ASK Dr. Joe – “Ask Me Anything”

I am creating a new blog post feature to my content called Ask Dr. Joe, or perhaps better put, Ask Me Anything*. With Ask Me Anything, you can write to me by email ([email protected]) and ask me any question about: …

massage and blood circulation

Can Massage Increase Blood Circulation?

Regardless of the underlying mechanism, there seems to be a growing number of studies that do show a correlation between massage therapy and blood circulation. Although these studies at present seem to be inconsistent in their findings, the fact that many of them do show a causal relationship is encouraging.

Permission Joseph E.Muscolino. Manual Therapy for the Low Back and Pelvis - A Clinical Orthopedic Approach (2015)

Low Back Pain: Time to Consider Massage and Exercise as Effective Treatments

So if we say that the cause of most low back pain is not understood, it should mean that we do not know what mechanism is causing the low back pain most of the time. But that is not true. We can often palpate tight myofascial tissue or a dysfunctional joint that is causing back pain.

Forward Head Posture. Permission Joseph E. Muscolino. Manual Therapy for the Low Back and Pelvis - A Clinical Orthopedic Approach (2013).

Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Forward Head Posture

The neck and head do not contribute to the generation of pressure, so head and neck posture should be whatever is most comfortable and least stressful. Forward head posture, a common postural distortion imbalance pattern that occurs is caused by a flexion of the head and neck.

Permission Joseph E. Muscolino. Manual Therapy for the Low Back and Pelvis - A Clinical Orthopedic Approach (2013).

Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Deep Strokes

To transition to perform deep strokes and maintain proper body mechanics, it is necessary to transition from being perpendicular to be slightly horizontal to glide along the client’s body. However, minimize the horizontal direction or pressure into the client’s tissues will be lost.

Back Postures. Permission Joseph E. Muscolino. Manual Therapy for the Low Back and Pelvis - A Clinical Orthopedic Approach (2013).

Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Use Body Weight

An excellent demonstration of the force that can be generated by using body weight is to lean down onto a bathroom weight scale that is placed on a table that is positioned as various heights. Simply relax and lean into the scale with your body weight and notice the force that you generate.