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January 2009 [Volume 8, Issue 1]
To Your Health is brought to you by:
In this issue of To Your Health:
If you ask, most massage therapists would give their services away for free - if they could. The therapeutic healing and spiritual journey that the act of massage bring forward more than compensates them. In this same spirit, Jaime Bernardo, CMT, and Mary Contreras, LMT, created Touch of Relief, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving special populations in need across the nation.
Touch of Relief is a bold outreach program providing CAM health care, wellness education, vocational training programs, and humanitarian aid to special populations such as injured soldiers, disaster victims and domestic violence survivors, among others.
Volunteers have worked with a variety of programs, including My Sister's Place, a shelter for battered women and their children. Nichelle Mitchem, former executive director of My Sister's Place, speaks highly of TOR's influence, "TOR's vision to serve our clients with this nurturing program of self-healing gives these women a unique opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills related to their physical and emotional health to enhance the lives of the families," Mitchem said.
With the impact that TOR has had on so many people and the lives that they have touched around the nation, comes the increasing demand to sustain and grow these services.
"Our top priority is building our funding resources and fundraising campaigns. We need more financial support to bolster our logistical and administrative systems to give all our programs and the many requests for our services a solid base for maintaining and growing operations. In the meantime, volunteer massage therapists in the communities we serve and professionals willing to donate their expertise and time to support our admin efforts would be a tremendous help," Bernardo said.
If you're interested in working with TOR, contact Jaime Bernardo at info@touchofrelief.org. For more information on TOR, including volunteer opportunities visit www.touchofrelief.org.
To learn more about the benefits of massage, visit www.massagetoday.com.
Over the past 30 years, alternative medicine has steadily gained more believers - by the millions. A recent survey by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine showed more than 38 percent of adults are now using some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Massage was among the CAM therapies that increased the most in terms of adult use in the past five years, from 5 percent of adults to 8.3 percent. That represents an increase of about 8 million. The survey also revealed that 12 percent of children (one out of every nine) are using alternative medicine to treat colds, anxiety and other common childhood health problems.
To view comprehensive survey findings, visit http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats.htm.
Modern times have presented us with ever-expanding duties in all corners of our lives. Most of us wear multiple hats as professionals, providers, partners, caregivers and parents. We are constantly challenged to effectively manage our time and money within a world that seems to be closing in around us. Even so, with all the hustle and bustle around us, making time for exercise is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. And while it may seem impossible, you can almost do some form of exercise anywhere, anytime.
Good tone in the upper body, as well as the trunk and legs, is needed to prevent injury and give us energy especially in the face of the daily demands on our bodies. Elastic bands offer a great choice for resistance work, especially in the small confines of an office, hotel room or other locations where training equipment is not available. They are small (and light) enough to tuck into a desk drawer, luggage or purse, assuring that they are always nearby. Got two minutes to spare? Perform a few reps of one or two exercises. By the end of the day, a routine is done - accomplished in minutes that would have been wasted otherwise.
Because of the growing concerns of latex allergies, I recommend and use latex-free resistance bands, which come in varying degrees of resistance. Exercises suggesting appropriate use are available on the Web and are accessible to anyone free of charge. Getting-started tip: Make a short list on index cards or print out several simple exercises from a Web site that can be done in your available space in 1-2 minutes. Place the list and one exercise band in a reclosable bag (to keep them together) and tuck it into a spot where it will be handy when there are a couple of minutes to spare (on the desk or in a purse, briefcase, carry-on or beach bag). Placing these bags in several handy locations increases the probability of completion.
A varied atmosphere makes it more interesting and the "no excuse" attitude helps you to see possibilities that were actually there all along. You could work in a few simple sets at your desk, while waiting in a reception room, or in the kitchen making dinner. Let your imagination run loose and you might discover time for pectoralis flies on a boat, biceps curls at a guardrail in the park, or triceps extensions at the beach. Make those spare minutes in your life all about you. How creative can you be?
Technique tips:
- Use a sturdy support, such as a guardrail, around which to loop the band for steady resistance.
- Securely hold onto the non-moving end of the band to avoid injury.
- Isolate individual muscles as part of a routine in order to avoid chronic muscle substitution for those that are weak.
- Incorporate practice functional movements that encourage coordination of synergists and simulate practical activities used in daily life.
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