Massage in the Summer

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Thursday, 14 June 2018

Summer is the time of year that people look forward to most. We tend to associate it with better weather, longer evenings, holidays and enjoying outdoor occasions.  Bizarrely, many positive aspects of Summer can trigger a need for people to receive massage therapy. From our massage practise experience, common pain symptoms can increase at this time of year. Let’s explore the reasons why and what you can do to prevent the “pain” need from occurring in the first place.

Air con neck – how ventilation systems can be a pain in the neck

Did you know that sitting with exposed shoulder skin in the direct flow of air conditioning can cause neck spasm?  What may start off as relief from outside heat can gradually feel increasingly cold – often causing its victims to hunch their shoulders. Hunched neck and shoulder muscles eventually fatigue and may become cold and stiff with the cold air flow.

It just takes a small trigger to injure a muscle in this condition, such as looking around quickly or carrying your handbag at lunch time - and then the pain cycle begins. It is common that we don’t notice any negative effect or pain until much later. Often we feel uncomfortable sleeping or awaken the next morning to pain - and being unable to turn our head.

Remedial massage is effective in restoring normal muscle function and relieving pain. As a preventative measure consider keeping your neck and shoulders covered with clothing. If the air flow is too great try reducing the air speed, adjusting the temperature or moving desk.

Massage to treat holiday related pain – really?

Holidays can be fun, relaxing and vital for busy people to restore balance and recover from a hectic schedule. It’s ironic that holidays can also cause mental and physical stresses on our body. From years of client treatments we have noticed that our clients often return from holidays with extra muscular tension and pain than what they previously had. That may sound crazy but there are various reasons why this can occur. Our pre-holiday workload is usually extra busy to prepare for taking time off. We also squeeze in haircuts, nails, clothes shopping, packing and organising our travel itinerary and insurance, leaving us exhausted before traveling even starts.

It seems compulsory to have at least one night time flight and an airport delay for our sins as we escape on our journey. Although travel and tiredness can leave a shadow on our holiday enjoyment it is often the quality of mattress and unfamiliar pillow that causes muscle soreness. Muscle ache aided by poor diet, luggage hauling and less exercise can sometimes leave us craving the bliss of routine life.   

Massage can help to get you physically back on track after your holiday. We recommend our clients to plan for at least one early night’s sleep in the days leading up to a holiday to start off on the right foot. We also recommend to book a massage one week after their holiday to iron out the creases that a holiday can create in their body - setting them up in good physical shape.

Massage to help recover from jetlag

If you’ve experienced what it is like to adjust back to normal life after holidaying in a different time zone you may want to consider a jetlag massage. Jetlag massage consists of deep and slow pressured massage stokes to relax your body and mind. It helps to detoxify your body to aid it in returning to your normal routine of sleep as quickly as possible. Clients normally find that they sleep better in the nights following a deep relaxing massage treatment – helping them feel at their best in less time.