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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:43 PM
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder and Massage |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Thursday, August 30, 2012 12:36 PM
 What is a KNOT and how did it get here?  Increased stress on muscle fiberscaused by vigorous exercise or trauma (i.e. whiplash) can produce micro-tears which are repaired with scar tissue. Also,areas of repetitive useare sometimes reinforced by excess fascia that the body lays down over those stressed areas. These are natural functions that serve a good purpose. The problem is two-fold. Sometimes more fascia than necessary is created which leads to the second problem. Excess fascia and scar tissue can become adhered to muscle fibers and other fascia causing jumbled tissue. |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Sunday, April 01, 2012 9:01 AM
 The Biomechanics of Massage:How Massage Therapy Changes the Tonicity of Muscles   Many people know that massage helps muscles relax, but few likely understand why. Massage is a science as well as an art. Muscle tone is usually thought of in terms of fitness but really, tonicity refers to the level of tightness or flacidity. Overuse can cause a muscle to be painfully tight while underuse can cause stiffening and shortening. Optimal tonicity is where muscles are able to return to a lengthened resting state after contraction |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 9:33 PM
 Is All Massage Created Equal?You have heard the phrase, "you get what you pay for." With the emergence of social media marketing such as GROUPON and Living Social, people don't have to do much legwork to find a low-cost massage. But with hundreds of people responding and therapists taking drastic pay cuts, might that undermine your chances of getting agoodmassage?
 If that doesn't matter to you, it should. With the potential to get real relief from acute and chronic pain by skilled massage therapy, throwing away money on a massage that does nothing for your musculoskeletal complaints is like buying a hamburger for $2. |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:47 PM
Myofascial Massage for the Sports-Minded If you’ve read my previous articles, you know that among many powerful benefits, massage can help release toxins from the body and dissolve trigger points. There is another piece to the puzzle that may be particularly interesting to athletes and exercise enthusiasts.  This article is not about myofascial release technique. Neither is it about sports massage. It is about fascia and how massaging it and tight muscles can help you to |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Thursday, April 07, 2011 8:12 PM
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2011 4:07 PM
The Pain-Spasm Wheel - How Stress Transforms Into Pain 
What is the pain-spasm wheel? It is an illustration that depicts how stress can perpetuate multiple, associated effects leading to the result of pain from muscle tension.
Before we examine the wheel, let’s look at how someone gets ON the wheel in the first place. Think of this paragraph as the onramp to the wheel. The three main causes of muscle tension are overuse/overload, trauma and compensation. Imagine a carpenter whose task is to use a screwdriver all day, every day.
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Saturday, January 08, 2011 5:01 PM
 The Top Ten Reasons Women Procrastinate
Having a Massage People tend to procrastinate making healthy changes in their life such as starting an exercise program or eating healthier food. It is hard to believe that anyone would put off having a massage with all the information available about the health benefits soft tissue therapy provides. But sometimes even massage therapy, as enjoyable as it is, can be met with a reason to hold off for another day, week or month. |
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Saturday, January 01, 2011 10:45 AM
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Emily Hagen NCTM, CNMT: Posted on Sunday, November 28, 2010 12:00 PM
The Risks and Rewards of Massage Therapy  The human body is an incredible thing. Just like a dutiful mother that picks up after her family and says nothing, your body picks up after you. The body compensates for the things we do like slouch our backs at work all day, run and play sports without stretching properly and sleep on our tummies while our spines are being crunched like accordions. The body does what it can to prevent us from feeling pain which I call |
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