Medical massage therapy is a treatment method that can be used to help you recover from painful muscle and joint conditions and prevent the onset of chronic pain patterns. TMJD, lower back and neck pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, tension headaches, and tension-triggered migraine headaches are examples of chronic conditions that benefit from therapeutic manual treatments. These manual treatments include techniques such as neuromuscular therapy, trigger-point therapy, sports compression, deep muscle massage, myofascial stretches and myofascial release.

In addition to benefiting from the specificity of medical massage techniques, our clients are also more empowered by a greater understanding of why their bodies have tension and pain and how to avoid future chronic problems.

Our medical massage therapists practice the St. John method of neuromuscular massage therapy. St. John neuromuscular therapy is a treatment method that uses deep tissue and trigger point techniques in combination with a treatment plan and client education to adequately treat soft tissue conditions. These techniques, in combination with modalities such as chiropractic and physical therapy, lead to long lasting results, often allowing our patients to avoid surgery or excessive pain medication. Achieving certification in the St. John Method requires a thorough knowledge of musculoskeletal anatomy, injury-specific treatment routines, and postural analysis. Please visit the website, www.stjohnseminars.com, for more information regarding this method. Medical massage is a technique that takes a therapist dedicated years of practice and training and hours of supervision to perfect.

Medical massage therapists track and treat symptoms such as trigger points (radiating pain, tenderness resulting from ischemia (poor localized blood flow), drastic muscle tone imbalances (tension), and pain patterns during movement or remaining still).

Muscle pain is a signal that your body is stressed and these pain signals should not be ignored. Chronic muscle tension and soft tissue injury is often caused by postural distortions from past injuries, repetitive overuse of muscles, or habitual movement patterns. For example: we find that many of our clients suffer from muscle pain and tension in their neck and shoulders. Lifestyle factors like hanging their heads forward at the computer desk and sitting in one place for long periods of time "day in and day out " cause this chronic build-up of tension.

Chronic tension from past muscular injuries such as whiplash also perpetuate pain patterns. If these lifestyle factors and muscle injuries are left uncorrected and ignored, a person risks more severe injury to his or her neck, shoulders and upper arms. Nerve impingement and numbing in the arm or hand, intervertebral disc herniation, degenerative disc disease, and osteoarthritis are examples of these preventable more severe conditions.