Massage and Bodywork

The Power of Healing Hands

If you think massage is an indulgence of the very rich, think again. Therapeutic massage is now becoming recognized as a useful nondrug technique for alleviating a number of ailments or rejuvenating your stressed-out body, especially for women. And all you have to do is lie serenely on a padded table.

"Massage is a great way to recharge your batteries, especially for women who expend vast amounts of energy taking care of others at home, in the community or on the job," says Shawne Bryant, M.D., gynecologist and certified massage therapist in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Massage fosters a woman's physical, mental and spiritual well-being in a way that few other therapies or stress-busting activities can." And, she adds, the benefits of massage begin the minute that your appointment begins.

"You've set aside an uninterruptible hour just for you. That alone is a powerful healing message, which for most women is too often denied," says Dr. Bryant.

A NECESSITY, NOT A LUXURY

"Massage clearly induces physiological changes that not only make you feel better but also reduce stress hormones and enhance immune function," says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, psychology and psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine. As director and founder of the Touch Research Institute at the school, Dr. Field has conducted extensive research on the physiological benefits of massage.

Massage can allow quicker recovery from physical stress and trauma and help eliminate the postworkout buildup of lactic acid, a byproduct of exertion that causes muscle aches, writes licensed massage therapist Thomas Claire, author of Bodywork: What Type of Massage to Get--And How to Make the Most of It.

Dr. Bryant says that more research studies need to be developed on the benefits of massage therapy. But massage may work because it increases circulation.

"When you increase the blood supply to the massaged area, you increase the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, and you facilitate the removal of waste products," says Dr. Bryant. "In addition, increased circulation promotes healing by increasing the cells involved with fighting infection and disease."

"There are good studies showing that massage decreases the lymph-related swelling that many women experience following mastectomies," says Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D., former head of field investigations for the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. And, she says, studies showing that your urine output increases following a massage might mean that massage speeds your body's waste-removal process.

A NATURAL AID FOR EMOTIONAL HEALING

Other practitioners recommend massage for women under emotional stress.

"Just think about the act of stopping yourself from crying," says Ben E. Benjamin, Ph.D., muscular therapist and president of The Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's physical as well as emotional. You contract muscles all over your body to make yourself stop crying, and those contractions can lead to stiffness and soreness over time."

"The same thing happens when you get angry, tense or scared," says Dr. Benjamin. "Eventually, these negative emotions are stored in your tissues. Massage--also referred to as therapeutic bodywork--can reduce tension formed in the body by these repressed emotions."

MASSAGE À LA CARTE

Strictly speaking, massage is a catchall term for more than 100 hands-on techniques, says Robert A. Edwards, licensed massage therapist and director of the Somerset School of Massage, in New Jersey.

Massage techniques fall generally under one of four widely accepted therapeutic approaches, says Gene Arbetter, certified massage therapist; co-director of Wellness Associates, a holistic family medical practice in Chicago; and former national information director and spokesman for the American Massage Therapy Association in Evanston, Illinois. These approaches are the traditional Swedish massage, contemporary Western massage, bodywork and Oriental forms of bodywork, such as shiatsu. (For details on shiatsu massage, see page 16.)

Anatomy of a Swedish Massage

As performed at resort spas, health clubs, day spas and massage clinics, the traditional Swedish massage is probably the massage style that most women know best, according to Arbetter. In a typical traditional Swedish massage, you are ushered into a quiet, dimly lit room that is furnished with a massage table covered in soft, clean bed linens. As she leaves the room, your massage therapist directs you to undress and slip between the sheets. (You can leave on your underwear if it makes you more comfortable, Arbetter says.)

Once you've settled onto the table as requested, the massage therapist re-enters the room and asks whether there's any specific area that you want her to work on. Your shoulders? Your back? Your neck? Do you have any medical conditions? She'll want to know. She encourages you to tell her whether the temperature in the room is comfortable and whether you prefer light or deep touch. And then your massage begins.

During your session, which can last 30 minutes to an hour or more, the massage therapist will ask whether there's too much or too little oil on her hands and whether her strokes are too light or too deep. She'll deftly drape and undrape your body as she works, uncovering only the part of you that she's working on, for modesty and warmth.

Then, each part of your body, unless you request otherwise, will be systematically massaged with some variation of the five classic Swedish massage strokes, shown here. By the time the session is completed, those knots in your shoulders, neck and back will have melted away and you will, in all likelihood, be left in a relaxed yet energized state of bliss.

Swedish massage is the root from which has sprung a variety of massage therapies, including medical massage, on-site massage, sports massage and pregnancy massage. All are in wide use today.

Medical massage is practiced by specially trained massage therapists and may be recommended by M.D.'s, osteopathic physicians and chiropractors in conjunction with other therapy. Massage therapy may be beneficial in providing temporary pain relief for arthritis, fibromyalgia (painful "trigger points" in muscles) and chronic back pain. Individuals with these or any other medical conditions should discuss the impact of massage therapy with their health practitioners.

On-site massage is offered by some companies to relieve stress in the workplace. Massage therapists, equipped with special chairs, deliver 15-minute back rubs right through your clothing. These short massage breaks are similar to those offered at malls, fitness shops and at least one major airport. They're not as thorough as a full Swedish massage, but "a little massage is better than none at all," says Edwards.

Sports massage is designed to loosen you up and invigorate you before an athletic event and speed recovery from exertion after a hard workout, such as a strenuous hike or a day of cross-country skiing.

CONTEMPORARY WESTERN MASSAGE:
TARGETING PAIN

Practitioners of contemporary Western massage use a variety of techniques--myofascial release, myotherapy and neuromuscular therapy--to rub, pull and poke away the pain, says Edwards. In myotherapy and neuromuscular therapy, the therapist applies deep, sustained pressure on sensitive spots, called trigger points, within muscles. (Myo means "muscle.") Therapy is aimed at pain's source, whether caused by muscular adhesions ("sticky" muscles) or distortions in the fascia (tough bands connecting organs, muscles, tendons and other body tissues). Your therapist will use her fingers, palms and even her forearms and elbows to release tension from the fascia and restore the body's balance.

BODYWORK: A PHILOSOPHY OF BALANCE

Some other forms of massage, which are included under the broad term of bodywork, can help strike a healthy balance between the way your body is structured and the way you move. Practitioners will work to assist you in freeing restrictions, both physical and mental.

Rolfing: Keeping Gravity at Bay

Standing self-consciously in your bra and panties, you face a lithe, powerfully built man with piercing eyes. You take a deep breath and pull in your abs, as if to swallow the flab that's become your belly and thighs. He scrutinizes every inch of you. And then he says, "Your left shoulder is higher than your right. Your feet toe out. Turn sideways."

You turn. He points.

"You divert from the vertical here," he says. "Your pelvis is forward. Your shoulders are back. I'm going to try to lengthen your body to make you as tall and straight as possible. Stand still another minute . . . umm-hmm . . . and now we'll get started."

You're about to be Rolfed.

Rolfing was developed by Ida Rolf, Ph.D., a biochemist who was a research scientist at the Rockefeller Institute during World War I. Her interest in complementary healing--including other modalities such as homeopathy, yoga, osteopathy, chiropractic and the Alexander Technique--combined with her physical problems and those of her acquaintances led her to develop what she called Structural Integration (popularly known as Rolfing, for short).

"The ultimate goal of Rolfing is to bring the body into an ideal alignment with gravity so that gravity is assisting the body as opposed to wearing it down," says David Frome, physical therapist and Rolfing practitioner in Montclair, New Jersey. Rolfing doesn't focus on specific physical problems, he says. "Rather, Rolfing balances your structure to bring everything into alignment and allow healing to occur."

Dr. Rolf began teaching Structural Integration to chiropractors and osteopaths throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1972, Dr. Rolf and her followers established the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The process of being Rolfed involves ten hour-long sessions, says Frome. "Ten sessions allows us to work through the whole system of connective tissue (fascia). Each of the first seven sessions focuses on a different area. During the last three sessions, we reinforce what we've done. We concentrate on the outer layer of fascia during initial sessions, working progressively deeper as we go along," he explains.

Rolfing was once thought to be a painful therapy, but according to Frome, it's not any longer. "In the last 20 years, we've learned that Rolfers can accomplish their goals with a much lighter touch."

During a Rolfing session, you lie in various positions on a massage table. The Rolfer will use her hands, elbows or forearms to apply pressure of varying intensity. Along with the manual pressure, the Rolfer may ask you to move in specific ways. You'll feel as though you're being steamrollered smooth with deep, slow kneading motions and deep digging motions.

As the Rolfer works, she'll carefully watch the area under treatment. "When I work," says Frome, "I watch how you're breathing and how the tissue is responding, to continually check the impact of what I'm doing as I work."

Many Rolfers, like other bodyworkers, believe that the body stores its emotional history and experiences--from accidents such as falling out of a tree as a child to emotional upheavals that occur during abuse--in the tissues. "We contend that the process of Rolfing can release those emotional charges," says Frome.

How do those releases manifest themselves?

"Sometimes it will happen in the office during a session," says Frome. "But often a client will go home and have an epiphany of some kind. Or she'll express the release in her dreams. Once Rolfed, you may feel differently about yourself: more grounded, more in charge of your world. It's a very, very powerful therapy," he says.

Polarity Therapy: An Energizing Episode

Polarity therapy is based on the idea that the body has electromagnetic energy patterns, which must be in balance.

Its creator, Randolf Stone, was a chiropractor, osteopath and naturopath born at the turn of the century. Fascinated by the healing practices of other cultures, Dr. Stone's studies included Chinese medicine, herbology, reflexology, Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Middle Eastern spiritualism and Egyptian esoteric teachings.

As a result, his polarity therapy is a blend of Eastern and Western techniques that concentrate on unblocking the flow of energy through the body, says Ruth Kaciak, a bodyworker certified in polarity therapy and other bodywork modalities who works at the Open Center, a wellness facility in New York City.

During a polarity therapy session, the therapist will use a variety of motions (gently applied) aimed at balancing the body's energy. At various times during your session, she may hold you, rock you or use her hands lightly, or deeply, on your body.

In a typical session with a certified polarity therapist, a slight, wiry woman leads you up the stairs to a door marked "Wellness Room." Inside, incense burns. Candles glow. Tinkling, starry music emanates, it seems, from everywhere.

You are asked to remove your shoes and jewelry and to lie, fully clothed, on your back on a well-padded massage table. The therapist positions herself at the foot of the table. Gently, very gently, she pulls on your left leg and holds it for a moment or two.

"I feel an energy blockage in your hip," she comments, gently pulling some more. "Let's free that up."

Deft hands firmly press on points over your hipbone. It feels wonderful. An hour or so later, you've been gently stretched and pulled and occasionally kneaded all over your body. You leave feeling ten pounds lighter, ten years younger and energized enough to sprint across town.

Craniosacral Therapy: Massage for Your Head

Developed in the 1970s by John E. Upledger, D.O., craniosacral therapy is a gentle, hands-on method used to evaluate and enhance the craniosacral system--the membranes and fluid that surround the brain and spinal cord--to aid the body's natural healing processes. Dr. Upledger says that this therapy is effective for a wide range of conditions, including whiplash, migraines, eye problems, jaw pain and lower-back pain.

Describing craniosacral balancing as a gentle, noninvasive nervous-system and fascial-balancing technique, Kaciak explains that "craniosacral therapy works with structural alignment, energy and emotions."

Practitioners use a very light touch--generally about the weight of a nickel--to test for restrictions that block the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid.

You lie on the table as the healer places the palms of her hands very softly under the base of your skull. As you relax yourself into her hands, you feel warmth building and turning to comfortable heat, as if her hands had become tiny electric blankets. You are soothed, deeply soothed.

"Craniosacral balancing encourages the person undergoing therapy to capitalize on her own healing energy potential and not depend on the therapist's energy," says Kaciak. "Individuals may experience the energy during a session as warmth or a tingling sense of well-being."

The Trager Approach: Inner Peace in 90 Minutes

The method of hands-on healing known as the Trager Approach was developed by Milton Trager, M.D., an amateur boxer who became a doctor, using his hands to heal instead of fight. In 1980, he co-founded the Trager Institute to train Trager practitioners. Trager practitioners work with you to relax each of your body's muscle groups. Specific techniques vary from practitioner to practitioner, but, in general, a practitioner will work with an area until it has completely relaxed.

Lying down, you're urged by a low, gentle voice to "just let go," as warm, capable hands gently, firmly rock your head from side to side . . . from side to side . . . from side to side.

For the next 90 minutes, this gentle rocking will be repeated, in near-infinite variations, on your arms, your shoulders, your feet and your legs. The ever-so-gentle pulling, cradling and rocking that you'll receive all over your body may induce you to discover an inner peace so overwhelming that it may last for the rest of the day, or for the rest of the week or longer.

"Your body can be encouraged to remember what we did here today hours or days later," says certified massage and Trager therapist Bonita Cassel-Beckwith, who practices in the suburbs of Philadelphia. "When you want to regain this feeling of deep relaxation that you have reached, simply ask your neck, or any other part of you, how it felt during your Trager session. The body has a memory and will respond if you listen for its answer.

"At first, it's natural for someone to resist slightly," she says. "My job is to get you--and your muscles--to completely relax. A Trager practitioner is sensitive to every nuance of your muscles and knows how to coax them into relaxing or letting go."

A key part of the Trager Approach is what practitioners call Mentastics, mentally directed movements that suggest to the mind feelings of lightness, freedom and pleasure, says Cassel-Beckwith. "Mentastics enable those who've had a Trager session to continue feeling inner peace days, weeks and months later. The exercises help the body remember the relaxation that it discovered during the sessions."

CHOOSING A PRO

Unless you have an unlimited bodywork budget and oodles of time, it's unlikely that you'll be able to sample all of the healing riches that bodywork has to offer. But Kaciak has some wise advice.

"It's really not the technique that's important--it's the therapist and her level of skill and personal development," says Kaciak. "Bodywork is the craft and healing is the art; it transcends the technique that you use.

"Great therapists know how to help you tap into your own creative healing potential," says Kaciak. "Choose one who's skilled in several different bodywork techniques, then let her determine which of them--alone or in combination--is best for your needs." This is determined by careful listening to your body and mind and monitoring the response.

"A truly gifted practitioner, well-trained in several techniques, is like a chef with a huge spice rack at her disposal. She can blend appropriate bodywork styles together to provide optimum natural healing that's designed especially for you," says Kaciak.

SELF-MASSAGE FOR WHAT AILS YOU NOW

Practitioners agree that for optimum benefit--to relieve stress and ease stiff, sore muscle--nothing beats regular, professional massage. But with a little practice, you can give yourself an effective massage and treat yourself when time and money are short, according to Susen Edwards, licensed massage therapist, co-owner and instructor at the Somerset School of Massage in New Jersey and author of The Healing Power of Self-Massage.

"When you need to relax right now, self-massage is as close as your fingertips," says Edwards. She offers these special head and scalp and neck and shoulder massages for instant relaxation, whether you're stuck in traffic or facing a stress-provoking meeting.

	Head and Scalp Massage Place the pads of your four fingertips together at the center of your forehead. Very gently, smooth along the "worry" lines of your forehead from the center out to the temples. Repeat six times.
Next, using pressure no harder than the touch you'd use on your eyeball, make tiny circles on your temples, between the corner of your eye and your scalp. Repeat six times.
	Then, using slightly firmer pressure with all of your fingers, massage your scalp with circular motions. Starting at the nape of your neck, work your fingers around until you have massaged each part of your scalp. As you massage, imagine that your scalp is loosening under your touch.
Finally, with your hand in a loose fist close to the scalp, grab a handful of hair and give it a little tug. Work until you've covered each section of the scalp.
A Quick Fix for Chair Jockeys This massage is great for when you've been seated for too long at your desk, in your car or on a plane, says Edwards. "When you're stuck in a seated position for a while, you may begin to feel achy in your upper back, neck and shoulders. This massage will alleviate the problem pronto," she says. If you can't do this neck and shoulder massage comfortably, stop.
	Neck and Shoulder Massage Stand and tilt your head back slightly. Reach back, as shown, and use the pads of three fingertips, curved under a bit, to massage the muscles over your shoulder blades for about ten seconds. If you can't do this comfortably, stop.
Whole-Body Self-Massage Try these other easy self-massage techniques for whatever ails you, suggested by Joan Johnson, licensed massage therapist at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, and author of The Healing Art of Sports Massage. Or combine them with the head and shoulder massages, shown previously, for an all-purpose, 20-minute self-massage routine that you can do anytime, anywhere.
Hand Massage Use the thumb of one hand to massage the palm of the opposite hand. Interlock fingers, as shown, and apply firm but gentle pressure to aching hands. Then switch hands.
Foot Massage Using lengthwise or circular motions, massage the bottom of your foot with both thumbs, concentrating on the arch area. Then use the fingers from both hands and, next, both palms to massage the bottom of your foot. Repeat on the opposite foot.
	Calf Massage Positioning your lower leg at a 45-degree angle to the floor, use your thumbs and/or fingers of both hands to squeeze, stroke, shake and knead the calf muscle. Repeat on the opposite leg.
Shin Massage Reaching forward from a seated position, press both thumbs into the muscle running along the front of your lower leg. Begin near the ankle and stroke upward toward the knee. Repeat on the opposite leg.
Quadriceps Massage While seated with your right leg extended, cup the middle three fingers of one hand and bend the middle finger slightly. Using your opposite hand to help guide your cupped hand, firmly press and stroke your thigh toward the knee. Repeat on the opposite leg.
From a seated position, use both thumbs and fingers of both hands to shake, squeeze and knead at the back of your thigh. Then, divide the thigh muscle into longitudinal sections and, using your fingers and thumbs, stroke lengthwise toward your knee, working your way across, section by section. Finally, press your thumbs into the top of your thigh, as shown, and push your thumbs downward toward the knee. Repeat on the opposite leg.
	While remaining seated, continue to massage the quadriceps, alternating first one thumb and then the other. Press each thumb into the thigh in circular motions, working downward toward the knee. Repeat on the opposite leg.
Hamstring Massage While seated against a wall, extend your left leg and bend your right leg at the knee with your foot flat on the floor. Use one or both of your hands to shake, squeeze and knead the muscle under the thigh, called the hamstring. Work the entire length of the muscle. Repeat on the opposite leg.
	Lying on the floor, ben