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All Colorado Massage Therapists Must Be Registered with the State
You may be interested in knowing that last year, the State of Colorado implemented a mandatory registration requirement for all Colorado massage therapists. This means that in order to practice massage therapy in the State of Colorado, all massage therapists are required to register through the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). All applicants must submit to an extensive criminal background investigation with fingerprinting. Registrants can apply under one of the following requirements: (1) Have at least five (5) years of professional experience practicing massage therapy and have completed at least three hundred (300) hours of massage training; (2) Have attained a degree, diploma, or otherwise successfully completed a massage therapy program that consists of at least five hundred (500) total hours of course and clinical work from an approved massage school; or (3) Have successfully completed an approved examination.
DORA’s mission is consumer protection; and according to its website, “is dedicated to preserving the integrity of the marketplace and is committed to promoting a fair and competitive business environment in Colorado.” To verify your massage therapist is properly registered, go to DORA and click on “Verify a Colorado Licensee”.
The Aromatherapy Primer
This article is designed to peak your curiosity about aromatherapy and its many uses and benefits. The art of aromatherapy dates back centuries. It is believed through archeological evidence that aromatherapy was first utilized in ancient Egypt. The term "aromatherapy" was first coined in 1937 by the French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé (Brown, p.9). It is reported that after burning his hand during an experiment, he grabbed the nearest liquid which happened to contain lavender oil. Lavender oil provides pain relief, offers antiseptic qualities and encourages calmness.
Aromatherapy uses the essential oils extracted from various parts of plants and trees. There are several hundred different types of essential oils available for use. It is imperative to always purchase "whole or pure" essential oils. It is not recommended to use essential oils with any synthetic additives. When shopping for essential oils, also notice the varied prices for the different oils. That's a good indicator that the oils are pure; for example, rose oil is traditionally very expensive because it takes thousands of rose petals to produce just a drop of rose oil.
Aromatherapy is intended to promote physical, mental and spiritual health. The uses of essential oils are as varied as the kinds of oils. Essential oils can be used in baths, by inhalation, room spray, body misters, diffusers and massage.
When using essential oils, follow the safety and common sense precautions below:
Keep essential oils away from children
Store in a cool, dark place
Essential oils should be purchased and stored in dark-colored bottles
Do not ingest
Do not use undiluted oils directly on skin
It is a good idea to consult an aromatherapy reference book before you start blending oils. A reference book can offer a complete list of the oils' properties, treatment and warnings. Generally, a blend of two to three oils is sufficient to get the desired result. If you don't want to blend your own oils, you can always purchase products that are ready to use. It is a fun, inexpensive way to experiment with scents of essential oils. Try some of Health & Harmony's bath salts, sprays or massage oils and enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy.
Works Cited:
Brown, Denise Whichello, Aromatherapy, NTC Publishing Group, Chicago, IL, 1996.
Structural Integration and Sports Massage
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, an article on Structural Integration appeared in the November 2001 issue of Rocky Mountain Sports. The article, written by Lana Lensman, describes the benefits of Structural Integration for athletes.
Rather than focusing on muscle tissue, Structural Integration manipulates the connective tissue, also called fascia, the web-like tissue that surrounds the muscles, organs, and bones. Structural Integration is generally performed in 10 weekly one hour sessions.
The article touches on problems that many athletes share, including tight muscles, soreness, limited range of motion, and poor flexibility. The writer talked to a former cyclist, Hunter Allen, who described how Structural Integration allowed him to achieve more extension through the heel, giving him a more powerful and smooth pedal stroke.
Improved athletic performance is one of the many reasons athletes should include massage in their training program. A massage the day after a race or hard training session will allow your body to recover faster, enabling you to get back out there and trash your body again, and so on, and so on.
The writers spoke to Dr. Ben M. Benjamin, a PhD. in Sports Medicine and Massage Therapist, who explained that Deep Tissue Massage removes lactic acid buildup and breaks down scar tissue, allowing muscles to move more freely. Dr. Benjamin recommends that athletes get a massage at least twice a week.
While a bi-weekly massage may not be practical for most folks, scheduling a massage for the afternoon or day after a hard workout could reduce your chance of injury, accelerate the recovery process, and improve your results on race day.
The article goes on to discuss Sports and Orthopedic Massage, which focus on the specific muscles that an athlete uses in his or her sport. A corrective and restorative practitioner and senior instructor at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, Clint Chandler, provides pre-event, post-event, and restorative/rehabilitative massage. According to Chandler, the 15 minute pre-event massage shakes out and invigorates the muscles, the 15 minute post-event massage slows the body down through stretching and light tissue work, and the hour-long restorative/rehabilitative massage implements deep tissue work and stretching to promote recovery.
The principles of Sports Massage also apply to industrial injuries, according to Chandler. He uses the example of a drywaller and a baseball pitcher, who use similar motions and can sustain identical injuries.
The article also includes mention of Ashiatsu, a deep tissue modality where the therapist stands over you and uses his or her feet instead of hands to deliver the massage. The therapist holds onto bars above the table to adjust the pressure. A similar technique was used by Uncle Fester, who, as you might recall, slept on a bed of nails, which is only advised for the very hard-core.
Reflexology, also mentioned in the article, involves deep massage on specific points of the hands and feet in order to relax and detoxify the body. If you prefer a more high-tech approach, Microcurrent therapy spins an extra electron of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to the muscles to facilitate the healing process.
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