I often recommend Stretching and strengthening exercises to enhance my massage therapy treatments. I also recommend hot and/or cold applications a lot, depending on the injury. But one thing I don’t talk much about in my clinic is how to massage at home. I assume that a client will come into see me as often as necessary until they have recovered so it isn’t beneficial to take the time to teach them how to massage their selves. But sometimes a client can’t afford to or doesn’t have enough health insurance coverage so see me as often as they would like. Under these situations it can be very help full to learn the basics of how to massage yourself or someone else at home.

The basics of this information can be applied to any part of the body. But I’m going to focus on back pain today. The trick to a successful massage is in 3 basic principles 1) general – specific – general 2)superficial – deep – superficial 3) slowly warn and soften the tissue you want to work on. Always follow these 3 principles when doing massage on yourself or anyone else.

When massaging never dive right in and start treating the injured tissue directly tight away. It’s important to always start broadly (general) and lightly (superficial). Gently work the muscles and tissues around the injury first. Once the general area is starting to soften and warm up you can SLOWLY work your way in towards the muscle/s you are trying to affect. Once you are working directly on an injured muscle it’s important that you us slow, firm pressure along the length of the muscle. After about 2 minutes of direct work or until you feel the muscle start to soften its time to slowly start working your way back out to the superficial and general areas around the injury. Always start and end a massage treatment with gentle pressure. Never try to achieve the same pressure that a trained massage therapist uses, you are likely to heart the person you are working on and yourself, it takes a lot of time to develop the strength and control to do deep tissue therapy.

It can be helpful to talk to your massage therapist about the injury you want to treat at home. Often the pain is coming from a different part of the body than you would think and having him/her help you locate the right area to work on can be helpful. He/she can also guide you with technique, anatomy and help you be sure there isn’t any contraindications for the style of massage you want to do.

When working on yourself it can be hard to reach your back. I will often start with a hot back to soften and relax the muscles. Then I will lean into the corner of a wall using the edge on the muscle to either side of my spine, I will lie on a rolled towel and move around until I can find the right area on my back. Or lying on a tennis ball on the floor to massage your own back can help you access those sore hard to reach muscles as well.

Massaging yourself or a friend or a loved one can be a great way to relieve back pain. Always make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and if you’re not sure, consult with a professional.

If you are looking for a massage therapy appointment unfortunately I have very little time left before I leave, Wednesday March 7^th is the only option. The week I get back will be a short one but I still have a little time on the 22^nd to book appointments. The following week, March 26^th, is starting to booking up already but I still have a sometime most days that week.

We will be flying into Las Vegas and staying right on the strip for 3 days. After this we will drive down to Joshua Tree (JT), California, were we have a small bungalow rented for a week. While in Vegas, we will make a few trips out to Red Rock Canyon to do some climbing. We will have the kids so our objectives will be limited but we will still do some great climbs. The first climbing day we will do Panty Wall in the Calico Basin were my wife is looking forward to practicing her leading skills (single pitch sport climbing, 5.7-5.11). Depending on how things go the first day we would like to do Physical Graffiti (two pitch trad climb, 5.6) the second day. Our bungalow in JT is only 15 minutes from Joshua Tree National Park, a world famous climbing area with over 8000 thousand route. I hope to get in 4 or 5 climbing and exploring days while in there. I don’t have the JT guide book yet (I will pick it up at Desert Rock Sports in Las Vegas) so I haven’t planed our climbing objectives. I will write a trip report when we get back with more details.

I apologize to anyone hoping to make a massage therapy appointment while I’m gone. I have tried to make up for the deficit by working a few extra evenings before and after the trip and even a Saturday.

90% of the time I play CBC Radio 2 in my massage therapy room. I’m in Kitchener Ontario so if you want to have a listen to what Radio 2 is playing now check out the eastern regional broadcast. Radio 2 plays a whole range of music; classical, opera, jazz, folk, country, hip hop, blues… the list goes on. Every hour on the hour we also get 5 min of world news but I find this to be a small price to pay compared to radio commercials every 10-15 minutes and hey it forces me to stay up to date.

As a backup, for those time when the opera gets to be too much or he hip hop to loud for my client I always have my .mp3 player as backup. On my .mps player I keep music like Nina Simone, Nora Jones, Jack Jonson, Lenard Cohen and U2.

Jeremy Climbing Sweet Dreams at Bon Echo

I started rock climbing in 1997 when I was 21 years old. I started climbing in the gym before I ventured outside top-roping and sport climbing a year later. Now I’m a dad, a husband and a massage therapist but I still love to climb and plan to climb for the rest of my life. 

My step brother introduced me to gym climbing when I was 21 and I fell in love right away. It was like I finally found the answer to the meaning of my life. As I started venturing outside top-roping then sport climbing everything else in my life started to fade away. I slowly phased out my mountain biking and quite karate and ju-jitsu. I brought yoga into my life a few years later, only because a friend and climbing partner suggested that it would help improve my climbing. I have had to take time off from my climbing; moving around, injuries, massage therapy school and babies have all taken me away from climbing for periods of time but I have always come back to it. 

Now that I’m a family man my climbing focus has changed. I spend a lot of time teaching my children to climb and helping and encouraging my wife to improve her skill and experience. I take the whole family up multi-pitch trad climbs and we do day trips up to Rattle Snake Point to top-rope. My youngest daughter was four when we did our first family trip up to Bon Echo National park, a 300 foot multi-pitch trad climb craig. I do get out climbing without my family, I train once or twice a week at Grand River Rock, I get out to Mount Nemo a few times a year and up to Bon Echo a handful of times. When I’m climbing with my family I`m patient, encouraging and methodical. When I’m out with `the boys` we like to climb hard and push our limits.                 

My training as a massage therapist has been a great help to my climbing. When I injure myself I know what to do to get myself back climbing as quick as possible. I know right away if I should use heat or ice, when to stretch or rest or just push through. It use to take me a week or more to get a solid answer as to handle an injury, now I start with the right course of treatment right away. But even better I know what to do to stay healthy and reduce the risk of injuring myself. Proper stretching, training supporting muscles, better posture, proper rest periods and hydrotherapy all keep me strong, flexible and limber to me keep climbing and training hard. 

I find that my massage therapy clients who rock climb gain specific benefits. Aside from the fact that most of the injuries a climber will come into me for I have had and can relate to, I have also done the research for my own climbing injuries so I’m up to date regarding climbing injuries. I also know the lingo. I know what a crimp is, I know what a jug is and I know the dynamics of a layback and roof climbing. Communicating the specifics of an injury is often difficult between a client and their therapist. Trying to descried a climbing injury to a hockey player is like speaking a different language, and vice versa. I have experience with many different clients with many different injuries related to many different sports and professions but it’s the climbers that I know understand the best. 

Climbing has been part of my life for a long time. It has permeated the rest of my life, family and work. I might not be the best climber but I have a lot of experience and have a lot of fun with it. I hope to continue growing my climbing experience and I hope to share my knowledge by helping as many people as I can with their climbing.