Top 10 Massage Techniques

Back in the days before aspirin, heating pads and whirlpools, humans treated their sore bodies the old-fashioned way: With massage. When a caveman twisted one of his Neanderthal knees, he rubbed it.
In many ways, massage is the most natural of natural remedies. Touching your body where it hurts seems to be a basics instinct, like running from danger or eating when you’re hungry. And experts say that massage, no matter how humble or low-tech it may seem, can be a powerful healer.
Massage has come a long way over the centuries.

SWEDISH MASSAGE uses soothing, tapping and kneading strokes to work the entire body, relieving muscle tension and loosening sore joints. Swedish massage therapists use five basic strokes, which anyone can learn and use on themselves and others. They are effleurage (stroking); petrissage (muscles are lightly grabbed and lifted); friction (thumbs and fingertips work in deep circles into the thickest part of muscles); tapotement (chopping, beating, and tapping strokes); and vibration (fingers are pressed or flattened firmly on a muscle, then the area is shaken rapidly for a few seconds).

EEP TISSUE MASSAGE targets chronic tension in muscles that lie far below the surface of your body. You have five layers of muscle in your back, for instance, and while Swedish massage may help the first couple of layers, it won’t do much directly for the muscle underneath. Deep muscle techniques usually involve slow strokes, direct pressure or friction movements that go across the grain of the muscles. Massage therapists will use their fingers, thumbs or occasionally even elbows to apply the needed pressure.

 

SPORTS MASSAGE is designed to help you train better, whether you’re a world champion or a weekend warrior. The techniques are similar to those in Swedish and deep tissue massage, but Greene says sports massage has been adapted to meet the athlete’s special needs. Pre-event massage can help warm up muscles and improve circulation before competition, but it can also energize or relax an athlete and help him focus on the competition. Post-event massage can push waste products out of the body and improve recovery.

NEUROMUSCULAR MASSAGE is a form of deep tissue massage that is applied to individual muscles. It is used to increase blood flow, reduce pain and release pressure on nerves caused by injuries to muscles and other soft tissue. Neuromuscular massage helps release trigger points, intense knots of tense muscle can also “refer” pain to other parts of the body. Relieving a tense trigger point in your back, for example, could help ease pain in your shoulder or reduce headaches.
                                     

ROLFING seeks to re-educate your body about posture. When posture is poor, Bienenfeld says, it can be reflected in a number of health problems, such as backaches, headaches and joint pain. Rolfing seeks to realign and straighten your body by working the myofascia, the connective tissue that surrounds your muscles and helps hold your body together. The 10-session, head-to-toe Rolfing program used to be rather painful, but Bienenfeld says new techniques that employ a therapist’s hands and elbows are quite tolerable and just as effective at improving your posture.
HELLERWORK is an offshoot of Rolfing that adds both mental and movement re-education to the physical work. In a series of 11 sessions, you get instruction on how to break bad posture habits and you also get a massage that focuses on returning your muscles and other tissue to their proper positions. The result can be dramatic. “Sometimes we can greatly increase the spaces in your joints to the point where you may grown three-fourths of an inch taller before you’re done,” Bienenfeld says.
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY focuses on the skull and spinal column. Therapists use very gently pressure no more than the weight of a nickel to massage the bones, membranes and fluids that support and bathe your skull and spinal column. The theory is that these manipulations will reduce tension and counteract any physical trauma you may have experienced to your head over the years.

ASTON-PATTERNING, another offshoot of Rolfing, was developed to teach people to maintain the improved alignment that they got through Rolfing. Aston-Patterning uses posture re-education and stresses physical fitness techniques.

FELDENKRAIS treats every body as an individual work of art, with different postures and different movement patterns. Practitioners seek to teach their clients ideal patterns of movement through slow, gentle, exercise-like sessions. It also includes a gentle massage that is designed to teach a person how to expand his range of motion. Bienenfeld says it’s often useful for victims of stroke or accidents who have lost movement.

TRAGER uses gentle, rocking massage to help release the body’s harmful “holding patterns.” If you injured your left shoulder as a child, for example, you still may unconsciously carry it lower than your right shoulder, throwing your body off balance and robbing you of energy. Therapists employ very light, gentle shaking techniques that are unlike traditional Swedish-style massage. The idea is to make people more aware of their bodies, especially the way they move and hold themselves. For some reason, freeing people of physical holding patterns also seems to rid them of emotional stress that they associated with the prior injury.

Cardiovascular Exercises

                                                                      OVERVIEW
Our cardiovascular system consists of your organs lung, heart and circulation, especially the veins, arteries and capillaries. His job is to keep your body with vital oxygen supplies. As your need for oxygen increases when you exercise, for example, your cardiovascular system to work harder than normal. Repeated bouts of cardiovascular exercise lead to increased cardiovascular fitness. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, you must prepare for at least 20 minutes three times a week to improve your cardiovascular health. You can ask a series of exercises and activities to benefit your cardiovascular system.
Swim
Swimming is a low impact exercise that can improve your cardiovascular health. Because the water supports the body weight, swimming is really good if you lower limb or spinal injuries or are very overweight. Some athletes find that high impact exercises like jogging uncomfortable and less enjoyable. To get a good workout from swimming, you must be a competent swimmer, such as heart and circulatory benefits, the possibility of activity of your choice for 20 minutes or more lead to the request at a time. This means that you should be able to swim with an energy-efficient clock and go for 20 minutes or more without stopping.

Cycling
Whether inside the bike on a stationary bike, or out for pleasure or transportation, this popular form of exercise will strengthen your leg muscles to develop your cardiovascular fitness. Many gyms offer group exercise classes that involve cycling. Such as swimming, cycling is a low impact exercise, less stress on the knees, hips and ankles than jogging or running. If you choose to cycle outside, take precautions to ensure that you are as safe as possible. Wear a bike helmet and clothing visible at all times and make sure your bike is road worthy.

Power walking
Market power must be transported to the exercise, as opposed to walking. Not to be confused to be confused with the marchers, walking is competitive and your cardiovascular system provides an effective workout. Power Walking for walking with a certain step length and at a rapid pace - with just to get into a jog. Most walkers to swing their arms vigorously and to maximize the effect of this exercise. You can increase the intensity of your workout power walk by wearing wrist weights, weight of the wrist, a weighted backpack, or a weight vest designed. Wear sturdy shoes and support for brisk walking, to minimize the risk of lower extremity injuries.

Rowing
You can row with a rowing machine indoors or outdoors in a variety of types of boats. Rowing uses all major muscle groups and provides training hard, but enjoyable. A good rowing technique involves the coordination of the arms and legs. If you do not paddle with the right arm and leg action, you can hurt your lower back. If you do not know how to properly and are safe series, and seek advice from a professional fitness instructor or rowing rather run the risk of a potentially serious back injury.

Cross-Trainer Cross trainers come in a variety of styles, and combine a lower-stage body or skiing action with a push and pull the arm alternates. Cross trainers are low impact and are very easy to use and easy to row, however, there are no special techniques to master. While most gyms cross-trainer, there are models specifically for home use. Home Use Cross-trainers are generally not as robust as the commercial versions, but are generally much cheaper and easier. Cross trainers offer a workout with low impact your cardiovascular system and muscles, all of your challenges.

Useful Tips For Controlling Body Weight

The maintenance of body weight is very important as far as the health fitness is concerned. People who have got abnormal weight are susceptible to diseases very easily. The reason for abnormal body weight is life style. In today’s life style men can perform works with out much exertion and for conveyance they can rely on their own vehicles and other alternatives. They have no need to walk to reach their destinations. To make things available just a phone call is sufficient. Then the only thing they have to do is eat and sit simply. This is the reason for abnormal weight in human beings. Over weight is the cause of numerous diseases like Diabetics and Hypertension. If men become prey to these diseases once they cannot escape from their hands till the last minute of their life. They can continue living by taking medicines regularly. The doctors also instruct them to control the diet and body weight.   Hence if people can control their body weight by controlling their diet in advance they can avoid the intake of medicines and thereby they can save financially also.
Men can control their body weight by means of exercises, daily walk and diet control. By controlling weight they can always feel as rejuvenated and free of various health problems. By reducing body weight, the excess fat content in the body will be removed considerably. This will enable people to bring cholesterol under desirable level. Cholesterol is the killer factor for causing heart blocks and thereby cardiac arrest. Hence this is a favorable factor for avoiding various heart problems. If the cholesterol level can be brought under control the blood pressure also can be minimized ideally. In this way by reducing excess body weight, all major diseases can be kept away and this will enable men to lead a very comfortable life.

Holistic Hair Loss Remedies Worth a Shot Before Trying a Transplant

As far as human health is concerned, going bald doesn’t do anything except increase the chances of getting sun burned. But hair loss is unfortunately a highly stigmatizing issue for people, especially women. When it comes to human interaction, hair loss is a surefire inhibitor of self-confidence, and even a potential roadblock to personal achievement. There’s a massive market for hair loss treatment that ranges from Rogaine to getting hair roots transplanted from one part of the head to another. These options should be explored if hair loss is affecting your way of life; however, before doing so you should give some free curatives a try.
It’s not everyday that medical advice includes the consumption of caffeinated beverages, but studies show that green tea can lower DHT levels, the hormone primarily responsible for hair loss. Coffee is said to help too, but not by drinking it. Studies show that ground up coffee beans mixed in with shampoo can reduce testosterone-induced follicle growth suppression.
However, not all balding is directly caused by inherent genetic dispositions. Some instances of balding are caused by environmental factors, stress, or bad nutrition. Extreme temperatures, especially when going from one extreme to the next, tend to incite more hair loss than usual. Avoiding extreme temperatures can keep hair in its place.
Stress is also an incredibly common cause of baldness, and efforts to reduce stress should be taken at the first signs of hair loss.
But above all, the biggest thing you can do about your lifestyle that can help reduce hair loss or even reverse it is to get into shape and eat right. Your hair is like any other part of the body – it needs the right combination of vitamins and nutrients to be healthy
Additional homemade remedies include utilizing oils, extracts, and good old fashioned produce that humans have been using for thousands of years to reverse balding. Carrier oils like jojoba and grape seed mixed with traditional oils like those of thyme, rosemary, and lavender have been applied to the scalps of balding people for centuries. The Ancient Greeks were convinced that onions had a hand in reversing baldness and would pack their scalps with slivers of onions.
Whether or not you want your hair, or what’s left of it, smelling like onions in the effort to keep the hair you have is up to you. But if you’ve become increasingly serious about surgical solutions to hair loss, you should consider these cheaper alternatives first. You never know what may sprout as a result of your toil.

Common Excuses For Being Unhealthy

We all live with excuses of a wide variety every day of our lives. It’s all a part of a rationalization of why we do, or don’t do, something. The power of rationalization can’t be underscored enough and it’s being able to recognizing when we’re doing it that we can begin to take steps not to utilize it.
Our health is one of the biggest problems that often falls victim to our unsurpassed ability to make excuses to ourselves. This is all a part of the science of how we think and some of the most common excuses that just don’t cut it include:
It’s Too Hot/It’s Too Cold
Every winter, we tell ourselves that when summer rolls around we’re really going to get ourselves into shape. When summer arrives, we complain that it’s too hot and that we’ll make doubly sure that, when it cools down, we’ll put in some effort. This is an excuse that just doesn’t cut it. We could always work out in-doors or join a gym. There are far too many options for this argument to hold up.
I Have Bad Genes
We’ve seen incredible breakthroughs in medical science and every year we push further and further towards understanding how our bodies work. From Pituitary Surgery to nanotechnology, we’re constantly pushing towards new and more innovative approaches to the field of medicine. With this knowledge we’ve come to understand that, in some part, our genes determine the way we look but the excuse, I’m obese because it’s in my genes is a terrible excuse. This is a common excuse that people use. You genes may have something to do with a person having a harder time loosing weight but, under no circumstances, does it explain why a person gets to be five hundred pounds.
I’m Too Tired
This is one of the most excusable, and inexcusable, reasons. We work all day and when we come home, the last thing we want to do is head to the gym. We want to sit on the couch and decompress after a long day. The “I’m too tired” often doesn’t cut it. If you’re chronically tired, it’s because you’re not exercising. This is one of the biggest causes of fatigue. When we’re not active our bodies go into a sort of hibernation mode and won’t expend a lot of energy. It’s through being active that the body releases endorphins that motivate the mind and body. So if you’re feeling tired all the time, you might just need a good workout regiment.
We all rationalize and make excuses from time to time, but it’s important to not let it take control. If any of these things sound familiar, then you should probably analyze why you’re not getting out and getting fit. Examine your habits, good and bad, and see where you could do with some change in your routine.

Aging Skin, What Can You Do?

Skin aging

The older we get, the more our skin starts to show its age and we get wrinkles. It’s part of life, right? Yes, but there are ways to slow down the process. If you’re willing to take some healthy lifestyle steps now, your skin will look a lot better when you get older. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to prevent your skin from sagging and looking unhealthy prematurely.
Keep in mind that aging is a normal process, and skin will sag to some degree as you get older. This is because it loses elasticity over time and gravity starts to win. The areas around the eyes and mouth begin to develop deeper lines, and over time the entire face can begin to sag. More blemishes are also a common experience for many people as they get older. And you thought you were done with pimples after high school? Rosacea, reddened blotches with visible tiny red blood vessels on the face, can begin to show up for some as they get older.
Many people don’t take care of their skin through the years and resort to cosmetic surgery to try to get rid of the signs of aging. Some of these methods work and some don’t but really, it’s better to try to prevent or slow down the problems in the first place.
First, try to protect your skin from temperature extremes. Very hot or cold conditions will dry it and cause it to look older. If you live in a dry climate, your forced-air heating can really dry your skin. If this is the case, a humidifier in your home is a must.

Juicy Health Tips

Sometimes there is so much information about what you should eat, how you should exercise, which one of the top health clubs you should join, even picking the perfect perfume for your mood. But if there is one thing we can easily do is juicing, here is a guide to the benefits plus when to get the maximum effect from all those health benefits of fruit and vegetables before and after a workout at the gym.
Beetroot juice is a fantastic juice for a pre-workout hit, it keeps you alert and its long term benefits include a lesser chance of developing senile dementia later in life. About half an hour before you leave for one of you local gyms, juice up some beetroot; you can add carrot juice to the mix also, if you find just plain beetroot a bit boring. Blitz it in the juicer and then sip away. If you are performing a weights based work out at the gym try adding some tomato juice to your beetroot combination, as the tomato wards off osteoporosis and it can slow the breakdown of bone cells. Weight bearing exercise also help to ward of bone conditions later in life, so combining with a vitamin packed drink will aid to the health benefits.
After you have had a work out, you need to think about how you are going to refuel your body and how you are going to repair muscles. You could just have a sports drink to replenish your body stores, but diluted fruit juice is just as good. You do need to have something, as when women exercise hormone levels can drop which can affect bone health. You could try a banana smoothy, this will satisfy hunger and also they are easily digestible, so they won’t sit heavily on your stomach.
At the end of the day, you want your body to work towards being healthy and what is one of the most vital components to a healthy body and mind? Sleep. However, sometimes it can elude us; luckily enough there is plenty of fruit and vegetables that can help in our quest to drift off. You could eat some lettuce leaves or have a camomile tea, but you could also juice up a night time tipple of juiced cherries. These little edible delights are full of melatonin especially the ones that taste a little tart They are a natural sleep regulator, ideal for helping your body fall into a pattern of natural sleep.
Juicing can have great benefits overall, from reducing the risk from major problems in the long term to giving you a quick mental fix and we can’t forget that even just a boost of vitamins in the morning will stay with you all day, even if you don’t visit fitness clubs or gyms, plus you’ll feel better knowing you are giving your body what it needs.