in some way, the spinal column cannot sit on a horizontal foundation, and will be forced into misalignment with muscles pulling vertebrae out of place, potentially causing these vertebrae to trap or pinch spinal nerves. The cause of any pelvic tilt or twisting itself can be put down to, amongst other things, badly seated leg joints caused by prolonged poor body posture.

Carrying out a simple leg length comparison check takes only a minute but requires two people, one to perform the check on someone who is lying down. Simply lifting both legs up to eye level and noting the relative position of the heals should show up any leg length discrepancy, and therefore reveal whether the pelvis is likely to be sitting horizontally or twisted in some way.

There are simple exercises that can be performed each day to help to keep legs firmly seated in the hip, and which also help to balance the body.

Simply placing your hand underneath your buttock and pulling upwards, whilst lifting you knee up or down for a few move will do an amazing job of keeping your pelvis sitting horizontal and therefore your spinal column upright and straight. Repeat for each leg several times a day.

Dissection day – Kings College

2010-05-26T13:03:00.002+01:00

I recently attended a dissection day at Kings College in London. This was a fantastic learning opportunity for me to see underneath the skin and have a good look at where the muscles lie.

The lab is in the basement of the College, and had a real dungeon like quality to it. Robed in white lab coats my fellow body workers and I ventured into the very clinical looking room, which was filled with rows of large stainless steel cases, each one holding a cadaver (corpse) in various states of dissection.

The bodies were covered to begin with - not quite so confrontational - however there was an array of limbs and torso’s out on the benches, so there was no mistaking where we were.

To begin the day we looked at bones – shoulder blades (scapula) by the box-full, another full of femurs (leg) and humerus (arm) bones. It’s surprising the varying density, weight, colour, shapes and sizes of the bones – some brittle and thin in areas. One surprise was how the shoulder blade is almost transparent in some areas. Luckily we have all those muscles surrounding it to keep the bone protected.

Having eased our way into handling someone’s bones, we moved on to matters of the flesh. Our instructor Jane brought over a torso specimen (the chest and head) so we could examine the pectoral muscles on the chest, and see the relationship to the shoulder, neck and the surrounding muscles. The specimen had been neatly dissected - the skin, fat and connective tissue (fascia) removed across the chest and shoulders to reveal the muscles, organs and bones underneath. Veins and nerves were also clearly visible. With gloves on we were able to lift the muscles, poke underneath and see what was there, pull one structure out of the way to reveal just how interlinked everything really is.

Having overcome this initial contact with a cadaver (or part of) the trepidation was gone, and moving on to legs, arms and shoulders the session became an interesting three hours of discovering just how thick, thin, smooth, misshapen, interlinked, and interesting we are underneath the skin. This was a fantastic opportunity to really discover the muscles and explore where they go, how they relate with other muscles on that part of the body, and just how important it is to consider the whole body when treating injuries and tension.

Some interesting things that I discovered:

The large muscles on the back - trapezius and latissimus dorsi – are both unexpectedly very thin.

Behind your shoulder blade we have two incredibly thick muscles - the teres major and subscapularis – they looked like loin meat from the butcher (sorry)!

The piriformis muscle, which is deep in the butt and causes lots of people pain because it impinges on the sciatic nerve when tense – but the piriformis itself is tiny!

The tendons at the ends of our muscles are so smooth and wiry – it must take a lot of force to tear one.

The ITB (iliotibial band which runs along the outside of your leg) is such a tight, taught band that I think no amount of rolling on a foam roller will ease it – you’re better off stretching your butt muscles.

The valve coming out of the top of the heart – the aorta – is ENORMOUS!

We found the plantaris muscle on two specimens – it’s a muscle that not everyone has – how cool is that!

So with a faint formaldehyde headache the dissection day was completed. I hung up my lab coat and I couldn’t wait to tell everyone about the discoveries I’d made and how gross (in a good way) we are underneath the skin.

The day was run by The London Massage Company. They have another day in the dissection lab on 14^th July for qualified body workers, beginners of anatomy and physiology, and those wishing to revise their knowledge. http://www.thelondonmassagecompany.com/Dissection.aspx

Trigger points explained

2009-11-06T13:24:00.000Z

I saw this great explanation of trigger points that you might find interesting – a good explanation of what’s going on in your muscles right about the time you want to come and get a massage…

Trigger points are tiny contraction knots that can develop in any muscle when it is injured or overworked.

Millions of fibres in our muscles must contract for the muscle to make a movement. A trigger point can exist when over stimulated fibres are prevented from releasing.

This pic offers a great explanation of what’s happening - it shows trigger points along the muscle fibres (on a microscopic level) in the neck, which would probably cause a headache over your left eye or top of the head.

A. is a muscle fibre in normal resting state

B. is a knot in the muscle fibre – the fibre is in continual contraction, forming a knot.

C. shows the tension on the rest of the muscle fibre because of the knot – this causes the shortness and tightness in the muscle.

Normally, when a muscle is working, its fibres act like tiny pumps, contracting and relaxing to circulate blood. When fibres in a trigger point hold their contraction, blood flow stops in the immediate area.

The resulting oxygen starvation and accumulation of the waste products of metabolism irritates the trigger point. The trigger point responds to this emergency by sending out pain signals.

Referred Pain

The defining symptom of a trigger point is referred pain; that is, trigger points usually send their pain to some other site. This is an extremely misleading phenomenon and is the reason conventional treatments for pain so often fail. Trigger points are the primary cause of pain 75% of the time and are at least a part of nearly every pain problem.

Trigger points cause headaches, neck and jaw pain, low back pain, tennis elbow, and carpal tunnel syndrome. They are the source of the pain in such joints as the shoulder, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle that is so often mistaken for arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, or ligament injury.

Trigger points also cause symptoms as diverse as dizziness, earaches, sinusitis, nausea, heartburn, false heart pain, heart arrhythmia, genital pain, and numbness in the hands and feet. Even fibromyalgia may have its beginnings with myofascial trigger points.

Self-Treatment

Luckily, the pain and other symptoms caused by trigger points occur in predictable patterns. When you know where to look, trigger points are easily located and deactivated with simple techniques of self-applied massage.

Massage of the trigger point flushes the tissue and helps the trigger point’s contracted fibres begin to release. In dealing directly with the trigger point, massage is the safest, most natural, and most effective form of pain therapy.

With trigger point massage, muscle pain can usually be eliminated within three to ten days. Even long-standing chronic conditions can be significantly improved in as little as six weeks.

For the full article and more information on trigger points you can check out http://www.triggerpointbook.com/triggerp.htm

Get your golf ball out and get massaging!

I’ll be going on two very interesting training courses in the coming months to deal specifically with your trigger points:

November – Trigger Point workshop

February – Dry Needling! Guinea pigs may be needed.

Chained to the desk?

2009-11-04T14:13:00.002Z

Since most of you have desk jobs and spend long hours in front of the computer, here’s an
interesting article from Mike Farley, who as a freelance writer pretty much does exactly that, and suffered the consequences.
_______________________________________________________

I'm basically chained to my desk at least 10 hours a day, which is brutal on my back. Sometimes the pain from sitting for long periods is excruciating. If you suffer from lower back pain caused by sitting, or from a sports injury, or chronic condition, here are some tips to help you make the pain easier to handle while you toil away at that desk job:
1. Have the proper chair - It's important to spend the money on an adjustable, back-friendly chair that will help you sit up straight and put the least amount of pressure on your spine. Employers should be willing to pay for a chair upgrade, so ask…you’re worth it!
2. Get up and stretch - If your physio/therapist has given you a list of exercises, use your imagination to adapt these for work. Make yourself get up and walk around (set a reminder on your Outlook), stretching and moving around to ease your aching back is so important throughout the day – don’t skip it!
3. Use ice and/or heat - The general rule is use ice when swollen, and heat for tension relief. Sometimes alternating with a cold pack, then heat pack is a great way to limber up any stiff, painful areas (low back, neck, shoulders) after a long day at the desk.
4. Regular massage - The worst thing you can do is let your muscles get so tense that you’re screaming for your massage therapist to fit you in at the last minute. Keep on top of your tension by scheduling a regular massage appointment. In the long run your body will thank you.
5. Strengthen your core - This will put less pressure on the back muscles. A weak set of muscles around the spine, especially when pressure from sitting for long periods is placed on them, spells trouble for your aching back.

How to Beat Fatigue

2009-08-25T13:24:00.003+01:00

Here's a great little article I read recently by Dr. Mark Wiley - some great tips to restore your energy, beat stress and avoid fatigue.

How to Beat Fatigue

While many people accept tiredness as part and parcel of their daily lives, it needn't be the standard way of life. Many feel they are more over-worked and stressed out than ever, but the following 10 lifestyle changes can make all the difference.

1. Eat 4 to 6 times per day — ditching the "three square meals a day" plan has proven successful. In its place is the three-hour diet, or eating something every 3-to-4 hours. This prevents one from overeating, which will zap your energy, and it helps sustain a steady level of energy throughout the day.

2. Consume energy-giving foods — Eating the wrong foods over and over will take the wind right out of you. The best energy food? Plenty of fibre, which helps clean fats from blood and clear out your system. Complex carbohydrates - whole grain breads, seeds and pasta - provides glucose for brainpower and sustained fuel. Lean protein also adds slower burning fuel for the body. Drinking plenty of water keeps the body hydrated and moves toxins from the body.

3. Avoid energy-sapping foods — Food is your source of energy, but consuming the wrong types of food can drain and waste energy. Avoiding foods that create an instant energy rush - caffeine, soda, coffee, chocolate, sugar, and simple carbohydrates like white bread, rice and potatoes – the energy derived from such foods is fast to come and fast to leave.

4. Exercise at least 30 minutes per day — Exercising each day creates more energy in the body and promotes a feeling of wellbeing. It’s a great way to let off steam, move the blood, sweat out toxins, and help the body release chemicals like endorphins, serotonin and dopamine.

5. Prioritise your time — One main reason people feel overworked, stressed out and unhappy is because they do not prioritize their time. The key to maintaining harmony and prevent burnout is to set time each day for work, family, social occasions and for your own quiet time.

6. Derail the burnout — In times when burnout and fatigue can just drain you dry, you must derail the freight train by creating energizing blocks of minutes. A few suggestions include standing up and stretching, walking a few laps a around the office, talking to someone in the office or on the phone who makes you laugh, splashing cold water in the face and taking some deep breaths.

7. Break the stress each night — It is important not to allow stress to grip you firmly all day and night. This leads to too much tension in the body, which takes up energy. Engaging in deep breathing, taking yoga or Pilates, having regular massage treatments or listening to music you enjoy are easy things to do to relax and break the stress.

8. Cut out energy sappers and time takers — Remove any person, place or thing that is in your life that saps your energy and wastes your time. Set clear boundaries and don't allow instant access to you or your time. This will free up stores of energy that have needlessly been wasted.

9. Set your sleep/wake cycle — The power of restorative rest and sleep is one of the most essential things one can do for rejuvenating the mind and body. Sleeping from 10pm to 6am is said to be the best time for our body clocks.

Your questions answered...

2008-09-22T16:04:00.007+01:00

Thanks for your interesting questions about this curious Deep Oscillation massage. Here's the answers to all your questions, and a little more information for you....

Are you charging extra for a session? Nope – 1 hour £35, 1.5 hours £50 (clinic rates)

Will you bring the machine on home visits? Yep! It’s not the lightest thing to carry around, but you’re worth it!

Is it dangerous for me? Is it dangerous for you? Nope – the pulse is not radiation or anything harmful. Only those with serious heart conditions or pregnant women can’t be treated with Deep Oscillation.

What does a treatment involve? Generally I will use the Deep Oscillation the first 15 – 20 minutes of your massage. This helps break down the initial layers of tension, leaving your muscles more open for when I get stuck in with my thumbs and elbows. You CAN have a whole hour of just Deep Oscillation if you’d like - it's so relaxing (and a little addictive too).

Why do you use gloves? The gloves are vinyl and act as the conductor for the electro-static pulse. I wear gloves, you hold onto the earthing rod (it sometimes tingles but nothing unpleasant) and when I massage you through the gloves the pulse works into the muscles

How can it work on injuries and trauma? Because the treatment is so gentle you can have Deep Oscillation on areas that are still quite sore or tender to touch. I’ve had treatment on a serious shoulder injury just one day after the accident, so can vouch for how gentle it is and how great you feel afterwards.

What type of results have you had? I think everyone will agree that the gentle vibration is so relaxing! I've had especially great results with people who have repetitive strain injuries to the arm/shoulders/hands. Knee injuries also seem to react well - removing swelling and either reducing or removing pain from current and old injuries. Another comment I had was that the effects of the massage last longer.

Everyone will react differently - some people feel immediate results, others have not noticed such a difference, but I can tell you that when I massage a muscle that has had 20 minutes of deep oscillation treatment the difference in texture and tension of that muscle is dramatic.
If you've had a treatment, feel free to leave a comment about your experience.

I'm happy to answer as many questions about the Deep Oscillation as you have, so don' t be shy.
When you book your next massage be sure to ask for a 10 minute sample so you can see for yourself what it feels like.

Best

Graham

Deep Oscillation...what's all the fuss about?

2008-08-09T22:28:00.006+01:00

It seems the new Deep Oscillation massage machine has caused a bit of a stir, so here's a few answers to your questions.......
What is it?
The machine is called a Hivamat 200...not the most interesting name, and not the most interesting looking machine either, but what is interesting is the effect it has on tight muscles!
How does it work?
The Hivamat creates an electro-static field - there's no zapping of muscles, just a gentle vibration (it's very relaxing). It's a 'hands on' treatment because the electro-static field is transferred to your muscles through vinyl gloves, so it's just like a normal massage, only without the oil.
The pulse in the muscle reacts against the waste and toxins to force them out!
Is it really that good?
Well I've only had the chance to use it on a few of my favourite clients ;-) but it's been really great for melting muscle tension, reducing pain and helping reduce swelling. To read what a few others have to say about it, check out http://www.physiopod.co.uk/patient-testimonials.shtml
If you have had a treatment with me, please leave your comments and share your experience.
To find out more and to book a treatment with the Hivamat 200 get in touch.