WELLBEING & MASSAGE INSIGHTS

Scars tell stories. They remind us of surgeries, accidents, or important moments in life – from the birth of a child to the healing of an old injury. But while scars often fade on the surface, what lies beneath can continue to affect how we move, feel, and function. That’s where  Scar Therapy  comes in. What is Scar Therapy? Scar Therapy is a gentle, hands-on treatment that helps to improve the health, movement, and appearance of scar tissue. It focuses not just on the surfac

' Chronic' means it has lasted for a long time, it does not refer to how bad the pain is. Chronic pain can sometimes be caused by an underlying condition causing inflammation or damage in the body. Chronic pain can feel like a never-ending struggle affecting your daily life, mood and overall well-being.  Massage therapy might be the natural relief you're looking for.   There are five ways massage therapy can benefit and reduce chronic pain, so you can feel better and move mo

Breathing is something we do without thinking, a constant rhythm that sustains life. But did you know that the way we breathe can have a profound impact on our health and well-being? In my massage treatments, I often emphasise the power of breath, guiding clients to focus on their breathing to enhance the benefits of their treatment. Here’s why mindful breathing is such a powerful tool in massage therapy and how it can help you achieve deeper relaxation.   Breath and the Mind

Lymphatic Drainage Massage The lymphatic system is a vital part of the body's immune system and works to protect against infection and disease.  When not functioning properly, it can have significant implications for overall health and well-being, affecting immune function, fluid balance, and tissue health.   Below are some of the most common signs that the Lymphatic System is impaired:   Edema : The accumulation of fluid in tissues, causing swelling. This occurs because the

You might spend 8 hours a day with your shoulders hunched over a computer keyboard or work bench.  This hunched over position for prolonged periods, sends a powerful message to your nervous system, “this is how I need my body to be” and standing up straight at times can be uncomfortable.  Your muscles are tight at the back of your head and get used to being very long and also very strong, which sometimes causes irritation. There's a tug of war going on with the muscles at the

Massaging with Stones The volcanic, balsalt stones used for a stone massage are emersed in a hot water bath to warm, before being applied to the body. They are chosen for their heat retaining properties and come in various shapes and sizes, according to the job they do and the part of the body they will be used for. Warm Stones aligned up the spine The warm stones are then applied to the body with warm scented Jojoba oil. This type of hot stone therapeutic treatment is thoug

Pain is crucial to realising what is good for your overall health. Pain is an unpleasant experience that helps to keep you alive by alerting to actual or potential bodily harm. It warns you when something might be wrong and gives you an opportunity to change or modify what you're doing to prevent further injury. However, pain is complex, and many other factors influence it. Much of what we used to believe about pain was from a book that was first published in 1644, pain

Cramp also called a Spasm, is an involuntary muscle contraction, which lasts only a short time, (less than 15 minutes and often only a matter of seconds). Leg cramps often happen during rest and especially at night. Cramp often is worse during pregnancy, after physical exercise and very common in older adults. Cramps are called idiopathic because there's no underlying pathology, however we know that they are sudden muscle pains and can cause a paralysis like immobility whic

Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle. Different systems of the body follow circadian rhythms that are synchronised with a master clock in the brain. This master clock is directly influenced by environmental cues, especially sunlight, which is why circadian rhythms are tied to th

The “SI” joint is where your spine meets your pelvis. The sacroiliac joint, to give its full name, is where your sacrum and ilium join. It is often felt in the low back and glutes. The SI joint is a synovial joint, so it has a joint capsule with synovial fluid inside, like the knee or shoulder, It is also supported by ligaments, which can become problematic during some pregnancies. The SI joint's job is to transfer force from one side of your upper body to the other. The sa

So, one of the issues that annoys clients in pain is the issue of SLEEP; the lack of it, the quality of it and the best sleep set up. So, for neck and shoulder issues you need to address head and neck position, aim for your head to be in line with your shoulders. Your pillow should not be too thick or too thin, this is all personal choice, my personal preference, would not be yours, so you need to be prepared for some trial and error. You are aiming a pillow that fits betwe

Do you have a “bendy body” … Being able to stretch deeper & longer than others, perhaps your finger joints do weird things. Do you have hyperextended knees or elbows. Do you gravitate towards yoga to attempt to experience deeper stretching? Hyper-mobility is when our joints move beyond “normal” range of movement, whatever “normal” means. A good synopsis comes from an article in Rheumatology International “Hyper-mobility is not a diagnosis, but a descriptor used to define a

I see a lot of bodies as a massage therapist and bizarrely people sometimes apologise for a perceived flaw and for me, the issue I was aware of the most on my body, was Cellulite. Firstly despite the £££'s spent to the contrary, Cellulite is not an issue to be solved. And until 1968 the word didn’t even exist, the first mention of it was in the Vogue magazine below https://archive.vogue.com/article/1968/04/15/cellulite-the-new-word-for-fat-you-couldnt-lose-before And from th

Menopause can cause joint pain, it can even make old joint injuries begin to ache. As time goes on, you may start to notice more aches and pains in joints and muscles than normal. Oestrogen helps to keep our cartilage, the connective tissue in joints, healthy. This means it plays an important role in helping to prevent joint inflammation and pain. As levels of oestrogen naturally decrease during the menopause, the joint protection properties can diminish, causing joint aches

Did you know that 18 million people each year see a doctor for knee pain? While you may think that most knee issues are due to age, there are quite a few causes that have nothing to do with age at all. Below are all common causes of knee pain: Runner’s knee (which affects more than just runners) Osgood-Schlatter disease (which is found in children & adolescents) Chondromalacia patella (the softening and breakdown of the cartilage on the underside of the kneecap) Osteoarthriti

Do you have pain in your jaw? It might be stiffness, grinding, clicking, or even locking? These are often symptoms of TMJ (temporomandibular joint) Dysfunction. This is a quite a common condition. The severity varies greatly, with some people experiencing only mild symptoms on occasion, while others suffer daily issues. Whether you’ve dealt with this for a long time or you’re just noticing your symptoms getting worse, now’s the time to take care of it. So, what causes it?

Headaches are an unfortunate part of life for many people. They can happen to all people, any gender, race, or lifestyle. There are some people who experience headaches quite frequently, and others who very rarely have one. If you’re getting headaches on a regular basis, it’s worth trying to find out what you can do about them. Did you know there are different types of headaches? And different causes and treatments for each? Look at the list below and see if you find which

Neck pain is a common complaint for clients coming in to see me and there are a variety of causes. It could simply be sleeping in an awkward position and then you walk around all day with a stiff neck and restricted movement when you try and turn your head. You may have been working at your desk all day or had an exercise session that didn’t quite agree with you. Sometimes my trigger is Yoga/Pilates - all those crunches with your head up! Whatever the cause, it’s no fun. A

While you may have heard reference to the “rotator cuff”, the intricacies of these muscles aren’t necessarily something most people know off hand. So, let’s look at some of the most important aspects of this special muscle group and how you can help keep yours healthy and strong. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles whose job is to keep the head of your upper-arm bone (humerus) in your shoulder socket. These muscles assist in raising, lowering, and rotating your arm, whilst

A large amount of nerves and blood vessels supply the arm and travel from the neck and down a few narrow channels, through the shoulder and down into the arm and hand. These channels can sometimes become narrower, resulting in compression of those nerves and blood vessels. This can cause different symptoms, ranging from mild tingling and numbness to poor circulation throughout the arm affecting the hands and fingers. This is what’s known as Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). The