What is Massage Therapy?

Do you feel tension in your neck and shoulders from working in front of a computer all day? Did you pull a muscle training at the gym or felt pain after playing a specific sport? Or your doctor informed you that your X-ray or MRI showed some arthritis or degenerative disc disease in your back? It might be time to consider booking an appointment to see a Registered Massage Therapist to see how we can help you. But what is Massage Therapy and how can we help?

Massage therapy is the treatment of muscles and soft tissues in the body by manual manipulation of the tissues to create change in the body, improve circulation, decrease muscle tension and pain, and improve healing to injured muscles. There are so many benefits that massage therapy offers, including:

  • Reducing or eliminating pain
  • Improving flexibility and joint range of motion
  • Reducing muscular tension
  • Stress and anxiety relief
  • Improving circulation

Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) in British Columbia are health care professionals that are dedicated to providing the best care to help patients achieve their optimal health and wellness. RMTs undergo a rigorous course of education and training to achieve their professional designation with the College of Massage Therapists of BC(CMTBC). We are trained to assess and treat using various techniques. Depending on your needs, treatment techniques may include:

  • Deep Tissue Massage: Deep tissue massage is designed to relieve severe tension in the muscle and the connective tissue or fascia. This type of massage focuses on the muscles in the deeper layers. Deep tissue massage is often recommended for individuals who experience consistent pain, are involved in heavy physical activity, such as athletes or someone who works with repetitive movements, and patients who have sustained physical injury.
  • Swedish Massage: The most common type of massage is Swedish massage. It is often used during relaxation treatments and include techniques such as effleurage, kneading, petrissage, muscle stripping and tapotement. Swedish massage can be light to moderate pressure or deeper pressure.
  • Trigger Point Release: Trigger points are sensitive knots and when pressure is applied, it produces pain in a different part of your body. Trigger point therapy is a technique that is commonly used to help break down muscle knots and decrease pain or discomfort in the body.
  • Myofascial Release: Myofascial Release is a technique that focuses on the connective tissue covering that wraps around the muscle layers. It is usually performed without oil to properly stretch and lengthen the fascia. The techniques feel more like a stretching of the skin and muscle, as opposed to the gliding sensation you get with a traditional massage.
  • Joint Mobilization: Joint mobilization is used to assess and treat the joint capsule with the goal of increasing joint range of motion. Joint mobilization techniques performed by RMTs are very precise and specific and should not be painful when applied.
  • Home Care: Your therapist may give you some stretching and strengthening exercises do at home, and offer some education on injury prevention.

We are all Registered Massage Therapists at Fusion Health Clinic. We strive to find the root cause of your pain by performing an assessment, goal specific treatment and providing you with the home care custom designed to help achieve your goals in healing!

Online booking available at: https://fusionhealthclinic.janeapp.com/

-Fusion Health Clinic