The Stretch Reflex

People often ask me 'What makes you different from this other therapist?' I sometimes get into a long ramble about how as a human being with my own unique life experiences, everything about me makes me different from someone else, but then hopefully I snap out of it and answer what they really want to know. What they really want to know is 'Am I going to be wasting my money with you?' Or, 'What is so good about your style of massage?' So I try to boil it down for them, without letting my ego get in the way. (I have a healthy ego, which is really just confidence in what I do, but it can be read the wrong way sometimes.) I tell them that I was trained at a school where anatomy and physiology were emphasized. I tell them I've got strong hands. I tell them I have a caring touch. I tell them I have used massage to maintain my own health. I tell them I have been trained by the best sports massage therapists about assessing soft tissue injuries. But none of this necessarily makes me different from anyone else.

What makes me different is that I'm willing to use all of this knowledge to eliminate the guesswork during massage, saving people's time and money. I also get results for my clients. One of the main reasons I get results is that I learned about the Stretch Reflex. It's taught in anatomy and physiology, but not all massage schools have this class. And even if they do, most students don't think it's important. But it is, because in order to relieve muscle tension, you first have to know what makes muscles tight and painful. The average massage therapist does what's called a 'full body' massage no matter where you are tight. Or worse yet, they get tired of doing generic 'full body' massages and try to still please clients by hammering away on isolated areas where the client says it hurts. Both approaches are mistakes if attempting to treat muscle tension properly. The first style, full body, is just a shotgun approach. Every once in a while, the therapist finds a trigger point, and if you say it feels good, they may even give you a little extra time there, but that's the extent of their knowledge. Then it's back to the full body routine. The latter style, hammering on sore, overstretched muscles can actually cause more damage. What I have learned while studying the Stretch Reflex is that the body will not be forced into a state of relaxation. It's a physiological fact.

When a muscle is elongated past a certain safe limit, the Stretch Reflex will contract the muscle in order to try and prevent muscle fibers from being torn. This is a survival instinct. Anyone who has been in a life or death situation knows that survival instincts are VERY strong. I will not fight the Stretch Reflex, because it is a losing battle, and a waste of the client's time and money. Instead, I use neuromuscular techniques to coax the contracted muscles to relax (which are usually not located where the pain is) , letting the painful, overstretched muscles regain their normal length and tone. If this is done regularly for a while, the body may begin to remember how to hold the relaxed pattern, creating a kind of muscle memory. I will also teach you ways to maintain the relaxed state. This approach requires more knowledge of which muscle groups balance each other, and how the body will react if it senses a damaging force. I have this knowledge, and want to pass it along to you. That's what makes me different.