The Rise of Medical Massage in New York City

How massage is grew out of its luxury spa roots into a respected alternative medicine for pain management

David Weintraub LMT & Owner at Bodyworks DW writes about how massage therapy has shifted during his career and how he and his colleagues are pushing the envelopes of what’s possible with massage!

A lot has changed in the 12 years since I graduated massage therapy school. And started practicing medical massage in New York City. When I attended the Finger Lakes School of Massage (FLSM) in 2007, I was part of a very small minority of potential therapists interested in learning medical massage. Our school was one of few programs that taught myofascial release as a major part of it’s program. Larger schools such as Swedish Institute focused almost exclusively on Swedish massage and shiatsu (aka acupressure).

FLSM offered direct training in medical massage and myofascial release techniques. This was one of the main reasons I left NYC and moved to Ithaca for 6 months to attend. FLSM’s program was intensive. 6 months straight working 9-5 monday through friday. Plus many additional hours each day of study and hands on clinic work. Here’s a fun fact to give you an idea of how intensive the program was.

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Massage Therapy for your Office Injury: Why they occur and how to stop them!

Meghan Krupka

Meghan Krupka, LMT, talks about the demands of your job, the toll it can take on your body, and the office injury it may come with.




According to studies completed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, musculoskeletal disorders cost approximately $15 billion in workers’ compensation costs each year. Per data collected in 2013, musculoskeletal disorders also accounted for about 33% of all office injury and illness cases. The most common of these injuries are related to the neck, shoulders and back. In addition, sedentary time and time in front of screens has only increased over the years.

Today, the work hard, play hard and hustle mentalities are the foremost attitudes adopted by many New Yorkers. We spend a lot of time sitting in front of computers, on phones and handling stressful situations. The pile up is causing more and more office related injuries. What can you do to help alleviate your pain? Seek out a medical massage in New York City!

Our bodies are designed to move and be dynamic!

However, modern day work and office culture emphasizes sitting for long periods of time. Prolonged sitting wreaks havoc on our spines. This creates muscle imbalances and restricts our ability to move easily. Over time poor posture can lead to an office injury and inhibit our enjoyment of daily life.

Massage therapy, particularly medical massage, offers a holistic approach to combating office injuries and postures. It goes beyond addressing just the symptoms of your pain. Medical massage can also address emotional issues related to pain and stress such as depression, anxiety and poor sleep. These are also commonly tied to office stressors.

First things: what exactly do we mean by posture? And “good” posture?

Posture refers to how you hold yourself upright. It is how you carry yourself both in motion, stillness, and rest. Posture is dynamic, it is not static. Even when you are still, your muscles are working in concert to keep you upright.

Posture is also your body’s response to any resistance that tries to disrupt your balance. The most well-known resistive force is, of course, gravity 🙂 Our posture is also a collection of our physical and emotional habits in relation to others.

Having “good” posture then means your body is able to adapt to the physical and emotional stresses imposed on it. Without causing you pain. It needs to be able to do this dynamically. “Good” posture is being able to move and change your shape to minimize stress. The “best” posture for any given situation is the most efficient. The one that needs the least muscular force and uses the least amount of energy to sustain.

Therefore, “poor” posture would be highly habitual shapes that overuse muscles and energy to resist outside stressors. The result is an uncomfortable shape. Over time the discomfort will progress to pain or office injury. These “poor” postures frequently arise in an office environment. Let’s face it, our bodies were not designed to sit for long periods. If they were, we’d probably be shaped like a weeble wobble!

Upper Crossed Syndrome: hunched shoulders, rounded back and forward head posture

Upper crossed syndrome is your typical upper body desk posture after a long day of staring at the screen. You are leaning in close to your computer, shoulders rolled forward, head and neck craning towards your screen and upper back is rounding. In this position, your front (anterior) muscles are in a contracted or shortened position. Your back (posterior) muscles are being overstretched. This postural habit, when prolonged, frequently results in neck, shoulder and back pain. It can even end up restricting breathing.

Medical massage therapy in New York City is great for lengthening and encouraging the muscles that are shortened to release. Great medical massage therapists will also provide at-home corrective exercises to address the stretched muscles. These often need strengthening and activation exercises to fully address upper crossed syndrome.  These are great ways to combat your office injury.

In an office or desk setting, upper crossed syndrome can often go hand in hand with lower crossed syndrome.

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Bodyworks DW Medical Massage Midtown is Moving!

 

Your favorite NYC medical massage therapists are moving to a new, expanded studio in midtown West 🙂

We’ve had a good run in our 1 room midtown east studio, meeting new clients, and providing our top quality medical massage therapy to those of you who live uptown. However, along with the ups of our midtown location, there have been some downs. Noisy neighbors. Less than great lighting in the waiting area and hallways. A long walk from the waiting area to our treatment room. And from what we’ve been hearing from folks, “too far East.”

It was time to expand and find a space with the same chill vibe as our home in Fidi. After a couple of months of searching around near our current space, we just didn’t see anything we liked. So we started looking at other neighborhoods. Turns out midtown west is rather underserved for high quality massage therapy.

We searched around and finally found the Arts Building at 336 West 37th Street. It’s a really great loft building, with a variety of fun tenants. They’ve got high ceilings and hardwood floors throughout, and nice old architectural details like exposed brick in the hallways. We liked them, and they liked us. So we signed on for a new space to call our medical massage midtown home in suite 540!

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How to Take the Benefits of Medical Massage Home with You

 

David Weintraub, LMT and owner of Bodyworks DW, writes

David Weintraub

about how you can take the benefits of your medical massage home with you. Stay ahead of your pain!

Medical massage in New York with a NYC licensed massage therapist should be a regular and valuable part of your self care routine. Let’s face it...New Yorkers are not known for doing things gently. We work long hours, slam weights at the gym, and then maybe hit back to back yoga classes. And while this additive approach to health does have it’s benefits, it’s not restorative and our bodies need time to heal. Here are some of our best at home and at work practices for taking the benefits your medical massage home with you!

A great medical massage helps to relax both your muscles and your nervous system. It gives your brain time to switch out of your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight!). And engages your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) in a way that has benefits for long after the massage.

In a perfect world we would all get massages every other day and feel fantastic 🙂 Given the reality of time and money this is simply not going to happen. However, there are plenty of practices you can take on to extend the great results of your massage between sessions. These will assist you in feeling great, allow you to go longer between massages, and help keep you from getting injured.

Restorative practices to take the benefits of medical massage home with you

Lying Down with Your Feet up on a Chair

This is the number 1 homework assignment we give to all of our stressed out massage clients! It’s super easy, and it’s a great excuse to chill out a bit every day. We spend so much time sitting, our muscles get locked up in a sitting position. Which helps us sit, but is terrible for just about everything else we try to do.

Lying down with you lower legs on a chair puts us in the same position as sitting but without needing to hold ourselves up in gravity. It passively shortens our psoas muscle (main hip flexor), quads, hamstrings, and calves. When you shorten a muscle but don’t make it do any work it gets to completely relax. It usually takes 4-5 minutes for your nervous system to chill enough to truly let go of your muscles. We recommend doing this for 5-8 minutes every night before bed to help you get a really good night's sleep!

All of our clients who have taken this practice on notice really huge results in about 2-3 weeks. Decreased low back pain or tension, better sleep, easier mood. Check out this video to see what it looks like and give it a try!

Contrast Hydrotherapy

Contrast hydrotherapy is a great way to take the benefits of medical massage home with you. It involves alternating applications of heat and cold to an area (or your whole body). The heat opens up blood vessels and tissues and relaxes the nervous system. The cold constricts the blood vessels and tissues and excites the nervous system. Alternating back and forth between them creates a pumping system for the area. This draws out damages such as bruising and brings in new blood with nutrients. The contrast creates a greater therapeutic result than either heat or cold alone.

Local contrast hydrotherapy for acute conditions anywhere on the body

1. Apply a heat pack to the area for 5 minutes
2. Apply an ice pack or rub an ice cube into the area for 1 minute
3. Repeat this 3 times, ending on ice

Local contrast hydrotherapy for carpal tunnel syndrome or ankle sprains

1. Get two washbasins large enough to be able to place your whole forearm or feet into
2. Fill one with hot water (as hot as you can stand)
3. Fill the other with cold water (as cold as you can stand)
4. Dunk you whole forearms into the hot basin so that the water is above the elbow (or your whole foot so that the water is above the ankle)
5. Hold for 5 minutes
6. Dunk area into the cold basin for 1 minute
7. Repeat 3 times, ending on cold

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Top 5 Reasons to get a Medical Massage in Midtown

Evana Class

Evana Class, Senior LMT at Bodyworks DW, writes about why you should receive a medical massage in Midtown with Bodyworks DW! 

Bodyworks DW has always focused on the effectiveness medical massage for pain relief. We look for the root causes of your pain, taking care to learn why the pain/discomfort is there. This helps both us and you work together to your continuing a healthy lifestyle. Medical massage in Midtown and Fidi is not just for those of you who are injured or reviving form surgery. It can be a great tool for preventing pain and for preparing for a big event. That 100 meter race, marathon, or that redeye 10 hour flight!

Reason #1: We have the same fantastic qualified massage therapists in Midtown as in Fidi

Each massage therapist in midtown also works in our Financial District Location. Every massage therapist takes part in regular advanced trainings with owner David Weintraub. And combined these trainings with their own talents and skills to create unforgettable medical massage experiences. 

Each therapist is dedicated to improving their knowledge to meet the needs of many different kinds of clients. Our large team gives you the flexibility to find the therapist that feels like the best fit for you. 

There is also great communication among the team. If you have to change therapists due to a schedule conflict, you’ll be well taken care of by anyone on our team. Our massage therapists share notes with each other, do regular research, and ask advice when they feel like they have hit a roadblock. The entire team is dedicated to finding what treatments will work best for your pain. We work collaboratively to be the most helpful to you. 

This has lead to a substantial growth, since our happy clients send us their friends and family to work with. Our FiDi location is often fully booked on any given day. Especially during the popular post-work and weekend times. Which is the main reason we chose to create Bodyworks DW Midtown, so we can help more of you

Reason #2: Our Midtown Studio is Super Accessible!

Whether you live or work nearby or take public transportation, Midtown is very convenient. Grand Central Station is a mere 2 short blocks away. There are many subway lines through this major hub. The 4, 5, 6 green line trains running along the East side of Manhattan stops here. The 7 trains from Time Square to Queens stops here. And the S shuttle to Times Square stops here.

Coming from Westchester or Connecticut? You can leave the car and take Metro North, also at Grand Central station. Lots of our clients make a stop here after work before heading back North. It’s great place to take a break from the office or after work before the long commute home!

For those of you working or living in midtown or anywhere North of 14th street, Bodyworks DW Midtown is available for your best medical massage in New York!

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Medical Massage in New York at Bodyworks DW

Medical massage therapy is massage offered for the purpose of a therapeutic benefit

All professional massage therapies have some therapeutic value. Medical massage is different because its ultimate goal is providing a therapeutic treatment, not just relaxation. This treatment takes different forms. Goals can vary considerably between different clients. Having a massage therapist with strong training in medical massage in New York is something you can count on. It's part of every licensed massage therapists' 1000+ hours of training during school.

Medical massage is often recommended by another health professional. And is performed as part of a larger treatment plan. For example, your physical therapist may refer you for massage therapy. Medical massage can loosen your muscles, improve muscle tone, increase flexibility, and increase range of motion.

Qualified and licensed professionals are required for the best treatment

Licensed massage therapists use their extensive knowledge of physiology and anatomy to design sessions to be effective. Most professionally licensed massage therapists will tailor the sessions to the needs of each patient.

First you and your massage therapist will first sit down for a brief intake interview. During the interview you will get to discuss your affected areas and symptoms. In addition they will ask about your medical history. Then they will perform a general postural assessment. The first session will be structured to meet your needs and be part of a plan for future sessions. The goal is to find the fastest and least resource (time and money) consuming way to relieve your symptoms.

If you are looking for medical massage in New York, our massage therapists have more training than most other states. The average massage therapist in the United States has about 600 hours of training. In New York, massage therapists are required to have 1,000+ hours of training in order to be licensed. This includes many hours of medical massage training. Medical massage in New York can be done well by any practitioner with a New York State license.

In other states, you’ll want to research whether your massage therapist has post school training in medical massage to be sure they are qualified to work on your specific condition.

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5 Reasons to Make Massage Your Monthly Routine

There are a lot of great reasons to make massage therapy in New York a regular part of your self-care routine. Massage has tons of benefits!

Here are our top 5...

Alleviate Pain

Working late nights while sitting in front of the computer for hours is a surefire recipe for muscle imbalance. When the body is overworked it aches all over. Left untreated, this will lead to chronic pain. There is almost nothing worse than feeling pain, stiffness and achiness. Especially on a cold day!!!

Many of us live with pain in today's high demanding society, especially in busy cities like New York. Eventually your body maxes out your pain threshold. For most, that's when you’ll break down and visit a professional, such as a massage therapist in New York, acupuncturist, physical therapist, or chiropractor.

By making massage therapy part of a regular routine, you can help get ahead of the curve and prevent chronic pain from building up. Try switching your mindset. Instead of only getting massage therapy in New York when you have a major acute issue, schedule preventative monthly massage. You’ve been pushing so hard at work...don’t you deserve a nice massage?

Relieve stress and anxiety 

In today’s modern world there are more stressors than ever. We are getting less sleep and staying up longer due to work deadlines, children, school, family issues, environmental issues.

Massage can be a great to decrease stress and anxiety. Bonus...this will help your body’s other systems like digestion and immunity function better. Massage therapy can help engage the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” system) which your body needs to go to to restore.

Your parasympathetic nervous system is the opposite of your sympathetic nervous system (your “fight or flight” system). The sympathetic nervous system prepares your body for stressful situations. It pumps you with adrenaline and increases your heart rate and breathing. This is very useful and necessary if you are being chased by a lion. Less so when you are stressing over that report that’s due on Friday.

As New Yorkers, we tend to stay stuck in our sympathetic nervous systems...all the time.

Which is really not good for the body in the long run. Your body doesn’t get the rest it needs to heal. Having regular massage therapy in New York restores your ability to switch back to rest mode more easily. It can help you sleep better and handle stressful situations more calmly.

Decrease Tension Headaches and Migraines

Quick fact (According to the Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pathology): "Tension headaches, by far the most common type of headache people experience (90-92%), these are triggered by muscular tension, bony misalignment, postural patterns, eyestrain, temporomandibular joint disorders.”

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Chiropractic Treatment of Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain is a problem that many people suffer from. Some patients suffer from shoulder pain due to a sports injury, while others are diagnosed with tendinitis of the shoulder and neck. Whatever your cause for shoulder pain, the physical feelings you are experiencing can lead to difficulty in the performance of everyday activities. Your work, school or even everyday living may suffer. Thankfully, there is a solution.

With chiropractic care and shoulder pain massage New York services combined, you can find relief. Two of the most effective treatment options for shoulder pain are chiropractic care and massage therapy. Both treatments are non-invasive and provide substantial relief from pain in the shoulder area.

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Shoulder Pain: What’s Causing Yours and How Massage Therapy can Help

Shoulder pain is one of the most common issues people face today. The shoulder is a very complex set of muscles and bones designed for a large variety of movements. In order to gain that freedom of movement, evolution had to sacrifice some stability. This makes shoulders especially vulnerable to injury. Both impact injuries such as a torn rotator cuff, and overuse injuries such as a pinched nerve. Thankfully, shoulder pain massage can work wonders on many types of shoulder pain.

How Your Shoulders Work - Two Joints, Not Just One!

The shoulder actually consists of two distinct joints, the shoulder joint and the shoulder girdle.

The Shoulder Joint

The arm bone (humerus) connected to socket of the shoulder blade makes up the shoulder joint. The shoulder joint allows for movement of the arm in many directions. All while keeping the shoulder blade locked in place. Your shoulder joint can move your arm forwards, backwards, sideways. As well as rotating your arm in the socket.

There are many different muscles that attached to the humerus and allow for these movements. The pectoral major, latissimus, and deltoid create forwards, backwards, and sideways movements of the arm. The rotator cuff set of muscles creates rotational movements. Contrary to popular belief there is no “rotator cuff muscle.” The rotator cuff actually refers to a set of 4 different muscles: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres major, and subscapularis.

The Shoulder Girdle

The shoulder girdle is made up of the shoulder blade and clavicle (collarbone) and their relation to the ribcage. The shoulder girdle allow for movement of the shoulder around the ribcage without having to move the arm. When you roll your shoulders without lifting your arms you are moving your shoulder girdle joints.

There are a lot of different muscles that move the shoulder girdle. These include trapezius, rhomboids, levator scapula, serratus anterior, and pectoralis minor. Interestingly, the shoulder girdle bones are basically free floating on top of the rib cage. The clavicle is attached to the sternum by ligaments in the way we think of most joints working. With the bones close together and separated by cartilage. There is a ligament that attaches the shoulder blade to the ribs. However, it is long and allows for a lot of movement. Making it unlike other ligaments in the body. This ligament's basic function is to keep the shoulder girdle from shifting too far in any direction.

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BENEFITS OF MASSAGE – BODYWORKS DW

Massage therapy is a treatment option that continues to grow in demand as well as popularity. By scheduling an appointment with a massage therapist New York office, you will have access to a mainstream approach to pain management as well as dealing with certain issues such as circulation, tension, reducing stress and relieving anxiety. There are many benefits to massage and learning more about how you can feel better can show you that massage is an avenue worth exploring.

Relaxation

For most people, the word massage is associated with relaxation. As the body becomes tense and under a great deal of stress, cortical is created. cortisol is a stress hormone that can cause one to gain weight, have trouble sleeping, encounter digestive problems and headaches. With the help of a massage therapist Midtown office, these issues can be relieved.

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Could You Benefit From a Medical Massage in New York?

It's likely you will lose mobility as you age

One of the main benefits to medical massage is increased range of motion in our joints, ie regained mobility. So, we can't really highlight the benefits of medical massage in new york without talking about the reasons we lose mobility in the first place.

As most of us age we slowly lose our mobility. We assume it’s aging, but often it’s simply sitting around too much. Office desks, driving, and sitting on the couch binge watching shows are all culprits. No matter what we do at the gym, all this sitting takes a toll. Check out this Mayo Clinic article on sitting risks.

When you sit for long periods your posture becomes misaligned. This results in poor biomechanics and mobility. Other repetitive postures such as leaning to one side while standing or carrying a bag on the same shoulder every day can also decrease mobility.

These unnatural habits limit our range of motion, speed, and power in our walking, running, and sports. Or even worse, they develop into nagging injuries preventing us from enjoying our activities. 

What is the difference between Medical Massage and a Spa Massage?

The ultimate difference is what the massage therapist chooses to focus on during the session.

In a typical spa massage, the therapist will give a full body massage rather than focusing on injuries or specifics. The goal is to provide a relaxing experience, increase blood flow, and provide general maintenance to the muscles.

In a medical massage, the focus is on functional outcomes and medical needs. These may include releasing scar tissue, increasing range of motion in joints, and helping the client learn better body mechanics.

How Does Massage Increase Mobility?

Fascia is a substance in your body which glues all of your muscles together. It can become harder due to inactivity. Or fascia can get filled with inelastic scar tissue due to injury. This often results in poor posture and limited movement. Over time you end up on a downward spiral where movement becomes more and more difficult.

Medical massage improves the elasticity of your fascia. It uses targeted deep tissue techniques to increase blood flow to stuck areas and to lengthen and stretch the fascia. By choosing which areas to work on wisely, a great medical massage therapist can rebalance your posture. And increase range of motion in your joints. You’ll find ease in your movement patterns again and feel much better, especially with a series of 5-8 massage sessions.

Troubled With Arthritis? Check This

You might be troubled with Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or Gout. Though symptoms and reasons for each of these situations are different, the solution is one that is known as massage therapy. Medical science has got operative as well as medicinal options, but there is also massage therapy that can help one get away from the pain in a short time. For an effective massage one can hire an expert massage therapist, who is certified as professionals. The massage therapist can evaluate the situation and offer the best option of massage that can gradually lead to a healthy life without suffering from the disease anymore.