Category Archives: therapy info

Men and Massage

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Most if not all of the massage therapists I know have a predominantly female clientelle, the same applies to the acupuncturists, osteopaths, naturopaths and chiropractors I know.

Women not only seem to be bigger users of Alternate Medicine they also are more likely to be a member of a gym. Add to this these often quoted Australian average life expectancy statistics: men who never marry live till 58, men who are married live to 78, women who marry live till 81 and women who never marry last on average to 85. Men are more likely to suicide than women and are more likely to die due to accidental and violent causes than women.

Women seem to be better at looking after themselves than men. In the 20 years I have worked in alternate health I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard a female client tell me they wished they could talk their husband/ father/ son/ boyfriend/ brother or male friend into having a massage because they give every sign that they really need one.

So why is it us blokes are less willing than women to take better care of ourselves and do things like get a massage?, Is it possible that men have a higher threshold for denial that something is wrong with their body than women?

Are men more likely to use a muscle relaxant like alcohol to salve their pain? Does it have anything to do with the length of men’s working hours leaving less time for things like getting a massage or exercising regularly?  All of the above may be partly true.

Probably one of the most amusing reasons that some of my female clients tell me that they cannot convince their men to get some massage is that they do not like the idea of another man touching their body. Some men feel that female massage therapists are not physically strong enough to give a good massage, creating the dilemma that it is gay to get a massage from a man and a waste of time to get one from a woman. While it is true that more male than female practitioners of massage do deep tissue work I have had numerous massages over the years from masseuses who gave satisfying deep massages.

It is not in the best interests of either remedial massage therapists nor sex workers to ambiguously advertise themselves, you are highly unlikely to “accidently” find yourself in brothel if you are looking for a therapeutic massage. There is a big difference between bodywork and sex work.

If  you are a person who is not particularly proud of how you look without a shirt on get some massage where you can leave your clothes on, Chinese, Thai and Japanese massage is usually performed that way, if this is a concern for you just ring and ask.

Men need and benefit from massaage (and all those other therapies listed above) just as much as women do. The next time a woman in your life suggests that you need some massage consider it because she may be right and may then tell you at a later date “I told you so!” when you really do fall in a heap.

If you don’t want to pay for a massage then Self Massage.

Dupuytrens Contracture

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Dupuytrens Contractures are a progressive condition that effects the palm of the hand, they usually occur under the ring finger and pinky but can effect other fingers too.

The progressive thickening of the fascia and tendon ( tough fibrous tissues) under the skin makes it more and more difficult over time to straighten the affected fingers out, often it appears that the skin is stuck to the tissue underneath, a bit like a stitch that has been put in the wrong place on a garment, like an adhesion from surgery or a deep cut that healed long ago. Sometimes Dupuytrens Contracture (DC)  is referred to as Trigger Finger.

DC is more common in men than women, usually has a hereditiory link, rarely starts before the age of 40, is more common in people with Nordic ancestry, more common in alcoholics and in diabetics and is thought to be an auto-immune disease. DC starts off painlessly but becomes increasingly debilitating over the years as the affected finger/s bends more and more towards the palm.

Sometimes DC sufferers get tendon shortening on their soles (called Lederhausen Disease) and men may develope a bend in their penis (called Pyronie’s Disease). Medical texts often state that DC has no known cause but DC is much more common in the right hand than the left so you may want to try not over using your “good” hand and see if it makes a difference.

DC is operable but may come back even worse than before because of the high risk of scar tissue formation (which DC resembles). There is also a procedure performed now in some clinics with enzyme  injection therapy performed under a local anaesthetic ( Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto has a website that shows it in action) that is considered by many to be a superior treatment to surgery.

Surgery and enzyme injection therapy may be what you need in the long term to fix DC but if you are at the stage of the first nodule forming on your palm well before it reduces your dexterity, there are other measures you might like to try.

Hand massage and exercise is good for your hands anyway and is definately worth trying if you have the early signs of DC and if you go to a physio for it you might ask them about ultrasound too. Warming your hands up in warm water before you stretch your fingers and hands will probably make them more pliant too and best of all it is something that you can do for yourself.

If you start to notice some nodular swelling on your palm, particularly if you have seen this in an older family member it might be a good idea to start massaging and stretching them as a daily ritual, your hands are far too important to neglect. If the stretching and Self Massage doesn’t prevent DC it may slow down it’s progression and gives you more time before it really becomes problematic.

Self Massage

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The main reasons that people do not get massages more often is that they don’t think they can afford the money or time for them. On the other hand not many people who have had a massage from someone who knows what they are doing are unimpressed. How to get the benefits without the costs?

Do a massage course yourself, make some friends there and swap massages with one another, the cost of the course can vary widely depending on the length of the course and where you study but if you don’t mind giving some massage to get some back yourself this can be a satisfactory arrangement.

If you can’t (or won’t) spend time and money on a massage course buying a massage machine may be an option for you. There are massage appliances ranging from basic wooden and plastic hand operated roller style tools that cost a few dollars right up to electric heated massage couches that can cost thousands. They are all good to a point (so long as you buy them from someone reputable) but they have limitations too. Massage machines cannot think for themselves (not yet anyway) you still have to know how to place them. Falling asleep on one can chafe your skin, mechanical massagers with timer switches are safest. .

There are cheaper cash only massage stalls around the place that do not operate under health department regulations, some of which offer adult services (you might not want anyone you know to see you walking out of such a place). Your health fund is unlikely to pay for these appointments and there is no guarantee the masseur/masseuse is even trained.

Even if you think massage is an indulgence rather than a muscle therapy, it is a healthy indulgence. Most other indulgences will put you into an early grave. Massage is good for your general circulation, it can shorten muscle recovery time, it can calm you down when you are stressed and it frees up body stiffness.

Self Massage & +40 Fitness has been written for everybody who likes getting massage. By using simple leverage with your own body weight and posturing yourself correctly using the best angles and tools you can give yourself the benefits of massage for no cost.

Alternate or Western Medicine?

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In the health industry there are many types of  therapies and many more therapists who practise them, choosing what is right for you may not always be immediately obvious. Unfortunately it is not hard to find health practitioners with a strong bias towards their own profession and a low opinion of other types of therapy which can add further difficulty in deciding what is right for you.

Within any health profession some practitioners are better than others and even the best have bad days so it is not atall helpful to place all of your faith in one thing and be dismissive of all others. This most often applies (in my experience) to the way practitioners of Alternative Medicine and practitioners of Western Medicine can be a little wary of one another at times, it does not and should not be that way because they tend to be good at different things.

Many years ago I read an article in a Sunday newspaper magazine that was written by a  general practioner who practiced both Western and Alternate medicine in his clinic. He stated that broadly speaking acute and life threatening medical problems such as infectious disease, cancer and heart disease were best treated with Western Medicine but he often felt that the more chronic health problems that were not necessarily life threatening were often treated better with Alternate Medicine. Lower back pain for instance will usually not have a potentially fatal cause but it can mess with your life style enormously, many osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists have many  grateful patients who have found these therapies to be a very reliable remedy for their aching backs.

There are plenty of times when Alternate and Western therapies can be successfully utilized together such as when a cancer patient may benefit from acupuncture for the nauseating side effects of chemotherapy or when nutritional advice from a naturopath may help a patient recover from surgery faster.

There are some things that do need to be taken into account when you elect to use a multi-disciplinary approach to your health, for instance just because a medicine is “natural” does not mean that it cannot have a dangerous cross reaction with a synthetic pharmaceutical medication. Taking herbal anti-inflammatories may be too much if taken in conjunction with NSAIDs from your doctor, a chat with a pharmacist should steer you in the right direction about this.

If you feel happy and satisfied with your practitioner there may be no need to look any further, but there will be times when you may need to use something different, your physio-therapist who might normally take good care of your back pain may need some help in the form of chiropractic to get your back to where you need it to be.

Many practitioners of Alternate Medicine are good at healthy life-style and dietary advice but might not know who to refer you onto if you need specialist treatment but your GP probably will know.

Western Medicine can save your life, Alternate Medicine will help make it worth living.

Depression and Obesity

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The University of Tasmania has  recently published research findings that link depression to obesity, not altogether surprising considering the much publicised growth of both diseases in recent times. Some people lose their appetite altogether when they are stressed out but others comfort eat, the foods comfort eaters choose usually are not fresh carrots and vitamin tablets but rather high calorie treats rich in fat and sugar.

Exercise can help with both problems but how do you get started? The best exercises in the world won’t help you if you can’t do them due to reasons like you cannot easily get down on the floor to do yoga or it has just been so long since you did last exercise that your body has really stiffened up and aches when you try to power walk or lift weights. It may be necessary to get a course of massage or osteopathy or chiropractic treatments before you take the next step to get fit.

Herein lies a big problem, over the last 20 years of doing body work in several  clinics obese people seem to be very under-represented considering how many of them there are now. It is possible that feeling embarrassed about their girth (particular if you are shy or lacking in confidence) might make an obese person hesitate about taking their shirt off infront of a total stranger. This is a great shame because there is a lot a good that a musculo-skeletal therapist can do to help you get started on the path to a healthier and fitter new-you. If this sounds like you or someone you know there are ways around this. Getting massaged with your clothes still on like you do when you get Chinese or Thai massage may make you feel more comfortable and less self-conscious than stripping down to your underwear for an oil-on-skin Swedish style massage.

There are some very worn-out fallacies about about being too fat to get a massage, EVERYBODY can benefit from being massaged not just slim athletic looking people. Sometimes when a person’s skin has become stretched tight because their girth has never been greater it can take more strength on the part of the massage therapist to get down to the muscle but anybody (and there are many) who does deep tissue massage should be able cope with this and if you are unsure just ring up and ask.

There are an increasing number of female only gyms and female only areas in regular gyms that can help girth-conscious women to feel more comfortable with exercising. If there are some exercises that you cannot do don’t let it stop you from doing the exercises that you can do, be careful not to go looking for excuses not to exercise because you don’t feel like exercising, 5 minutes exercise is better than no minutes exercise.

It is not just comfort eating (and drinking) and lack of physical activity that causes and worsens obesity, some medications such as anti depressants can increase your body weight and size too which may be part of the problem, don’t be shy about discussing the options with your doctor and explore how Self Massage may help you.

Massage and exercise can alleviate the symptoms of obesity by soothing muscles that have to work so hard carrying your body around and the feel good hormones released during massage and exercise can help both.