I recently received 10 minutes of the worst massage ever. This was at a local spa, which has been gradually raising its prices while not providing augmented amenities.
Case in point: This place, which shall remain nameless, now charges a base fee for a “relaxation massage.” If the client wants a “deep tissue” massage, an additional $10 is due at time of check-in.
The problem with this is that the receptionist who scheduled my session couldn’t tell me, when asked, exactly what the term “deep tissue” referred to. “Neuromuscular Therapy?” I asked, “Rolfing?” “Trigger-point therapy?” “Sports massage?” She didn’t know. In light of a lack of explanation, I decided to book my usual one-hour massage without adding on “deep tissue.”
Cut to the session room: I’m face down on the table, receiving something akin to butterfly wings flapping on either side of my neck.
Therapist: “I want to confirm that all you paid for was a relaxation massage. If you want deep tissue, we’ll have to take care of that [read: get more money from you] at the front desk.”
Me: “Can you work deeper? Say, on the far end of the relaxation-massage scale?”
Therapist: “We’re already there. This is all you paid for, a relaxation massage.”
Me: “I’m outta here.”
With that, I left the session room. First, being told that some sort of strange, light touch (not effleurage, not petrissage) session was all I would get for $80 was not exactly a form of “relaxation.” Second, I’ve received hundreds of massages. I know what average Swedish massage pressure feels like, and I know I don’t have particularly bulky or tight muscles that require strenuous exertion on the part of the therapist in order to effect relaxation. (Not to mention the fact that deep work can be performed without strenuous exertion; see Expert Advice in the July issue.)

I asked the front desk for my money back. The receptionist called the spa’s manager at home to tell him there was a dissatisfied customer requesting her money back. He said I should call back when he was at the spa. I haven’t yet; I wanted to first get some input from professionals in this field as to what the term “deep tissue” really means.

Can you tell me?

Until next time!

One of the March issue’s feature articles focused on running an environmentally friendly massage practice. “How Green is Your Massage Practice? How Sowing Small Seeds of Change Now Will Lead to a Healthier Environment” mentioned carbon offsetting as one means of making up for the carbon dioxide emissions your travel and consumption create.

The reason I bring this up is according to a brand-new report, Americans contribute, per capita, more than twice as much greenhouse gas to the atmosphere as those living in the rest of the world. “Even the people with the lowest usage of energy are still producing, on average, more than double the global per-capita average,” stated a release from the Michigan Institute of Technology that I received today. And those emissions rise steeply from that minimum as people’s income increases.

“In general, spending money on travel or on goods that have substantial energy costs in their manufacture and delivery adds to a person’s carbon footprint, while expenditures on locally based labor-intensive services-whether it’s going to a therapist, taking an art class, or getting a massage-leads to a smaller footprint,” said David Chandler, in MIT’s News Office. “But the biggest factors in most people’s lives were the well-known obvious energy users: housing, transportation and food.”

Carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct of the combustion of fossil fuels. Carbon offsetting means making up for your carbon dioxide emissions by contributing to organizations that run renewable-energy, energy-efficiency and reforestation projects for just that purpose. The Web site I just visited to offset my car is www.carbonfund.org, which I chose because it’s a nonprofit.

I’ve been receiving feedback on MASSAGE Magazine’s coverage of massage franchises, so I thought I would provide you with some background on why we’ve published what we have on this topic.
Basically, some readers feel that we have provided franchises with too much positive coverage recently.
We have run several articles in the past few issues that look at franchises—but that view is, cumulatively, of a variety of angles.
“The Truth About Massage Franchises,” which ran in our February issue, was a Guest Editorial written by someone in management at the largest massage franchise. It was, as you may have surmised, pro-franchise.
“Corporate Massage Therapists, Speak Out! was also a Guest Editorial, this time in our March issue. That editorial advocated for the formation of unions, among other things, to counteract the effects corporations are having on massage-therapy employment. As you might have guessed, that editorial was not franchise-friendly.
“Massage Franchises: Low Prices and Convenience Bring Consumers to Massage,” a feature article written by yours truly for our April issue, provided a comparison of the leading national franchises, and to indicate that for some therapists, franchise work might provide a viable way to work part time or get started in massage. I think that by clearly stating the wages offered to massage therapists, readers will have more information with which to make a decision.
Finally, our May issue’s Expert Advice column will answer this question: “Three massage-therapy franchises just moved into my area. How can I compete with their lower prices and longer hours?”
For many therapists, the wages paid by franchises aren’t acceptable—but the reality is that franchises provide millions of massages every year. Clients really are visiting massage franchises, and for some therapists franchises might be a good place to start a massage career or augment an existing practice.
Franchises are here to stay, so we will continue to report on them, good and bad. We have to assume that readers are astute enough to assimilate the information we present, and then make an educated decision.

Until next time!

If you read MASSAGE Magazine then you know that we run a nutrition column in every issue. “Good Eats,” written by certified nutritionist and massage therapist Erin Zimniewicz-Williams, offers insight into using food and supplements for optimum health.

The April installment is headlined “Why Buy Organic?” In it, Erin focuses on the benefits of eating food that hasn’t been treated with herbicides, fungicides and pesticides.

Today I ran across a news story that reinforced my own commitment to organic food—not just produce, although fruits and veggies are the food items most heavily treated with chemicals in the world of conventional farming.

Headlined “Family study bolsters link between pesticides and Parkinson’s,” the article noted, “For the first time, the association between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to pesticides has been shown in patients with the neurological disorder compared with their unaffected relatives, according to a study in the online open access journal BMC Neurology.”

If you needed more evidence to convince yourself to go organic, perhaps this is it. With big chains like Whole Foods and Safeway offering organic produce and packaged food, none of really have an excuse to keep eating less-healthy food. (Although I’m a proponent of supporting the “little guy” rather than big-box stores.)

According to the National Parkinson Foundation’s Web site (www.parkinson.org): “Parkinson disease is a brain disorder. It occurs when certain nerve cells (neurons) in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra die or become impaired. Normally, these cells produce a vital chemical known as dopamine. Dopamine allows smooth, coordinated function of the body’s muscles and movement. When approximately 80% of the dopamine-producing cells are damaged, the symptoms of Parkinson disease appear.”

What else could the chemicals put on and into our produce (and hormones, in meat) be creating in our bodies? I suggest we not wait to find out.

After my last blog post, “Massage for Eating Disorders,” some readers requested information about resources relating to massage for eating disorders and body-image issues.

I searched online, but didn’t find much. If you’re reading this now and know of training on this topic, could you let me know about that? (kmenehan@massagemag.com)

In the meantime, these articles are available in the MASSAGE Magazine store (www.massagemag.com/storefront/default.php):

“The Eating Disorder Epidemic: Healthy Touch Is A Key to Recovery”
Issue 111
Sept/Oct 2004

“Images of Beauty”
A project combining healthy touch and photography resulted in a celebration of life, nature and the human form - in all its glorious shapes and sizes
Issue 111
Sept/Oct 2004

Massage and the Bigger Body: How to Work with Large Clients
Issue 127
Dec. 2006

I also found this article online:
“Massage Therapy for Body Image Disturbance,” by Carol A. Niemi, R.M.T., here.

Until next time!

Over the past month I’ve lost 12 pounds by following a sensible diet plan, combined with exercise. At 44, I’m learning to be aware of what I eat and how I move—but this wasn’t always the case. As a teenager I starved myself down to a size 5 (which didn’t fit my body type very well; I was super thin), by eating pretty much only dry toast and black coffee. My desire to disappear was rooted in self-esteem issues, and could have escalated into a full blown eating disorder if I hadn’t come to my senses, and to the table.

This is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (Feb. 24-March 1), so I thought I’d call your awareness to the documents benefits of massage for those suffering from such a disorder.

The Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine produced the report, “Anorexia Nervosa Symptoms Reduced by Massage,” and you can read MASSAGE Magazine’s synopsis of the report here: www.massagemag.com/anorexia.

In short, the research noted that massage alleviates anxiety, depression, eating- disorder symptoms, poor body image and biochemical abnormalities for women diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.

In addition to TRI’s work, another research study shows that complementary approach that includes massage therapy benefits eating-disordered patients’ insomnia and constipation (www.massagemag.com/eatingdisorders). That research was conducted by Sierra Tucson, an inpatient behavioral disorder and addiction treatment center in Tucson, Arizona.

Up to 24 million people suffer from an eating disorder—anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating— in the U.S., according to The Renfrew Center Foundation, which focuses on prevention and education about eating disorders. Most of those people are young women, between the ages of 12 and 20—not the typical massage client. I wonder, though, what difference could be made in many of their lives if more massage therapists did outreach with hospitals and clinics treating eating-disordered patients.

The March issue of MASSAGE Magazine will include an article on how to run your business (and home life) in a way that makes a positive impact on the environment. In putting the article together, I was surprised by how far some readers have already gone, in terms of conscious decisions to lessen their pollution or energy-wasting footprint on our planet. From basic things like recycling all the way to wind-powered facilities, your colleagues are stepping up to do their part.

The article, “How Green is Your Massage Practice?” also mentions the marketing you can tie into your green habits.

I’m writing now to let you know about a great opportunity for practice promotion. I received this invitation today, and am sharing it with you here:

“The Media/PR Group of Access Intelligence is seeking marketing, PR, business and community relations/CSR experts to contribute case studies and how-to articles on the topic of “green” business practices for a new guidebook, “Case Studies in Outstanding Green Business Practices” that will be published by Media Industry Newsletter, PR News and CableFAX in the early summer 2008.

“To be considered, you must be an excellent writer and communicator who can convey in 1,000 words or less what his/her company is doing to be more environmentally aware and proactive. The article will include a byline of the author and is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your company’s green efforts to an audience that includes top business executives. Send an e-mail by Feb. 13 with the subject line “Going Green article idea” and include your article idea in 100 words or less. The article must be original and not published elsewhere; byline will be included; authors are not compensated for contribution.

“If your article idea is selected, you will be notified by Feb. 20. First drafts will be due March 14. No calls, please.

Email your idea to Diane Schwartz at dschwartz@accessintel.com. Thank you in advance.”

Until next time!

I couldn’t believe the headline when I first read it. Then, when I realized it was legitimate, my stomach literally turned over. It announced something I feel is not only unnatural, but potentially dangerous. I’ll add the caveat that I’m not a trained scientist but am reacting from purely a gut level.
I’ll also add that this blog post has absolutely nothing to do with massage therapy specifically—but as people concerned with health and health care, I feel it’s a topic worthy of discussion here. And we have the chance to take action (more on that below).
The headline read: “FDA Approves Sale of Meat and Milk from Cloned Animals.”
In the past few years we’ve already seen the identification and spread of “mad cow disease,” or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, outbreaks of E-coli and other bacterial outbreaks related to food safety, and the linking of meat consumption to heart disease and cancer.
Shouldn’t we be making our food supply safer, rather than allowing the cloning of farm animals?
According to the Web site of the Human Genome Project, this is what the actual process would look like:

“In a process called ’somatic cell nuclear transfer’ (SCNT), scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg containing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth.”

I’m already a stickler for grass-fed, organic beef and pork (on the two or three occasions per year that I eat it), and free-range chickens fed with organic meal. Otherwise, I’d be ingesting some level of hormones and other chemicals along with my hamburger or chicken enchilada.
I know that might make me sound like the quintessential Northern California health-food nut, but if it helps me remain healthy then I’m OK with that. Call me what you will. (And don’t even get me started on conventional vs. organic produce!)
What makes this cloning issue scariest, to me, is that packages of meat will not need to be labeled “cloned.” It’s a boon to factory farms everywhere, but seems like an issue health professionals might want to speak up against.
In my opinion, cloning any living thing for mass consumption is just wrong—in part because we don’t know what the long-term health effects might be from eating cloned food. In addition to swearing off meat completely (which I’m considering), there’s something else we can do.
The Center for Food Safety has a Clone-Free Pledge that anyone can sign. It will be sent on to food companies to tell them that we won’t purchase cloned food. As the center noted in a press release, “a recent Gallup Poll reported that more than 60 percent of Americans believe that it is immoral to clone animals.”
I’m one of those Americans. How about you?

Visit this site to sign the pledge:
http://ga3.org/campaign/clone_pledge/8ue78en4f75bmjxm

If you read the print edition of MASSAGE Magazine—and I hope you do!—then you know that we often publish articles about “regular” massage therapists who are doing extraordinary things.

But we can’t cover what you’re doing—community outreach, working with a pro sports team, spearheading a positive-touch campaign, or anything else—unless we know about it.

That’s where a press release comes in. This doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Basically, we just need to know these four Ws: What is happening, who is involved, where it’s occurring, and when. Be sure to include complete contact information (address, phone number and email address) on the release.

Your chances of receiving news coverage are much stronger if we hear about the event before it happens, or immediately following it. When you draft your press release for MASSAGE Magazine, send a copy of it to your local newspaper as well. Coverage by the media is free, and will raise your profile in your community.

Send your press releases to me, at kmenehan@massagemag.com.

Until next time!

I’m often intrigued by the innovative products introduced in the massage field. The latest, which is more about touch than about massage, is the Zaky Infant Pillow, which I saw mentioned on www.boingboing.com. You can view the pillow at www.pregnancystore.com.

The pillow is actually two pieces, each shaped like a human hand, and is intended to help baby feel safe and secure when the parent or caregiver leaves the room. “If you’ve ever wished for a ‘hand’ to leave behind so that your baby would feel as if you’ve never left the room, your prayers have been answered with the Zaky,” the company’s ad copy reads.

The Zaky pillow is the latest in a string of products that claim to mimic human touch, including electric “massage” and “shiatsu” chairs. Although they’ll never replace human contact, I think that such products are on the right track, in that they remind the mainstream of the importance of touch.

What do you think?

Until next time!