Jennifer

As winter arrives, some people might feel like it is making its home right in their bones. Cold weather can tend to bring achiness to muscles and joints. It is common to feel arthritis flair up with the change of weather and quite similarly, muscles and joints get affected with the change of seasons as well!

The dramatic change of barometric pressure can cause aches in joints affected by arthritis or joints of bones that were previously fractured. This is due to the prevention of microscopic expansion in the joints because of the pressure. Along with potential pressure changes, cold wind and weather can cause muscles to stiffen up while trying to keep in body heat, creating that muscle achiness and discomfort.

To prevent any additional aches that you may begin to feel this winter, make sure to dress warmly so your body doesn’t have to fight to keep in its heat. Getting a massage more often throughout the wintertime to help fight against winter blues and achy muscles will also help; so book a massage today!

The neck and throat area is an extremely sensitive area; therefore making it very painful when injured. A whiplash injury can take a long time to heal if not treated right away. Massage can be part of that healing process to make sure you are on your way to a pain-free state again.

Whiplash targets different muscles in the neck depending on the impact that caused the injury. For example, if you were rear-ended in a car accident this causes a hyper-extension injury targeting muscles in the front of the neck. A side-impact would cause more injury to the muscles in side of the neck. These impacts, depending on their severity, could cause diminished range of motion to the neck, strains or spasms to the muscles involved, sprains or ruptures to certain ligaments, and concussions.

Treatment will vary depending on what stage of healing the patient is in and how severe the trauma was. Adhesions or ‘knots’ will develop early on to stabilize the injured area. It is important not to reduce these adhesions in the muscles too early in the healing process so as to maintain support around the neck as the patient moves from the early stages to mid stages of healing. Early on, treatment will be focused on decreasing the patient’s pain, muscle spasms, and swelling. Later on in treatments, clients will be worked on to increase diminished range of motion and any present ‘knots’ that have not subsided. Headaches and decreased muscle strength in specific neck muscles may also be looked at and treated accordingly.

Due to the sensitivity of the area, whip-lash treatment must be done within the patient’s pain tolerance and treated very carefully. If you have suffered from a whip-lash injury, seek out treatment immediately. Treatment is essential to your recovery and a pain free life!