As RMTs, like clockwork from October until the new year, we see many new clients coming out of the woodwork looking to use up their remaining health benefits. It can be a wild time for RMT’s scheduling wise! We’re often booked out for months with waitlists of 10+ clients, hoping to get in and on the massage table. And just know, we’re here for it! It’s a great time for RMTs to connect with new potential clients and try to make a lasting impression that hopefully gets people thinking beyond the phrase “I’m just here to use my benefits”. We want you leaving our studio thinking “Wow! I feel such a difference in how I feel, maybe I’ll make this a more regular part of my self-care next year!!”.

As much as we appreciate people wanting to get in a few extra massages before the end of the fiscal year, getting back some contributions to their health plans. At Therapy Health Studio, our role is to be your Massage Therapist – first. It’s our duty (and passion) as health care providers to promote wellness through our treatment modalities. We’re about putting intention and treatment-focused care behind your time with us. Digging deeper to investigate how we can help improve your physical health + wellness as a whole through massage.

Before using up the last of your benefits with us this fall, we encourage you to ask yourself…

What are some goals I have for my self-care that my RMT can help me with and encourage me to achieve?

Maybe, it’s finally getting some relief from that nagging shoulder discomfort and tension you’ve been feeling after working long hours at a stressful job. Getting advice on how massage can help you recover from an injury or even a more chronic issue that you would love to find some tools to manage. We’re also happy to help get your body prepped and tuned up for a physical goal you might like to achieve in the new year. Maybe it’s getting back into running, hiking or yoga? We’re here to help in whatever capacity we can! So feel free to reach out to your RMT in your next session and ask questions if massage therapy might be of help.

If you choose our lovely studio to receive massages as part of using up your remaining health benefits this year, we’re really excited to meet you! Just know, we will be digging deeper to find ways massage therapy can be a helpful tool for you. And if we do hear the phrase “I’m just here to use my benefits”. be prepared! Because we’re always going to be opening a conversation about how we can work together for your self-care + wellness goals, putting intention and thoughtfulness into your time with us. But we need your help!

Looking forward to seeing and meeting all of your faces this fall! The studio will be cozy, warm and the perfect rainy day retreat to escape too.

See you soon!

BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT

When you google “hip pain” often search engine results will show you a list of worst case scenarios, listing more advanced and rare disease issues. Generally, these are not the case so don’t be freaked out! If you are experiencing more severe and chronic pain, it’s definitely best to get checked out by a Doctor or Physiotherapist to ease your mind. In general though, hip pain usually comes from imbalances from muscles, ligaments, tendons and soft tissues.

What are some common causes of hip pain?

There are a variety of reasons why hip pain can come about. Most can be easily treated with postural changes, simple stretches and strengthening and of course…Massage Therapy!

Let’s look at some common hip issues that your RMT can help you move forward from. 

1) Your hips are out of of alignment

Having one hip sitting higher than the other, differences in leg length or a pelvis with a mild twist anteriorly or posteriorly is a really common issue. Noticeably we see this more in woman, as the hips tend to be wider and have more mobility than mens generally do. Overtime, symptoms can develop as the joints and muscles get stuck in dysfunctional positions. You may feel a sharp discomfort around the sacroiliac joint (where the spine meets the tailbone and the wide hip bones), notably when you try to stand from sitting positions, or feel an uncomfortable ache across one side of the hip or across the back. It can cause discomfort when you’re walking, standing, exercising and can feel achy in the night.

2) How you sit and how long you sit for

Sitting for long periods of time causes compression to your lower back and spine, as well as muscular imbalances in the hips and legs. Sitting causes the hamstring muscles at the back the legs, to be held in extension. While the quadricep muscles, at the front of the thighs, are stuck in flexion with the knees bent. When the body is stuck in this position for hours on end, it causing weaknesses and imbalances within the muscles and soft tissues through compression strains and inactivity for long hours of the day.

3) Repetitive strain issues

It’s inevitable that our daily lives create all sorts of repetitive strains to our bodies and hips. Our careers, hobbies, activities, even relaxing and how we sleep comes with its repetitive strains. It’s natural really! It’s when your body starts to send signals that something is becoming irritated, that it’s time to look at what the strain is telling us. It’s important to feel the clues, and look at how we can make make corrections for better movement and posture to improve symptoms and keep the body in a more optimal place.

4) Tightness + compensatory issues

It’s common for one side of our body to be slightly weaker than the other, which can contribute to weakness in our smaller  stabilizer muscles working at the base of fine motor movements. When an instability develops, there’s usually a compensatory issue, where larger muscles work harder to take up the slack. Over time, pain referrals, restriction, tightness and inflammation are signs adjustments need to be made to address the issue. It’s always best to get ahead of the symptoms of tension and imbalances, before it turns into a more substantial issue.

5) Weak glute muscles

As with tightness and compensatory issues, a common issue that leads to hip pain is weak gluteal muscles. Even if you are the master of squats, you can still have weak glute muscles – why? Because the glutes are actually made up of a system of 3 muscles: Glute max (the larges and strongest of the bunch), glute med and glute min (important hip stabilizer muscles working at the base of the muscle group for fine movements). What’s common in this muscle group, is that when we do more heavy loaded movements that don’t target the stabilizer muscles, the glute max takes over as the power house, causing weakness in the glute med + min. This is a result of larger muscles overcompensating for a weakness of the stabilizer muscles. Over time, symptoms develop such as pain and achyness in the low back and hips, IT band tightness, knee issues and even sciatica can develop as a result.

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How does Massage Therapy relieve hip pain?

If you’re having symptoms of hip pain, Massage Therapy is an excellent option of treatment to find relief.

Your RMT will first assess the issue and talk with you about how you’re feeling, investigating for clues leading to the source of your pain, as well as contributing factors, Once the issue has been assessed, your RMT creates a treatment plan to not only provide relief for the discomfort, but also, how to address compensatory issues and provide more lasting results and enable change.

By releasing areas of tension through kneading, mobilizing and stretching techniques, space is created to misaligned areas, giving the body a natural opportunity to shift into better alignment. Massage also provides natural pain relief, as direct massaging increases circulation that replenishes stagnant areas, improving tissue health and releasing natural opioid like hormones. Your body becomes more relaxed and moves into rehabilitation mode.

Deeper tissue work and more direct pressure too and around your hips, lower back and legs throughout a treatment session, is common for hip pain. Muscular + fascial tissue stretching with mobilization techniques, open tight muscles, assisting the joints and surrounding ligaments, to better mobility, alignment and circulation.

Commonly, light stretching programs, stabilization exercises, postural advice and homecare may be suggested to keep you moving forward and away from uncomfortable symptoms of hip pain.

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Curious is massage therapy might be the right fit for treatment of your hip pain? Book a session and find out!

An RMT’s goal will always be focused on helping to relieve symptoms of discomfort and pain. We’re here to help when you need us!

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Things are going to look a bit different around here for a while, but we’re VERY excited to be getting back to the studio and most importantly, able to offer you self-care again through this mess of a pandemic!

We want you feel assured that we are going to do everything we can to prevent any spread of this virus at the studio. But we need your help! The following are some of our new protocols in place to keep things flowing and help lower any chance of transmission at the studio.

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What you need to know before your next appointment:

1) It goes without saying, but If you have any possible symptoms of cold or flu, your session must be canceled. This is a NON-NEGOTIABLE! Your therapist will also be taking you through some extra screening measures and has some important information to discuss about essential consents before we begin.

If you are at all questioning any symptoms before your arrival, please try to cancel with as much notice as possible before your scheduled appointment time. A quick text to our clinic phone at 604 719-1117 would be hugely appreciated without 24h’s notice. We will understand! But if you can’t make it we will try to fill the booking with a client on our wait list, so please give us a heads up!

It can be scary to feel like symptoms may be coming on but it’s so important that if they do, you make the right call to stay home first, then start reaching out for help and information by calling 8-1-1. You can also do an online screening test here.

 

2) Wearing a mask in the studio is a simple (and mandatory) way for us all to knock out one of the biggest risks of contracting this virus. Your therapist will be wearing a mask too! and we will give you instructions as to what is required as for in-session mask protocol.

If you are unable to acquire a mask before arriving at your appointment, we can supply you one for a fee of $1.00 added to your invoice but please DO TRY TO BRING YOUR OWN MASK!

 

3) Please arrive to your appointment time no more than 5 minutes early!

We are unable to accommodate clients or guests in our waiting area at this time. Please only arrive and buzz up for your appointments 5 minutes (max) early so we may practice social distancing measures and escort clients in and out of the studio in an intentional way.

The studio door will remain locked between clients and we ask that arriving clients wait in the hallway (x marks the spot!) until your therapist is ready to begin the next session safely and after sanitizing is complete.

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Ok, so that covers what we need our clients to do to help us stay aligned to our new health + safety protocols. Incase you’re wondering what we’re doing behind the scenes…here’s a look!

 

Sanitization of EVERYTHING! We have always prided ourselves for having a lovely, clean studio. But we just AMPED our cleaning game even higher. Each treatment room will go through a thorough cleaning process between each client. This will include the use of chemical solvents that are PPE approved to kill this virus. Throughout our time at the studio we will continually be sanitizing the clinic, door handles, sinks, sanitizer and soap dispensers, counter tops, anywhere that could be potentially touched, we’re going to sanitize it! As always, we will continue to follow all Coastal Health guidelines regarding the cleaning of linens, equipment, and hand hygiene with frequent hand washing.

 

Social distancing in common areas means that we will now be escorting clients in and out of the clinic in an intentional way to maintain social distancing measures wherever we can. Most interactions with your therapist will be now be in the treatment room, while our common areas will remain closed.

 

While we have taken these measures to minimize risk of viral transmission, the nature of massage therapy means that physical distancing is not possible in the treatment room. It’s important to understand that there is a potential risk of infection to the COVID-19 virus through receiving massage therapy treatment and we want to be forthcoming about this. If you are at all uncomfortable with this potential risk, we understand! And If at any point during your treatment or time at the studio you become uneasy and decide it’s best to end a session, we will support you.

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If you have any questions or concerns you would like to check in on about before your appointment with us during COVID-19, please feel free to email studio owner carrie@therapyhealthstudio.com

Looking forward to seeing you! We will be wearing a mask but trust, we are smiling behind it!

 

 

Though the new year may be meant as a time of fresh starts and new beginnings. For many of us, that pressure in itself can have a negative impact on our already weighted list of personal expectations and goals.

A resolution that we will ALWAYS stand behind as your RMT’s, are tools to give back to yourself. We’re firm believers that Massage Therapy has so many positive benefits for our physical bodies and state of mind.

Here is our Top 5 Reasons Why Massage Therapy should be on your 2020 To-Do list:

1) SELF-CARE

The most amazing gift you can give yourself and body. Take the time to recharge and repair. You’re SO worth it!!

2) TUNING IN

Get connected to your body and ground your mind while we help you work out restrictions and holding patterns. We also LOVE giving clients tools to continue to fine tune ~ helping you stay balanced, active and in good spirits.

3) IMMUNITY

We are deep into our rain season on the West Coast. Massages will help you work through tension, get fresh circulation flowing and elevate your good vibes. Your immune system will be stronger for it!

4) STRESS + ANXIETY

The hum of stress and anxiety is a hard one to shake, especially with everything going on in the world and our daily lives. Why not leave some of it on the massage table and walk away feeling lighter and more at peace.

5) MASSAGES FEEL AMAZING!

Remember how good it feels to walk out of a session in a happy massage haze and feel your body shift. We will always encourage you to continue hitting that reset button and keep moving forward!

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We’re here for you and excited to see you at the studio for whatever 2020 throws your way.

We got your back ;)