Blog Archive

For the month of December, we would like to give a gift of health to you. Anyone that books a 60 minute session or more will receive a aromatherapy upgrade and a take-home aromatherapy roll-on bottle as gifts from us. You don’t need to do anything special as we will help you choose the best aromatherapy blend for your session. You may choose a different aromatherapy blend with each session; only one roll-on bottle per person.

We use Young Living Essential Oils in our sessions to help you achieve the health results you desire. Aromatherapy has been shown to help alleviate stress, breathing and stomach troubles, allergy symptoms, muscular pain and more. During your session, we will take a couple of minutes for you to choose your essential oil(s), use them for the massage and provide you that blend to take home in your own roller bottle.

To learn more about aromatherapy and essential oils, visit our website.

Low-Back Pain Sufferers: Massage Therapy Can Help!

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on low-back pain, the most common cause of job-related disability and a leading contributor to missed work.¹

Massage is Effective for Low-Back Pain.

More and more research shows that massage therapy can be effective for low-back pain, including this recent study published in the Scientific World Journal:

Researchers concluded massage had a positive effect on patients with chronic low-back pain and propose that the use of massage causes fast therapeutic results and that, in practice, it could help reduce the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of chronic low-back pain. Read more »

More on Massage Therapy & Low-Back Pain

1. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Therapy Can be Effective for Low-Back Pain
2. Research Roundup: Massage is Good Medicine
3. Massage More Effective Than Usual Care for Chronic Low-Back Pain

Massage Therapy for Regular Health Maintenance:

75% of individuals surveyed claim their primary reason for receiving a massage in the past 12 months was medical (43%) and stress (32%) related, according to the 17th annual consumer survey, sponsored by the American Massage Therapy Association® (AMTA®). Medical reasons include pain relief, soreness, stiffness or spasms, injury recovery, migraines, prevention, and general well-being.

1. 88% view massage as beneficial to overall health and wellness.
2. 88% believe massage can be effective in reducing pain; with 24% saying they have used massage therapy for pain relief.
3. The overall mean (excluding none) was 4.1 massages for those receiving massage in the past 12 months. Those whose primary reason for getting massage was medical got a mean of 5.7 massages.

Americans’ Reasons for Getting Massages are Changing: More people are turning to massage therapy to assist with medical conditions.

1. As few as 34% of those surveyed believe massage therapy is only a form of pampering.
2. In the previous 12 months, 17% of respondents received a massage at a spa compared to 19 percent in 2012. This decline, and the presence of chiropractor’s offices, health clubs and physician’s offices/medical clinics on the list of locations where people receive massage, indicates consumers identify massage as an important component of overall health and wellness.
3. 56% of people received a massage for one or more of the following reasons: soreness, stiffness or spasms, to relieve or manage stress, for prevention or to improve quality of life, injury recovery or rehabilitation, to keep fit or health/maintain wellness, or to control headaches or migraines.
4. 39% indicated that medical benefits would be their primary motivation for having a massage.

Health Care Providers Recommending Massage as a Viable Form of Treatment: Health care providers and doctors are more commonly viewing massage therapy as a legitimate option to address health  concerns.

1. 48% of respondents indicated that they were encouraged by their doctor to receive a massage.
2. 53% of respondents said their physician has recommended they get a massage.

Massage Therapy and Mental Health!

Massage therapy is commonly used for relaxation and pain relief, and it can also be an effective therapy for aspects of mental health.

Research suggests that symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression may be positively affected with massage therapy.

Reserach shows massage therapy may help:

• Reduce trait anxiety and depression with a course of care providing benefits similar in magnitude to those of psychotherapy.¹
• Increase neurotransmitters associated with lowering anxiety and decrease hormones associated with increasing anxiety.²
• Significantly decrease heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure.³
• Reduce depression in individuals with HIV, lessen anxiety in cancer patients, reduce anxiety and depression in military veterans and lower work-related stress for nurses.⁴

References

1. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Can Reduce Symptoms of Depression
2. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Therapy for Anxiety
3. AMTA Position Statement: Massage Therapy Can Relieve Stress
4. AMTA Research Roundup: Massage for Mental Health and Wellness

AMTA’s e-touch is a quarterly, e-newsletter geared toward massage therapy consumers. Regular features include massage in the news, health and wellness tips, and massage in your community.

You can subscribe to this free, e-newsletter to keep on top of the latest trends in massage therapy and wellness.

Massage and Depression

Jun 25, 2014

Some promising research suggests that symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression may be positively affected through massage therapy.

Massage for Seasonal Allergies

Jun 25, 2014

For some, the winter of 2014 has had a lingering effect: a longer allergy season. Massage therapy has been shown to help with the symptoms created by seasonal allergies.

Governor Nikki Haley declares October 19-25, 2014 South Carolina’s Massage Awareness Week! Please visit us daily for blogs about valuable information about massage therapy! Here are some of our upcoming posts.

• 5 Ways Massage Therapy Can Improve Your Health
• Easing Knee Osteoarthritis Sheet
• Massage and Mental Health
• Massage Consumer Fact Sheet
• Low-Back Pain Sufferers: Massage Therapy Can Help
• Massage Therapy for Inflammation after Exercise
• And more…

Thanks for visiting our website and hope you thoroughly enjoyed the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce’s 49th Annual Women in Business Celebration and the presentation “Beneath The Mask.”  I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share in the fun with you. As promised, you will find some excerpts from the presentation, fun pictures and our special gift to those who attended at the very bottom. For those who weren’t able to make the event, feel free to read through a quick, pictorial overview of the presentation and mark the date on your calendar for next year. You don’t want to miss it.

Lady Gaga’s Finest Masks! These are not the typical Halloween masks we see and definitely not masks that Carl Jung – famous for his personality archetypes theories – suggested we wear as part of our persona. Instead, he suggested that our persona represents all the masks we wear in societal situations. We typically think of masks with negative connotations and use common idioms like “save face” or “that was just a front.” However, our masks and faces we put on can be very beneficial to our daily lives and function.

Facebook is one of history’s most popular and global “Persona Canvas!”  You paint what you want others to see. Ironic name, huh?

Oh, in case you didn’t know about duck-faced selfies, here are some fun pics. Aren’t they so beautiful?

The Body Works! (whooo) LLC provides health and wellness solutions to organizations and individuals. Visit The Body Works! website for more info. Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork LLC, part of The Body Works!, has multiple locations in Hartsville and Florence and provided therapeutic massage services to Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan bands at the Florence Civic Center. Whoo! And here are the arms and jeans, as promised. Are you a fan yet?

Often times celebrities have an entertainer persona that enables them to do their job ridiculously well. When he realized I had no idea who he was, he didn’t need that persona anymore. Persona’s shift as our situations shift. These can be perfect opportunities to discover our own masks.

This was about my exact expression when I saw that I had painted face red, white and blue in front of the GE Global Security Leader. Now, that was inside out? Messed up? Albert Einstein said that “Humanity is going to require a substantially new way of thinking if it is going to survive.” If you choose to live from the heart, not create barriers and accept your circumstances, you are choosing to live from the inside out. That’s a new way of thinking! Live inside out in our outside in world!

Embrace who you are at the core. Embrace the masks you wear. If you don’t like something, own it and change it. Get help. Jim Carey said, “Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.” When you think that life happens for you, circumstances become blessing and/or opportunities. Life belongs to a grand purpose and plan. And that purpose is not about the outside world coming in but what is inside, shining out. What lies beneath the mask is you. All of your masks are still you. Embrace or change them, so you can live inside out in this outside in world.

Don’t forget to print out your coupon if you attended the Celebration! It’s good for 15% off any service until March 1, 2015. Not to be used with any other discount or offer.

Many blessings, Sarah Gerschutz, M.Ed., LMT, CPT

The Body Works! (whoo) LLC