"You know 37 ways to kill a man with your thumbs, don't you?"

There's a great write-up today in the Oregonian about massage and the rodeo. Here's an extended excerpt:

Rodeo riders find relief for raw hides

Ropers, racers and stock riders turn to massage to soothe achy breaky bodies
MATTHEW PREUSCH

SISTERS It's between performances at the Biggest Little Show in the World, and cowboys are lining up at the massage table inside the red and white sports medicine trailer parked in the mud and manure behind the Sisters Rodeo arena.

"Take your shirt off, man," says Cody DeMoss to fellow saddle bronc rider Bradley Harter as Harter eases onto the table, spurs skyward.

"The grease is good," advises DeMoss, spitting tobacco juice into a Pepsi cup as he fiddles with his cell phone and Hank Williams twangs overhead. "You want the grease."

So off comes Harter's denim shirt and the massage therapist rubs the grease -- grape-seed oil -- into his muscled shoulders and arms. The 24-year old cowboy from Glade Water, Texas, sighs appreciatively.

He says he's had back pain for three months, since a horse mashed him in a bucking chute in Houston.

"No use riding a bucking horse if your body isn't right," he says.

Once a novelty on the professional rodeo circuit, massage therapy is gaining popularity among ropers, racers and rough stock riders and one day could be as much a part of the culture as Wrangler jeans and Resistol hats."

To continue reading this article, go to "RODEO RIDERS." (Oregonian asks for your zip and birth year to get to the story.)

If it's great for rodeo riders, imagine what it can do for your achy body!

On Water as Therapy...

Water has likely been used as therapy since the beginning of time. It is an integral part of natural medicine. The ancient Greeks built bath houses to improve health of body and mind, and Roman society transformed the bath houses to centers of social and political gatherings. Russian baths involve steam followed by a cold plunge, much like the "sweat lodge" of the Native Americans. Even religious entities use baptism as a symbol of spiritual cleansing.

With this rich history of water as therapy, there still is much confusion about how to use water, or hydrotherapy, at home as a treatment. Do I use heat or cold?

Most of us know that ice is good for a sprain, and heat is usually good for spasm, but the "rules" seem so complicated, many of us won't use hot and cold therapy beyond the basic use, for fear of making pain worse. Here is a general guideline for using heat and ice at home:

ACUTE: use COLD. Use a cold compress, or ice pack wrapped in a towel, for 15-20 minutes.

SUBACUTE: alternate HOT and COLD. Use heat for 3-5 minutes, then cold for 1 minute. Do this 3 times, ending with cold.

CHRONIC: use HEAT. Apply a hot compress, heated flax pillow or moist-heat pad for 10-20 minutes. Be careful not to overheat the skin or surrounding area.

What does "acute," "subacute" and "chronic" mean?

An acute pain is one that comes on quickly and intensely. For instance: You sprain your ankle, you are doing yardwork, and you stand up and have a sharp, spasmy pain, Or you have an old injury that suddenly flares up when you "turn your head wrong." Generally, this phase lasts from 48-72 hours after injury. The area will have one or more of the following symptoms: pain, redness, swelling, heat, loss of use.

A subacute pain follows the acute phase of an injury. This is when bruising starts to change to lighter color, your range of motion is a little better and the swelling goes down. This is also the time that more serious injuries start to develop fragile new scar tissue. This phase lasts from 3 days to 6-8 weeks, depending on injury severity.

Chronic pain is the phase that usually begins about 3 weeks after injury. During this phase your swelling and inflammation should have gone away, you may be experiencing pain with movement, but no pain or only a dull ache when at rest. Your scar tissue is no longer so fragile, and bruising is gone.

What does all of this mean for massage therapy?

If you have an injury, be sure to discuss both the date of injury and the severity with your massage therapist. In most cases, he or she should be trained to evaluate whether massage is appropriate yet for the injured area, as well as what forms of hydrotherapy will be helpful. For certain injuries, the therapist may also choose to contact your physician for more information before treating the injured area with massage therapy.

Going Green

Every day we are inundated with chemicals, pollutants, and allergens. Our clinic makes a daily effort to minimize chemicals and pollutants in our space. Our oils and lotions are as close to natural as the market has available. I use pure Jojoba oil for most sessions. Jojoba is not a true oil, it is a plant ester- a wax, and is considered very similar to the skin's natural oils. It is not drying, and won't make you feel oily after your session. My lotions and cremes are chosen for their natural ingredients, and we try to minimize or eliminate use of any creme that contains alcohols, silicones or harsh preservatives.

The cleaners we use in the office and treatment rooms are "green," and biodegradeable, instead of harmful chemical bases. I switched to these formulas because cleaners in the air can cause harm to the invertebrates in my aquarium. An added bonus is they are healthier for us too!

One of the last hold-outs for most massage therapists and spas is the use of candles. Nearly all candles are made of paraffin wax, which is a petroleum product. Paraffin burns nicely, but is considered an environmental pollutant, as are all petroleum wastes. Burning several candles in an enclosed space for several hours can impact air quality, and increase asthma and other breathing difficulties. In addition, a few paraffin candles still use wicks that contain lead, and there is some evidence that the lead is released into the air as the candles burn, potentially raising the lead levels in a closed room to unsafe levels.*

In view of this, our clinic has transitioned to soy candles, beeswax candles and candles made from other vegetable sources. These cause less impact to the environment, are theoretically less likely to cause lung irritation in sensitive individuals, and are made from sustainable resources. Artisan crafters of soy and beeswax candles also are committed to using healthier wick alternatives such as 100% cotton wicks, hemp wicks and other plant-based wicks that do not contain lead or other metal cores.

Greenspace Candles is one such producer. A local woman-owned business, Greenspace produces fine container candles made of high-grade soy wax and hemp oil. She makes an essential oil line, fragranced line, and an unscented version. Big Dipper Wax Works is a local producer (Seattle, WA) of fine beeswax candles. Breathe Bodywork and Body Sage Massage are pleased to offer these candles to our clients.**



*For more information on candle types and concerns, please see this article: How to Handle a Candle

**Big Dipper Wax Works suffered losses to their facility in a fire several months ago. They expect to be producing again by July. We hope to again be able to use and provide their beeswax candles in our clinic.

Massages Tap Into Student Healing

"SOMETIMES a simple massage can do wonders.

An after-school program at Rancho Elementary brings in volunteer massage therapists to help special education students improve upon their daily difficulties.

So far students are responding positively to the treatments as some kids are opening up and becoming more social, while others are showing improvements in holding on and retaining prior knowledge."

The rest of the article can be found here: After-School Massages

There are many detractors from some of the gentler therapies. "Placebo effect" is an oft-heard comment. Regardless of the science vs. placebo debate, these children are showing improvement in their daily lives, and the volunteers are finding great reward in helping them.

While Breathe Bodywork and Body Sage Massage do not offer Craniosacral therapy, if you are looking for a practitioner for yourself or your child, please feel free to contact us for a referral. We would also be delighted to discuss other types of therapy that could be helpful to you and your child.

Guest post: Creativity - Massage as Art

This essay on the creativity and inspiration of massage is used by permission. It really was inspirational and thought-provoking to me, and I am glad to be able to share it here. The author is Chris Kincade , he currently has a private practice in and around Burbank, California. Thank you, Chris.

"I think of massage as an art form. I always have. Each person is so unique and has so many interesting things they bring to the table. The more I work on people the broader the palette I have to draw from in terms of what I can do to facilitate the ultimate transformational experience. I learn from them, I learn from life, the world is teaching us on many levels every day.

I have encountered bodyworkers who bring little imagination to their work. They do the stroke sheet they learned in school, have a one hour CD they do every massage to and kick their clients off the table when then hour is up. I even remember one gal who used a cowbell to let you know you had to leave. Never went back to her. Neither did anyone else.

20 years ago when I thought I was a hot shot body worker because I worked on film sets and had the top names in Hollywood throwing money at me to get on my table I was suddenly struck with some anxiety, I remember going to a teacher I trusted and confiding in him. "I'm young and strong now and am at the top of my game. Where do I go from here? How can I keep this up?" He told me words that I still live by. He said "You keep doing this and you will eventually become a master at it. You will have a greater effect using less energy. You will invent things that are uniquely yours and it will be your responsibility to pass that on at some point. But just when, as now, you think you have it all figured out, another wall at another level will come down and you will begin to grow anew." I cannot tell you how profound this was to hear this.

This is what you'd tell any artist that is struggling with their vision. I took this teacher's words to heart and never looked back. Am I a master now? Hardly, maybe in another 20 years or so. I'm still learning everyday. I take classes, make stuff up, take routines and turn them upside down to find a new dynamic, and each person, even the ones I've seen every week for 20 years come in with new challenges as the journey of life unfolds for them.

I have a Bose iPod Dock and an iPod with 28 gigs of music in it. Since 80% of my clients I see every week I make up playlists that are exclusively created for their needs. It's not always what you'd expect to hear in a massage either, but since I regard music as a healing modality and not some benign background sound, I use it to create an artful adjunct to their experience, mine too. Being a musician myself (I play the harp) makes it even easier since I understand the power of music to heal.

I also approach every massage as if it might be my last one. I never phone it in. I am always excited to do it. No matter what is going on in the world or in my life as soon as I put my hands on someone "I'm there!" In the pocket, like Jimi Hendrix when he eases into "Pali Gap." Like Eva Cassidy when she opens her soul in "Fields of Gold." Like Jeff Buckley playing the intro to "Dream Brother"

Healing is art is life is music is love is shared is infinite is what we are and what we do. To me body work is one of the most exalted and yet underappreciated art forms. Your masterpiece gets up off the table, shakes the stars from their hair, notices the color that has returned to their beautiful faces and is awash with the beauty of love. That's another thing, I cannot work on someone unless I can find something about that person that I adore. I was hospitalized once and had some words with a Doctor because I was being treated really bad by his staff. He looked up from his clipboard and snarled at me "This is hospital not a 'Love IN'." I looked back and told him "There is no healing without love." I believe that to this day. I have seen miracles happen in my work, stuff you wouldn't believe. And every day the opportunity comes again to see another one. That is the muse! The wonder and glory of the unexpected that occurs when petty limitations are transcended and the whole being is involved with the incredible transformational power of the moment." ~ used by permission. Author: Chris Kincade

Come take a tour...

I love going to work. My officemate and I work hard to keep a peaceful environment; we and our clients really enjoy the space.


My treatment room is comfortable and spacious. It's on the second floor of a professional office complex, near the main entrance. There is elevator access on the other side. One wall is all windows and when the curtains are open you can see a courtyard with many trees and flowers. In a few weeks it will be full of blooming dogwood trees and pansies.

I like everything about my space. Favorite features in the treatment room: my long handmade modular bookcase. I made it myself, and it has lots of cubbies and baskets for necessary and luxury items. On another table is a tiny fish tank fountain with a real fish in it! There's a bronze dragon on the little wall shelf next to the chair. He holds my business cards, and I can tuck a little receipt card into his mouth that has the amount for today's session, and my "yes referral/no tipping" policy printed on it.


Creature comforts are a full length table warmer, a fleece pad on my table, some fantastic face cradle covers that don't have a seam at the forehead, so my clients don't leave with a line across the forehead, flax pillows for spot heating for my colder clients, and plush insulating blankets from Columbia Sportswear. They are super lightweight and hold body heat very well.

Most of my decorations were either from Cost Plus, my own camera, or Crystal Heart - a local crystals, books and metaphysical shop up the street from my office. The rug is seagrass. The bumblebee floor to ceiling curtains and curtain wire are from IKEA.

My table is an Oakworks Pro-Luxe Flat top electric lift table. I LOVE this table, it's the smartest purchase I've ever made, and is ADA compliant, (lowers to within 19" of the floor,) and ultra-strong with a 550 lb working load capacity. I also use a Boiance Face Rest, which seems to greatly ease sinus pressure and congestion during the face-down portion of a massage.

This is a very nice place to go to work each day. The building tenants are friendly, and it feels professional. We don't have street visibility, so we have to rely on talking, advertising and referrals so people know we are here, but it's a nice trade-off because the location is reasonably quiet, with only occasional noise from the street.


This is my waiting room/office, (office portion is not pictured.) The office portion takes up a smaller area if you turn around and face the other direction. Our office also contains an ever-growing reference library on various clinical massage therapy topics.

Most of the items in this room are from IKEA, except for the aquarium which is a custom build I bought from one of my clients. There is more about the aquarium at Ocean in Glass, my aquarium page.

Thank you for touring!

Venom for pain...

I was flipping TV channels this evening when a PBS show grabbed my attention. They were talking about marine pufferfish. It was a fascinating show about the research being done on animal venom for use in medical treatments and pain management. The show was Nature, episode: The Venom Cure.

It will re-air on OPB, Sunday morning, April 16 at 10:00 am, pacific daylight time. Set your TIVOs, it's worth it. This is something that can affect us and our clients. If you're outside of Oregon, check your local PBS station.

Also, check this excellent article about puffers, neurotoxins and fugu: Blowfish Toxin: A New Approach to Pain Management

For ongoing research into using venom for pain management and other medical treatments, see News-Medical.Net.

Tetrodotoxin, (puffer venom) has been used as a treatment for migraines in Asia. It is currently being researched around the world for treatment of cancer pain, sciatica and other conditions.