What else should I know about treatments?

The initial intake and treatment typically lasts 2 hours since it involves taking extensive health history in order to create a personalized treatment plan. Each subsequent visit lasts 1.5 hours.  One must be able to lie quietly on one’s back for 20 minutes while the needles are in place.

The Facial Acupuncture treatment series will require a total of 14 consecutive visits over a 7-week period for maximum results.  This twice-a-week regimen requires dedication and commitment, which is not difficult when the goal in mind is radiant health!  For those who are unable to commit to twice-weekly visits, a weekly schedule can also be arranged for a total of 14 consecutive weeks.

Theresa L. Spradlin, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist – Health and Wholeness, Arlington, VA

By Karrie Osborn

Preventive Measures

In so many ways, massage is preventive health care. Yes, it can address injuries, scar tissue, and chronic pain, as well as provide relief for cancer patients and reduce hospitalization for premature babies, among many other valuable benefits (go to Massagetherapy.com for more information on the myriad benefits of massage). But when the healthy, and trying-to-be-healthy, among us seek out massage on a regular basis, it helps us live a proactively healthier life.

Since bodywork influences every system in the body, there are enormous possibilities created by increasing the frequency in which you address those systems. It’s best to discuss your session goals with your massage therapist and together devise a plan of frequency that meets your needs, while taking into account your therapist’s best advice.

Body Awareness

According to Benny Vaughn, sports massage expert and owner of Athletic Therapy Center in Fort Worth, Texas, one of the benefits of consistent and regular massage therapy is better flexibility. “This happens because regular and structured touch stimulus enhances the nervous system’s sensory and spatial processing capacity,” he says. “That is, the person becomes more aware of their body’s movement in space and becomes more aware of tightness or pain long before it reaches a critical point of mechanical dysfunction.”

Quite simply, frequent massage puts you more in tune with your body. “The consistency of massage therapy over time creates a cumulative stress reduction effect,” Vaughn says. “The person becomes acutely aware of stress within their body long before it can create stress-driven damage.”

He says the consistency of receiving regular massage therapy has the potential to create a cumulative wellness effect. “Ultimately when one feels good, our whole being follows suit on all other levels–i.e., decision-making is better, processing life events is better, and being happy is easier when you are not in pain or feeling ‘heavy’ or ‘tight.’”

Williams says she’s certain people’s lives would be changed if they could schedule massage and bodywork more frequently. “I encourage clients to commit to getting massage once a week for a month and then evaluate the results they get,” she says. “I guarantee they will become massage enthusiasts for life.”

Massage Can…–Alleviate low-back pain and increase range of motion.
–Create body self-awareness.
–Improve muscle tone and stimulate their nerve supply.
–Improve elasticity of skin and promote skin rejuvenation.
–Improve sleep and calm the mind.
–Increase endorphin and seratonin production.
–Reduce edema, as well as joint inflammation.
–Release negative holding patterns from previous injuries.
–Stimulate lymph circulation and enhance immunity.

Benefits of Massage Improve with Frequency

Karrie Osborn

What kind of massage client are you? Do you make an appointment after someone has given you a massage gift certificate? Do you try to get in every now and then for a stress-relieving tune-up? Or do you see your therapist religiously–once a week, every three weeks, once a month?

While getting a massage–regardless of how often–is incredibly beneficial to your body and mind, getting frequent massage treatments is even more powerful as a healthcare ally.

“People who get massage regularly demonstrate a reduction in pain and muscular tension and an improvement in posture,” says Anne Williams, author of Spa Bodywork: A Guide for Massage Therapists (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2006).

“People regularly make a commitment to fitness. People regularly make a commitment to changing their diet. The difference they’d experience if they regularly made a commitment to massage is mind-blowing,” she says.

Stress Killer

One way in which frequent massage can improve our quality of life is by alleviating stress. Experts say most disease is stress-related, and nothing ages us faster–inside or out–than the effects of stress. As stress-related diseases continue to claim more lives every year, the increasingly deadly role stress plays in modern-day life is painfully clear.

Massage is a great way to take charge and reverse the situation. Mary Beth Braun and Stephanie Simonson, authors of Introduction to Massage Therapy (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2007), explain the benefits of massage therapy in the simplest of terms: “Healing input influences healing output.” They note that frequent massage can reduce the accumulation of stress and improve overall health. “The benefits of massage are cumulative,” they write.

This being the case, it only makes sense that those aches and pains you see your massage therapist for might disappear faster, stay away longer, or even go away altogether with more frequent visits. Stress might never reach those physiologically detrimental levels where the immune system is suppressed or the nervous system is sent into an alarm state if you are able to receive stress-relieving bodywork with some consistency. Not only would your body benefit by regularly unleashing its aches and pains instead of adapting to them, but your mind would have time to wash away the stresses of a life lived in overdrive. Both are critical pieces for living well.

Experts say the body and mind can learn to live more calmly, more efficiently, and more healthfully when frequent massage shows the way. That makes for a healthier whole, allowing us to continue to live life at its fullest, even as we deal with each new stress or challenge.

Massage for Old Injuries

Ancient Injuries Don’t Have to Make You Feel Old

Art Riggs

Injuries such as chronic back pain, trick knees, and sticky shoulders are not necessarily something you just have to live with. Massage techniques might hold the key to unlocking this old pain.

Will Massage Help?

The benefits of massage will depend on the extent of the injury, how long ago it occurred, and on the skill of the therapist. Chronic and old injuries often require deeper and more precise treatments with less emphasis on general relaxation and working on the whole body. Massage works best for soft tissue injuries to muscles and tendons and is most effective in releasing adhesions and lengthening muscles that have shortened due to compensatory reactions to the injury. Tight and fibrous muscles not only hurt at the muscle or its tendon, but can also interfere with proper joint movement and cause pain far away from the original injury.

Therapists who perform such work often have specialized names for their work–such as orthopedic massage, neuromuscular therapy, myofascial release, medical massage, etc.,–but many massage therapists utilize an eclectic approach combining the best of the specialties.

It Works!

A recent Consumer Reports article ran the results of a survey of thousands of its readers and reported that massage was equal to chiropractic care in many areas, including back and neck pain. Massage also ranked significantly higher than some other forms of treatment, such as physical therapy or drugs.

If that nagging injury persists, consider booking a massage. Be sure to discuss the injury with your practitioner: How did you receive the injury? Have you reinjured it? And what exactly are your symptoms? Often, the body compensates in one area to protect another that has been traumatized, and this can create new problems.

Discuss the issues with your massage therapist. (Sometimes just talking about old injuries can play a significant role in the healing process.) Together, the two of you can work to determine a treatment plan.

There are other factors that will affect the level of results of Facial Acupuncture treatment, such as one’s diet and lifestyle.  Cigarette smoking and long-term exposure to UV radiation (i.e. tanning) will cause irreparable damage to the skin.  The kind of food we feed our bodies is also reflected in our facial appearance.  Continuing to smoke, going to tanning salons, and eating unhealthy food will completely undo the positive effects of any facial rejuvenation treatment or cosmetic regimen.   For that reason, the maximum results of Facial Acupuncture can only be obtained by being committed to making changes to one’s lifestyle and eliminating those obstacles to vibrant health.

Regular exercise is also known to influence the health of the skin and tissue of the face. When one is sedentary, the heart continues to circulate blood and oxygen up to the head of course, but in a limited way.  Physical activity, however, increases blood circulation and oxygen flow exponentially to all the cells of the face.  Those who make exercise part of their daily regimen have experienced that “after-exercise glow” of the skin that only comes from increased blood and oxygen flow.  For this reason, daily exercise (even light level, such as yoga accompanied by deep breathing) is highly recommended between Facial Acupuncture treatment sessions and, of course, upon completion in order to maximize health and wellness and keep the face supplied with those vital elements.

Theresa L. Spradlin, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist – Health and Wholeness, Arlington, VA

Bodywork Goes Beyond Relaxation

As you lie on the table under crisp, fresh sheets, hushed music draws you into the moment. The smell of sage fills the air and you hear the gentle sound of massage oil being warmed in your therapist’s hands. Once the session gets underway, the daily stressors and aching muscles fade into an oblivious 60 minutes of relief, and all you can comprehend right now is not wanting it to end.

But what if that hour of massage did more for you than just take the pressures of the day away? What if that gentle, Swedish massage helped you combat cancer? What if bodywork helped you recover from a strained hamstring in half the time? What if your sleep, digestion, and mood all improved with massage and bodywork? What if these weren’t just “what if’s”?

Evidence is showing that the more massage you can allow yourself, the better you’ll feel. Here’s why:

Massage as a healing tool has been around for thousands of years in many cultures. Touching is a natural human reaction to pain and stress, and for conveying compassion and support. When you bump your head or have a sore calf, the natural response is to rub it to feel better. The same was true of our earliest ancestors.

Healers throughout time and throughout the world have instinctually and independently developed a wide range of therapeutic techniques using touch. Many are still in use today, and with good reason. We now have scientific proof of the benefits of massage — benefits ranging from treating chronic diseases and injuries to alleviating the growing tensions of our modern lifestyles. Having a massage does more than just relax your body and mind — there are specific physiological and psychological changes that occur, and even more so when massage is utilized as a preventative, frequent therapy and not simply mere luxury. Massage not only feels good, but it can cure what ails you.

The Fallout of Stress

Experts estimate that 80 percent to 90 percent of disease is stress-related. Massage and bodywork is there to combat that frightening number by helping us remember what it means to relax. The physical changes massage brings to your body can have a positive effect in many areas of your life. Besides increasing relaxation and decreasing anxiety, massage lowers blood pressure, increases circulation, improves injury recovery, encourages deep sleep, and increases concentration. It reduces fatigue and gives you more energy to handle stressful situations.

Massage is a perfect elixir for good health, but it can also provide an integration of body and mind. By producing a meditative state or heightened awareness of the present moment, massage can provide emotional and spiritual balance, bringing with it true relaxation and peace.

The incredible benefits of massage are doubly powerful if taken in regular “doses.” Researchers from the Touch Research Institute (TRI) at the University of Miami, found that recipients of massage can benefit even in small doses (15 minutes of chair massage or a half-hour table session). They also note that receiving bodywork two to three times a week is even more beneficial. While this may not be feasible, it’s nice to know that this “medicine” only gets better with frequency.

What It Does

In an age of technical and, at times, impersonal medicine, massage offers a drug-free, non-invasive, and humanistic approach based on the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Following is a brief list of the many known, research-based benefits of massage and bodywork:

- Increases circulation, allowing the body to pump more oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs,

- Stimulates the flow of lymph, the body’s natural defense system, against toxic invaders. For example, in breast cancer patients, massage has been shown to increase the cells that fight cancer. Furthermore, increased circulation of blood and lymph systems improves the condition of the body’s largest organ — the skin,

- Relaxes and softens injured and overused muscles,

- Reduces spasms and cramping,

- Increases joint flexibility,

- Reduces recovery time and helps prepare the body for strenuous workouts, reducing subsequent muscle pain of athletes at any level,

- Releases endorphins — the body’s natural painkiller — and is proving very beneficial in patients with chronic illness, injury, and post-op pain,

- Reduces post-surgery adhesions and edema and can be used to reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred,

- Improves range-of-motion and decreases discomfort for patients with low back pain,

- Relieves pain for migraine sufferers and decreases the need for medication,

- Provides exercise and stretching for atrophied muscles and reduces shortening of the muscles for those with restricted range of motion,

- Assists with shorter labor for expectant mothers, as well as reduces the need for medication, eases postpartum depression and anxiety, and contributes to a shorter hospital stay.

The benefits of massage are diverse. No matter how great it feels, massage isn’t just a luxury, it’s a health necessity.

This past summer I found myself with some pretty awful low back pain, the kind where you worry that if you bend over too far you might just keep going to the floor, or get stuck in the bent over position.  I hurt it, like a lot of guys do, by trying to lift too much weight and for about 3 months it would start to feel better and then one vigorous workout would send it back to being very, shall we say…delicate.  At times I moved around like I was 80 years old.  Being a trainer and a generally fit person it was weird to see myself move like some of my elderly clients.  But boy could I relate to what they must feel as they move through space.

After emptying my bag of tricks with the exercises I knew to do for my core, plus rehabilitative measures like acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, proper sleeping position, ice, etc., I was starting to wonder if I had damaged something structurally.  I had Jeremy Rucker (our Muscle Activation Techniques specialist) go to work on me trying to figure out what muscles might be letting me down.  Turns out my back actually tested quite strong.  What he found however was that various abdominal muscles, as well as my hip flexors couldn’t even resist against light pressure.  It was like they were on a dimmer switch set to the lowest output.  They could move but had a tremendously low threshold.  Anything stressful basically turned them off.  In short my back was hurting because my abs and hip flexors were not strong enough to handle what my back was capable of.  Yet it was my back felt the brunt of their dysfunction.

Armed with that knowledge I knew there was nothing better at strengthening the core than Pilates.  Now, I’m a guy who loves a good sweat, I like lifting toward the heavy (not too heavy) side.  I like getting somewhat out of breath, to really out of breath.  I like leaving a workout feeling the pump in the muscles and the clear mind that comes with a strong exertion level.  There is not much about Pilates that fits that description but nevertheless so many people swear by it that I knew it likely was what my body needed.  Besides, I was running out of health measures I knew of to help my back heal.  I had to try it.

I had Heather Paris work with me for just 2 sessions and at the end of the first I could already feel the difference!  When I started my first session I could barely bend over far enough to touch my hands to my knees.  By the end of the hour I could reach down around my ankles.  The difference was amazing!  By the end of the second session I actually felt athletic again.  That was all it took.  I was hooked.  Since then I’ve made many of those exercises a part of my standard workouts.  I regularly “sneak” into the Pilates studio to practice what she taught me.  I’ve learned the cues my body is giving me that tell me when my body needs some Pilates.

I cannot say how grateful I am to have such quality of life enhancing knowledge in my “hip pocket”.  If you’re core needs some help you’ve gotta try Pilates.  Do it well, precisely and often and you can’t help but feel the difference!   Here’s to moving like a kid again.  Thank you Heather!

To your health,

Christian Elliot – Personal Trainer, and owner Health and Wholeness LLC, Arlington VA

Facial Acupuncture is not an instant fix. While there may be a noticeable change in the integrity and quality of the skin after only one treatment, it is cumulative in its nature, so the maximum effects will become more observable over time.

The results of treatment are varied and depend largely on the individual. The more defined lines and changes in the landscape of the face will require a longer span of time to notice a difference. Thus, finer lines and minimal changes will begin to fade quicker.  Deep crevices may become somewhat smoother; however, there are no guarantees that they will completely fade.  Deep crevices do not appear overnight; rather they have been deepening for a long time.  Even many of the most costly facial rejuvenation techniques available today cannot completely undo the damage of several years duration.  However, with Facial Acupuncture, those deep lines will become smoother and somewhat diminished.  The overall fuller and vibrant appearance of the skin is what people will notice!

Theresa L. Spradlin, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist – Health and Wholeness, Arlington, VA

We are proud to be able to offer a unique niche in acupuncture!  You won’t find many places here in Arlington VA that offer Facial Acupuncture, (also known as Cosmetic Acupuncture or Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture).  Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. The healing effects of this ancient art continue to hold true as acupuncturists today employ it in ever-expanding ways.  In response to the changing needs of our community, we at Health & Wholeness are now proud to offer our clients the opportunity to experience Facial Acupuncture in the soothing and relaxing spa-like environment of our Studio A!

What is Facial Acupuncture?

Facial Acupuncture is not a new concept. While it has recently become quite popular in health and beauty spas around the world, it has its roots in ancient China thousands of years ago.  The ancient Chinese understood that the energy, otherwise known as Qi, that keeps us alive and upright can become blocked causing pain and disease to occur.  Certain people back then also knew of methods to encourage the energy to flow freely.  Hence, the practice of Acupuncture was born.  Even in those ancient times, the acupuncturist also understood that when the energy flows freely through the body, it manifests in the appearance of the face in the form of vibrancy and vitality.  Facial Acupuncture, moreover, grew out of the knowledge that the face essentially reflects the body’s state of health and well-being much like a mirror.  Acupuncturists today apply those same healing principles to bring about natural vibrancy and vitality in the faces of our clients.

Most of us are concerned about our appearance.  After all, it’s how we present ourselves to the world. We like to look good regardless of our age.  Over time, our faces become altered in reflection of the myriad changes that occur within the body as we age.  Suddenly, or so it seems, there are lines and creases where there were none before.  Concern for facial appearance is not restricted to those who have entered their “Silver Years.”  Even people (men as well as women) in their early twenties are now expressing fear of looking “old.”  Facial Acupuncture can help reduce those ravages of time and, when treated early enough, can even help to prevent certain changes from occurring in the skin and underlying tissue of the face.  Facial acupuncture works naturally with the body’s energy in a holistic way to bring this about.

Theresa L. Spradlin, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM) Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist

Had a great experience today doing a consult with a new client.  He’s a bright, athletic guy who loves everything about exercise.  He plays basketball at the LA Fitness just down the street here in Arlington, but has several ailments that keep him from his top form.  As we talked through his long (and I mean long) list of injuries it was amazing how many of his injuries came back to the same probably cause–a weak core (abs, low back and hips).  I could see the gears turning in his head as we talked through how weak muscles in one part of the body put strain on other parts when we move.  He didn’t mention once that his abs bothered him, yet as we talked it became clear that their weakness was most likely responsible for several of the injuries he had.  We got to see tangible how changing his body position just slightly during a simple plank, he took the load from his structure (joints/ligaments in his low back) and put into his muscular system where it should be.  As soon as he made the change the abs starting burning and the low back pain went away.

It’s so rewarding to show someone that they don’t necessarily have a bad joint as much as they have an inefficient movement because of a disproportionate strength in one part of the body vs. another.  That’s not to say the joint will feel 100% better overnight because of one workout, but to be able to help someone who is willing to put the work in to “return to form” when they are wondering if they might have to give up or limit being active altogether, is truly a fun line of work.  I can’t wait to help this guy find his groove again and help him save his body years of needless wear and tear.  Here’s to being a Personal Trainer!

Christian