To kick off Massage Therapy Awareness Week, Karlee addresses how regular massage helps you be more mindful of your body and improving your health. Click on the post to read more. #massagetherapyawarenessweek
Read morePain in the neck!!!
This week we cover why office posture is maiming you neck and back! If this sounds too familiar, take a minute to read this short post from our blog. Short on time... book your massage right from our Facebook page!
Read moreBreathing Tips To Help You Relax During Your Massage
This week Bri from Massage Hope brings us insight to why belly breathing techniques are important to your massage treatments.
Massage Hope strives to not only provide the best massage care possible, but to create an atmosphere of learning and commitment to health. We encourage you to comment, ask question, share and get massage!
Read moreHow to Get a Massage
Everyone keeps telling you to get a massage, and you want to give it a try but where do you start?
First, make sure your Massage Therapist is licensed. Don’t worry, all the therapists here at Massage Hope are licensed but some places are not. Knowing that your therapist has the appropriate schooling and training will help to put your mind at ease. Check out our massage therapist bios here!
Make the massage appointment. Call us (703-858-2323) and a member of our wonderfully sweet front desk staff will be happy to help you. If you have questions about how long your session should be or which therapist to see, ask them - they know their stuff. You can also see our bios, other information about massage and schedule online at MassageHope.com
On the day of your appointment please arrive 15 minutes early so you can fill out the intake form. To save some time, you can also fill out the massage intake form online through our web page. The massage intake form tells us about any preexisting health conditions, surgeries, recent injuries and medications. All these things can affect the massage so it is important for us to know. It also tells us what you are coming in for and helps us start the conversation about how to best tailor the massage for your needs.
Here comes the part everyone seems most nervous about - “What do I need to take off?” This is entirely up to you, actually. Nothing will be exposed that should not be, but if it makes you feel more comfortable to leave something on, that is perfectly normal too. Necklaces, watches, and bracelets should be taken off so they don’t get in way and we don’t get lotion or oil on them. So whether you are most comfortable in your birthday suite, snow suite, or somewhere in-between, your massage therapist will do their best to help you with your massage needs.
Speak up!! You decide what you want for pressure and if an area gets worked on. If you don’t want us to touch your feet or face or left earlobe, just let your therapist know and they’ll skip it. If something hurts tell us, if you want more work in a tender spot let us know. Please, please, please do not suffer in silence if you are uncomfortable.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the massage. Know that the next 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes are your time. You took a step towards being healthier, so be present and take in the experience. You can talk to us, ask questions about massage, lay there quietly, fall asleep, even snore if you want to. You’re in good hands here! Literally.
Re-book your next session because massages are awesome!!
Stress and Massage Therapy
Stress and Massage Therapy
You know how it goes… work, kids, bills, the gym, the guilt over not actually going to the gym, and so on. Stress is life nowadays, it’s unavoidable, right? Maybe, and maybe not.
You see there’s good stress, that helps us achieve new goals and take on challenges. Then there is bad stress which actually begins to have an effect our health in negative ways such as: burnout, repetitive strain, sleep deprivation, lack of focus and mental clarity to name a few.
Me. Tuesday morning. Looks like I need a massage too!
The cool thing is that as little as one massage a month can help to manage these symptoms. A few posts back I wrote about the relaxation response, which include decrease in muscle tension, decreased anxiety, improved sleep quality, increased positive mental health and feelings of general well-being, decreased blood pressure, and decreased metabolic rate, meaning you use energy more efficiently (Benjamin, Tappan’s Handbook of Healing Massage Techniques, 2010). Additional studies have found that a one hour Swedish massage can lower levels of cortisol (aka the stress hormone) in the blood stream for 30 days, and leave you feeling as restored as you would after 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep!
Massage is not just a luxury, it is a vital tool to reducing stress and improving health and wellness. So if you’re over worked, over trained or just plain want a good massage, get in here.
If you have questions about massage therapy feel free to call us 703-858-2323 or email me at Karlee@MassageHope.com.