Taking a Break to Rejuvenate!

Mending Hands Massage Therapy is practicing what we preach and will be taking time off from September 1st - 9th. If you are looking to have a massage after this break - let's get your appointment secured! E-mail melissa@mendinghands.com

New Aromatherapy: Cedarwood!

One of the ancient oils, cedarwood was used by Egyptians, Greeks and other ancient civilizations; today, cedarwood essential oil has properties used in aromatherapy.

True cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica) essential oil is extracted from the Atlas Cedarwood tree and should not be confused with Texas (Juniperus ashei) or Virginian (Juniperus virginiana) Cedarwood, which are commonly sold in the USA and often under the general term cedarwood. There are also several other trees which yield 'cedarwood' oil; Atlas Cedarwood oil is the preferred oil of today's aromatherapist.

Historical Use Of the Atlas Cedarwood

The ancient Egyptians used cedarwood oil to embalm, for perfumery and in cosmetics; the ancient Greeks also used cedarwood oil to preserve bodies as they believed it helped to make one immortal. It is thought that the Lebanon Cedar tree may have been the original cedarwood tree which was used for cedarwood oil in ancient times, as its fragrance was useful as an insect, ant and moth repellent; it was also used greatly as a building material source.

In the Far East, cedarwood oil was used as a preservative too, in addition as a remedy for treating urinary tract and bronchial infections; cedarwood was also used as an incense. The Tibetans used it in traditional medicine and as an incense in temples, of which it is still used today.

Use of Cedarwood in Aromatherapy

Cedarwood essential oil is antiseptic, astringent, anti-bacterial, a stimulant to the skin and circulatory system, sedative and an aphrodisiac. In aromatherapy, it is useful in the treatment of eczema, dry skin, dandruff, fluid retention, nervous tension, arthritis, rheumatism, cystitis and asthma. Cedarwood also has some other uses.

Other Uses of Cedarwood

Cedarwood is commonly found in men's fragrances and aftershaves, where it is used for its antiseptic and astringent properties; it is also used in cosmetics, soaps, perfumes and detergents. Cedarwood is frequently used in meditation and is capable of balancing the mind and relieving anxiety; it has strong spiritual connections. Cedarwood essential oil can be used as an alternative to the more expensive sandalwood essential oil, as it possesses similar properties.

Regimens: Massage Benefits Are More Than Skin Deep

Does a good massage do more than just relax your muscles? To find out, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recruited 53 healthy adults and randomly assigned 29 of them to a 45-minute session of deep-tissue Swedish massage and the other 24 to a session of light massage.

All of the subjects were fitted with intravenous catheters so blood samples could be taken immediately before the massage and up to an hour afterward.

To their surprise, the researchers, sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, found that a single session of massage caused biological changes.

Volunteers who received Swedish massage experienced significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol in blood and saliva, and in arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can lead to increases in cortisol. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.

Volunteers who had the light massage experienced greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment, than the Swedish massage group, and bigger decreases in adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol.

The study was published online in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

The lead author, Dr. Mark Hyman Rapaport, chairman of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai, said the findings were “very, very intriguing and very, very exciting — and I’m a skeptic.”

First seen HERE: 

Why High Heels Are So Bad for You

by Erik Dalton, Ph.D.

The biomechanical effect of heels in everything from running shoes to stilettos has puzzled researchers and fired controversy for almost a century. In a highly functioning body, the neuro-myo-skeletal system ‘hangs’ in dynamic equilibrium, each part balancing the other. But when a woman wears high heels, a new dynamic equilibrium occurs (Fig 1) If one body part becomes ‘fixed,’ the whole system must compensate with altered movement patterns resulting in kinetic chain ‘kinks.’ Here’s an interesting experiment that’ll help you get a feel for biomechanical adjustments high-heel wearers deal with every day: • Stand barefoot with the back against a wall. Observe how your ‘upright’ body column forms a perpendicular line (ninety degree angle) with the floor (Fig 2A).