The key to less injuries is prevention. Information for athletes and Sports Masssage

 We all know the primary work of the circulatory system is to push your blood around your body.   But the other job of the circulatory system is to deliver essential nutrients to your body tissues and to work in conjunction with your lymph system to remove waste products.  So how does that all work?  Your blood is pumped by your heart;  it moves through your body, and when your heart rate goes up due to stress, activity, or receiving a massage, it moves at an even faster rate, with more pressure.  Your lymph system, on the other hand, is completely independent of your heart and works on muscle pumping  to move fluid and broken cells through the tiny collection vessels in your body.  When you move your body more, and your body is warmer, the rate of movement and collection goes up.  But that is in a perfect world.  What happens when you are trying to push blood through the blood vessels and lymph through the collection vessels when you have been in heavy training?  When you are tight and sore?  Essentially you have a bottle neck--there are too many cars on the highway, and not enough space to get through.  No matter how hard you push, which nutrients you eat,  how hard you train, or  how much you move--unless there is enough space within the tissue to get that stuff there, you will  be more prone to injury and fatigue. To compound matters, when you are injured, it is going to take longer to heal.

Tissue often changes by means of inflammation.  In some cases this is not a problem, but too much inflammation is bad.  Inflammation is a generalized first response to injury, and signals the body to lay down non-functional layers of tissue in order to support the body structure. Your body’s response to any kind of unknown stress is to stabilize. It is very important to understand that  your body sees training as a form of stress and your body’s response to that stress is to lay down thicker tracts of tissue through  an inflammatory process.  Those tracts are less functional than the original ones and will thicken along the fascia trains already in existence, reducing fluid flow, which robs your body of the things it needs to make you a top performer.  Thicker trains means more compression, more inflammation, and  less movement of fluid, and that means more injury, slower healing and less performance. 

By icing any areas  where unusual heat or soreness are present (thus limiting the amount of inflammation you endure while exercising), you can help your body defend against excessive inflammatory processes.  Some people are also more prone to inflammation than others and might also benefit from a low inflammation diet, which is a way of eating that limits or reduces your reaction to inflammation.  Compression socks, and KT/or Rock tape can also be helpful by limiting swelling and/or encouraging lymph flow in order to minimize damage in an event.  Any area that is prone to shock, friction, load bearing or overuse is at risk. Take steps to give yourself the best chance to heal by learning to stretch and realign these areas appropriately prior to exercising. The best medicine is prevention. It is far easier and far cheaper to limit inflammation than to require extensive treatment to correct a problem in full flair…and perhaps even risk missing the big event entirely.

For More information  on Sports Massage and how you can prevent your own injury's you can visit me at www.bodymechnaicsnyc.com or book a treatment. If you are interested in learning more on the topic of how your body works, how to prevent injury, increase your recovery times and get relief for FREE,  I am speaking at Jack Rabbit sports this month at Self-Massage Clinic here is the info:

Jack rabbit sports 14th st. Sept. 18, 2013 -7pm  Curious how to expedite recovery, increase performance, and decrease risk of injury? Body Mechanics NYC joins us to host a self-massage clinic at Jack Rabbit Sports 42 west 14th st. (between 5th and 6th). You'll learn which recovery tools work best for certain aggravations and how to use each properly. And by addressing discomfort immediately and effectively, you'll increase your chances of crossing the finish line injury-free.
 for more info on sports massage in NYC please check out our website

Pregnancy Massage: Face down or on your side...What is the difference?

If you’re pregnant and you are looking for a prenatal massage therapy treatment, one of the choices you might be pressed to make is to decide between a place that performs the massage face down on a “special table” or does it in a “side-lying” position on a normal table.  If you do a little online research, you will also see that the face down option, which is done by means of a large hole cut into the table for belly and or breasts, is highly advertised for its enjoyment factor of lying face down during a time period where you otherwise could not. When you go to a site that utilizes side lying, they will often say that the reason that they do it that way is because it is safer, thus implying the face down method is unsafe.

So how do you as a make a decision with two such conflicting view points from the professionals?  If you are pregnant or buying a gift for someone who is, clearly you want the best.

1-First of all, if you are pregnant before you get any kind of treatment you should check with your doctor and get the all clear before starting the program

2-Second, both being treated while face down or side lying are safe.  You can bet that if there were a risk the tables would have been pulled from the market already.

So what is the difference?

I have used both methods.  The face down method is relaxing for some because they miss their mobility; this is especially true if before you became pregnant you were a belly sleeper.  In most cases however, pregnancy causes an increased lumbar curve, and when you lie face down on the table, even though you are supported, the weight of the belly pulling down causes the low back to curve even more that it already was. Your back is then doubly compressed.

When you lie on your side, and are pillowed correctly into position, your back assumes a more neutral position. The benefit of this is that even though you are on your side, and it is not as special as laying face down, when the therapist tries to relax your muscles, they will have the room to lengthen, causing you have a better result from your treatment, especially if you went in for low back pain.

Both methods will, of course, feel good, but in the end it really depends on why you are receiving the massage to begin with.  Many women seek prenatal massage when they have pain, and in that case I would always choose the side-lying option, however if a simple spa day in a perfect pregnancy is what you are after, both options are totally okay.

Body Mechanics Orthopedic Massage uses the side-lying method.

If you are interested in more information on prenatal massage, please contact us, and stay tuned for the third installment of pregnancy series and for more info on prenatal massage in NYC check out our website

Hi and welcome to my site! I included a blog on my site because I get a lot of questions from clients and friends about the work I do. I thought that I might as well post the answers publicly so that everyone can read them. I will cover a wide range of topics about massage, sports massage, pregnancy massage, injury recovery, my own personal training, yoga and the things generally relating to my practice. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. You can write to info@bodymechanicsnyc.com

for more info please see Massage in NYC