The Stress Scale: Everyone Has A Need For Massage

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), more commonly known as the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, was created as a tool to helps us measure the stress load we carry, and think about what we should do about it.

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe decided to study whether or not stress contributes to illness. They surveyed more than 5,000 medical patients and asked them to say whether they had experience any of a series of 43 life events in the previous two years. Each event, called a Life Change Unit (LCU), had a different "weight" for stress. The more events the patient added up, the higher the score. The higher the score, and the larger the weight of each event, the more likely the patient was to become ill.

The Stress Scale (Click More to See the Scale!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving I want to let my clients, colleagues and friends know that I am thankful for YOU! Mending Hands has had an amazing year and I thank you for making it so!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Note: I will be making time for my friends and family this Thanksgiving, so Mending Hands will be closed from 11/23 - 11/27.  All e-mails sent to melissa@mendinghands.com about appointments or gift certificates will be answered when I return!

Massage Therapy Lowers Blood Pressure

Approximately one in every three Americans, or 31.3 percent, has high blood pressure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and high blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke, congestive heart failure, heart disease and kidney disease.

In new research, massage therapy resulted in significantly lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure in comparison with a control group, according to an abstract published on www.pubmed.gov.

The investigators set out to evaluate the effect of Swedish massage to the face, neck, shoulders and chest on blood pressure of the women with prehypertension, according to the abstract.

This was a single-blind clinical trial study, the abstract noted, and added:

"Fifty pre-hypertensive women selected by simple random sampling [were] divided into control and test groups. The test group (25 patients) received Swedish massage 10-15 min., three times a week for 10 sessions and the control group (25 patients) also were relaxed ...[and received] no massage. Their [blood pressure] was measured before and after each session."

The investigators noted, "Findings of the study indicated that massage therapy was a safe, effective, applicable and cost-effective intervention in controlling [blood pressure] of the prehypertension women and it can be used in the health care centers and even at home."

"The effect of massage therapy on blood pressure of women with pre-hypertension" was published in the Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research (2011 Winter;16(1):61-70.) It was conducted by investigators with the Department of Internal Surgery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, in Isfahan, Iran.

First seen HERE:

New Service: Dry Brush Advanced Care Massage!

The newest service at Mending Hands is just in time for the cold weather skin doldrums - Dry Brush Advanced Care Massage!

Using dry brush gloves - experience the benefits of detoxification, increased circulation, cellulite reduction and glowing skin. After warming and exfoliating your skin, heated therapeutic towels will be applied to relax your hard working muscles. This delightful session also lets you enjoy a relaxing swedish massage with moisturizing lavender infused oil!

Stomach Growling During a Massage is Normal. Really!

This week - I had about a dozen clients inspire my next post of Absolutely Human. Have you ever gotten a massage and it seems like your stomach decides to talk the whole time? Have you ever been half a sleep on the massage table when the rumbles and gurgles of your insides decide it's a good time to give a soliloquy? As a massage therapist, trust me when I say - this happens all the time. Really.

Some clients laugh.
Some are inclined to apologize.

I always say, it's just some borborygmi. It's a good thing!

Borborygmi: (pronounced /ˌbɔrbəˈrɪɡməs/; from Greek βορβορυγμός) also known as stomach growling, rumbling, gurgling, grumbling or wambling, is the rumbling sound produced by the contraction of muscles in the stomach and intestines of humans. The word borborygmus refers to this rumbling.

The "rumble" or "growl" sometimes heard from the stomach is a normal part of digestion. It originates in the stomach or upper part of the small intestine as muscles contract to move food and digestive juices down the gastrointestinal tract and functions as a sort of intestinal "housecleaning".

Massage has a way of helping things move along and getting your systems working in a better and more effective way. Why should your digestive system be left out?

There are very few professions where the mumbles and growls of your intestines are a COMPLIMENT! So don't feel self - conscious! Next time you are taking care of your whole self by getting a massage, let your borborygmi do what borborygmi does!