Hello all,
Welcome to the first edition of my massage newsletter!
My plan is to post these periodically with some updates about my practice, including a little information about classes I've been taking and things I've been learning that I find interesting and useful and that I hope you will too.
If you would like to receive my e-mail newsletters, send me a note here.
======================================
Contents:
-New massage job and upcoming schedule changes
-Idea for anatomy and self-care classes
-Recent classes I've taken
-Nerdy tidbit du jour
======================================
-New massage job and upcoming schedule changes
As you may know, I'll be starting a new job at the Bellevue office of Monroe Therapeutic Massage. I am currently there on Mondays, and will be adding Wednesdays starting 9/16. I'm excited to start practicing there, and to work with clients who are referred by their physicians and who can have their treatment covered by their insurance. If you know anyone for whom this is a convenient location and who might benefit from my work, please send them my way!
This means that starting the week of 9/14, I'll be switching the day I see clients in my private practice on Beacon Hill, from Wednesdays to either Tuesdays or Thursdays. If you have been coming in regularly on Wednesdays or would like to start, let me know if either of these is impossible for you. I'll try to make my new schedule work for as many of you as I can. Look for an announcement by e-mail or on the fees, hours, location page.
-Idea for anatomy and self-care classes
I've been mulling over the idea of teaching classes on anatomy and self-care for my massage clients and other interested folks. These would be small group lessons, probably 6 or so people. They'd be about an hour and a half in the evening of my private practice day. I'd do these on a donation basis.
Each session would focus on a particular area of the body. We'd spend time talking about the general physiology of stretching and about the anatomy and kinesiology (study of movement) of the focus area. We'd also take time to practice stretches and other self-care tips. The idea with the small group – aside from limited space – would be to incorporate the knowledge and experience of folks in the room, as well as to tailor the content and make sure it's relevant.
I'll be sending out an announcement by e-mail once I have the details lined up; if you are interested and have particular anatomy/self-care questions you'd like to see covered in a class like this, please let me know!
-Recent classes I've taken
Earlier this summer, I finished taking a wonderful series of structural injury treatment courses with Pat O'Rourke. Each day-long class examined a different part of the body, and for me was a great combination of refresher and deeper learning about anatomy and treatment. We started each day with a survey of the anatomy of our focus area - bones, joint structures, muscles/tendons and major nerves. We talked about how to assess function and injury in the area by looking at alignment (how are the bones lining up with each other and what does that tell us about the balance in the area - what tissues might be tight and short? what tissues are likely to be long and overstretched?), active and passive range of motion testing (which ligaments or other joint structures, what muscles and tendons are most involved in pain and/or limited function in an injured area?), and palpation (what is the feel of the various tissues in the area? where is there scar tissue and how can it be supported to be more functional and less painful?).
We took some time to practice each of these, and to work on fitting the pieces together into treatment approaches that strive to support not only the functional healing of injured tissue, but also the broader balance of the system. Reducing the mechanical strain placed on injured tissue can allow it to heal more fully and support the person in finding more ease and comfort. It's great stuff! I could go on! But I'll stop here for now.
-Nerdy tidbit du jour
I learned this from Jen Rice and Pat O'Rourke – thanks you two! If you look closely at the way ribs attach to the spine (do an image search for 'costovertebral joint' if you're curious, I like these two), you'll notice that each rib head attaches at the bottom of the body of the vertebra above it and at the top of the one below it. The neck of the rib also attaches to the part of the lower vertebra that branches out to the side, called the transverse process.
If this makes no sense to you, don't worry about it. The fun take-away is this: these three points of attachment between a rib and two vertebrae, along with the angle the rib follows as it wraps around to the front of the torso, means that when you breathe deeply in and the front of your ribcage rises, each rib acts like a lever to create a little space between the two vertebrae it's attached to. This means that each deep breath briefly decompresses the discs between these vertebrae, and helps keep them healthy. It also means your thoracic spine is a tiny bit longer at the top of your inhale than at the bottom of your exhale. For real.
That's it for now!
Thanks and take care,
marc maupoux, lmp
Welcome to the first edition of my massage newsletter!
My plan is to post these periodically with some updates about my practice, including a little information about classes I've been taking and things I've been learning that I find interesting and useful and that I hope you will too.
If you would like to receive my e-mail newsletters, send me a note here.
======================================
Contents:
-New massage job and upcoming schedule changes
-Idea for anatomy and self-care classes
-Recent classes I've taken
-Nerdy tidbit du jour
======================================
-New massage job and upcoming schedule changes
As you may know, I'll be starting a new job at the Bellevue office of Monroe Therapeutic Massage. I am currently there on Mondays, and will be adding Wednesdays starting 9/16. I'm excited to start practicing there, and to work with clients who are referred by their physicians and who can have their treatment covered by their insurance. If you know anyone for whom this is a convenient location and who might benefit from my work, please send them my way!
This means that starting the week of 9/14, I'll be switching the day I see clients in my private practice on Beacon Hill, from Wednesdays to either Tuesdays or Thursdays. If you have been coming in regularly on Wednesdays or would like to start, let me know if either of these is impossible for you. I'll try to make my new schedule work for as many of you as I can. Look for an announcement by e-mail or on the fees, hours, location page.
-Idea for anatomy and self-care classes
I've been mulling over the idea of teaching classes on anatomy and self-care for my massage clients and other interested folks. These would be small group lessons, probably 6 or so people. They'd be about an hour and a half in the evening of my private practice day. I'd do these on a donation basis.
Each session would focus on a particular area of the body. We'd spend time talking about the general physiology of stretching and about the anatomy and kinesiology (study of movement) of the focus area. We'd also take time to practice stretches and other self-care tips. The idea with the small group – aside from limited space – would be to incorporate the knowledge and experience of folks in the room, as well as to tailor the content and make sure it's relevant.
I'll be sending out an announcement by e-mail once I have the details lined up; if you are interested and have particular anatomy/self-care questions you'd like to see covered in a class like this, please let me know!
-Recent classes I've taken
Earlier this summer, I finished taking a wonderful series of structural injury treatment courses with Pat O'Rourke. Each day-long class examined a different part of the body, and for me was a great combination of refresher and deeper learning about anatomy and treatment. We started each day with a survey of the anatomy of our focus area - bones, joint structures, muscles/tendons and major nerves. We talked about how to assess function and injury in the area by looking at alignment (how are the bones lining up with each other and what does that tell us about the balance in the area - what tissues might be tight and short? what tissues are likely to be long and overstretched?), active and passive range of motion testing (which ligaments or other joint structures, what muscles and tendons are most involved in pain and/or limited function in an injured area?), and palpation (what is the feel of the various tissues in the area? where is there scar tissue and how can it be supported to be more functional and less painful?).
We took some time to practice each of these, and to work on fitting the pieces together into treatment approaches that strive to support not only the functional healing of injured tissue, but also the broader balance of the system. Reducing the mechanical strain placed on injured tissue can allow it to heal more fully and support the person in finding more ease and comfort. It's great stuff! I could go on! But I'll stop here for now.
-Nerdy tidbit du jour
I learned this from Jen Rice and Pat O'Rourke – thanks you two! If you look closely at the way ribs attach to the spine (do an image search for 'costovertebral joint' if you're curious, I like these two), you'll notice that each rib head attaches at the bottom of the body of the vertebra above it and at the top of the one below it. The neck of the rib also attaches to the part of the lower vertebra that branches out to the side, called the transverse process.
If this makes no sense to you, don't worry about it. The fun take-away is this: these three points of attachment between a rib and two vertebrae, along with the angle the rib follows as it wraps around to the front of the torso, means that when you breathe deeply in and the front of your ribcage rises, each rib acts like a lever to create a little space between the two vertebrae it's attached to. This means that each deep breath briefly decompresses the discs between these vertebrae, and helps keep them healthy. It also means your thoracic spine is a tiny bit longer at the top of your inhale than at the bottom of your exhale. For real.
That's it for now!
Thanks and take care,
marc maupoux, lmp