Runner’s Knee

While amongst my clients there is a clear preference for massage, I decided to investigate if there was any scientific evidence if massage was better than reflexology (or vice versa) at reducing pain and stress. In 2012 there was a small study comparing massage to reflexology on cancer survivors over the age of 75 living in a care home.  The study compared the effectiveness of 20 minutes of reflexology treatments against 20 minute Swedish massage by examining the impact on the patients stress levels, pain levels and mood.  Pre and post treatment levels of salivary cortisol, observed affect and pain were compared. Both reflexology and Swedish massage resulted in significant declines in salivary cortisol indicating a reduction in stress levels, reduced pain levels and improvements in mood.        So to go back to my original question, there is scientific evidence for both and I suggest you book the treatment you prefer. Hodgson N, Lafferty D (2012) Reflexology versus Swedish Massage to Reduce Physiologic Stress and Pain and Improve Mood in Nursing Home Residents with Cancer: A Pilot Trial. Evidence Based Complement Alternat Med. 2:456897               

In part 1, I looked at the impact of sitting on your muscles,  and in part 2 I started to explore the impact on the rest of your body.  In this post I continue to explore the impact of sitting on your circulatory system including your heart. Heart Disease When sitting for prolonged periods of time, muscles burn less fat and blood flows more sluggishly, allowing fatty acids to more easily clog the heart.  In 2012 Ford & Caspersen in their research paper, Sedentary behaviour and cardiovascular disease: a review of prospective studies (International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 41, No 5 pages 1338 - 1353) showed that the people with the most sedentary time are more than twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the least. In 2012 Zedric and Hamilton found that just a few hours sitting suppresses a gene that helps keep your cardiovascular system healthy by controlling inflammation and blood clotting. T W Zedric & M T Hamilton, 2012 Identification of hemostatic genes expressed in human and rat leg muscles and a novel gene (LPP1/PAP2a) suppressed during prolonged physical inactivity (sitting), Lipids in Health and Disease, Vol 11 see http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1476-511X-11-137.pdf Cholesterol Sitting also means that your large postural support muscles are inactive.  When active these muscles produce a quite of beneficial molecules.  One molecule skeletal muscles produce is an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase - which you can think of as a vacuum cleaner for fats in the blood stream.  A study in rats showed that after 24 hours forced inactivity, their lipoprotein lipase acitivity was reduced by 90 - 95%, which led to a 75% drip in the ability of their muscles to remove fats from their bloodstream as will as a significant decrease in "good" (HDL) cholesterol. L Bay & Mark Hamilton, 2003, Suppression of skeletal muscle lipoprotein lipase activity during physical inactivity: a molecular reason to maintain daily low-intensity activity, Journal of Physiology, Vol 551, No 2 pages 673 - 682.See http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2003.045591/full

In my last blog article, I explained the benefits including scientific evidence from a 15 minute Seated Acupressure Massage.   So if 15 minutes has all these benefits, why do we offer 30 minute treatments and why do we sometimes recommend them? Quite simply, its based on experience.  I find that some clients start to notice their neck & shoulder loosing mobility and their level of muscular tension increasing but they are too busy to book in.  Frequently we find that people leave it 3 weeks before they book in or sometimes up to a month, by which time the knots have multiplied and grown!!! The 15 minute treatment is designed to nip things in the bud, before the tension gets chronic.   However I appreciate that my clients have very busy lifestyles so this isn't always possible so we offer longer treatments. Finally, some people get home from work and instantly switch off while other people take a while.   This different rate of response is what we as therapists see when we treat people, so we recognise when your muscles are releasing really slowly.  Indeed over the years some of my clients have commented on how it took a long time for their right/left shoulder to relax.  In cases where your muscles are releasing very slowly we often suggest you book a longer treatment.