At Vive! Therapeutic Massage, we take the needs of seniors and our older clients very seriously. Whether it is addressing the aches and pains of growing older or helping to maintain your mobility, massage provides skilled touch and therapeutic interventions. As you age, it is important to continue moving your muscles to avoid stiffness and to promote flexibility. Massage provides many benefits for seniors, including improved circulation and decreased inflammation in joints. We see a lot of people before and after knee and hip replacement surgery.  Massage therapy is often complementary to physical therapy. A good therapeutic massage can also be helpful for arthritis, muscle and bone deterioration, tendonitis, bursitis and even respiratory problems. The emotional support and tender loving care provided by our professional therapists can reduce anxiety, depression, stress and loneliness. Regular massage can increase your desire to be active and get the most out of life!

Your immune system works hard to protect you from colds, flu, and other illnesses, so why not give it a little help? Imagine your immune system as the first line of defense against an invading army.  First, the proteins in the bloodstream look for foreign bodies (antigens). Then, the proteins call for reinforcement from phagocytes which devour bacteria and viruses. T cells in the lymphatic system take note of the invasion and increase white blood cells to further fight off the enemy (Build a Better Immune System by Brandi Schlossberg, Massage Magazine, 12/07). When the process is working properly, the germs are flushed out through the lymphatic system and you are not even aware of the battle within. 

How do we keep the system humming? Boost your immunities to bacteria and viruses by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. According to a Harvard Special Health Publication, the immune system requires balance and harmony to function well. The report makes the following recommendations:

• Don’t smoke.
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Control your blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category.

(http://www.health.harvard.edu/flu-resource-center/how-to-boost-your-immune-system.htm)
 
Whole foods , adequate protein, and plenty of water to flush out toxins will help keep your body in top form. For additional information, Dr. Jennifer Collins offers many dietary tips on the website www.alternativemedicine.com (http://www.alternativemedicine.com/alternative-medicine/departments/holistic-tips-boost-your-immune-system ).
 
In addition to these common sense recommendations, Schlossberg suggests herbal remedies, vitamin supplements, aromatherapy and massage to keep you feeling your best. Stress is particularly harmful to your defenses, and massage therapy is a great way to combat those debilitating effects. Deep tissue massage slows down the production of cortisol – the stress hormone. The skin’s receptors respond to moderate pressure and your immune system benefits. Essential oils of lavender, sandalwood, tea tree, eucalyptus and rose oil can be incorporated into massage lotions or diffused in to the air to offer additional immune system support. In addition, you might try herbal teas like Yogi Tea’s Echinacea Immune Support or Traditional Medicinal’s Echinacea Plus to stimulate and support the immune system. Schlossberg cites studies that show that even severely compromised immune systems, such as those weakened from HIV and leukemia, benefit from massage through the increase in white blood cells counts.  
  Stay in harmony with your body by eating well, getting enough exercise and sleep, and  helping your immune system do its job of protecting the body from invading bacteria and viruses.  The reward for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including regular massage, is a healthier immune system.

Did you know that the National Institute of Health has a branch for studying Complementary and Alternative medicine? The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM for short - don't you love government agencies) has been studying the effectiveness of massage therapy as well as other alternative approaches to health and wellness. They are starting to build up a body of evidence that verifies what many of us already know to be true, that massage therapy can be an effective therapy for people with many conditions. Some of the studies that they have done include the effectiveness of massage for back pain, chronic neck pain, headaches, depression and anxiety, cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis and even HIV/AIDS.  They continue to study the effectiveness of massage for other conditions. If you are interested in learning more about their work, go to: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/massage

Cancer awareness is very critical these days and knowing how to prevent and early detect cancer is a key to maintaining your well being. Mammograms have been the mainstream for detecting any signs of breast cancer. However, there is an additional option that is “radiation free” that is worth exploring called “Thermography”.  As with all health decisions, please consult your medical doctor or homeopathic doctor for what option is best for you.  Being informed about your health and the various ways to stay healthy will serve you the best in the long run.
 
Thermography is a suggested screening tool for breast health. It can be used as an alternative to, or in addition to, mammography. Thermography is very safe—it’s even safe for pregnant and nursing women! It’s merely an image of the heat of your body. With thermography, there is no radiation exposure. Thermography is not invasive and requires no physical contact with the technician.  You are positioned in front of a Thermal Imaging Camera and digital pictures are taken. The procedure lasts from 5 to 15 minutes. The results are analyzed for heat patterns and available to you within a couple of days. Dr. Christiane  Northrup, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, is a well-known advocate for thermography as an accurate and reliable method of breast screening.
 
The website http://www.thermologyonline.org/ is a great source of information for understanding how thermography works.  Thermography measures body temperature to detect inflammation and has been shown to pick up abnormalities in the breast many years before a lesion would likely show up in a mammogram. Tumors generally have an increase in blood supply which translates into increased heat in the surrounding tissues. Inflammation is often present in precancerous and cancerous cells and can be detected by the infrared hotspots during thermography. It is especially useful in detection of breast abnormality and may be more effective than mammography in early detection of cancer cells.
 
Some experts believe that thermographs have the ability to detect the chemical and blood vessel changes in pre-cancerous as well as cancerous breast tissue 8 to 10 years before it can be detected by other methods. With thermography as a screening tool, breast cell anomalies can be detected long before mammography can detect cancer, allowing you to implement lifestyle changes that can improve the health of your breasts proactively instead of waiting for a cancer diagnosis later. The chart below shows the growth rate of cancer cells and when anomalies are detected by both thermography and mammography.

Proper hydration is very important, especially after getting a massage. Deep tissue massage in particular releases toxins trapped in the muscular system which eventually will be flushed by the body through the lymphatic system. Proper hydration after massage helps to properly flush the system of these toxins.

Vive! is committed to your health as well as the environment. In the past, Vive! has always provided bottled water to our clients. We have now found a healthier and more ecologically friendly option than bottled water. We have installed a water filtration system which supplies healthier purified water. This will save thousands of water bottles each year as well as eliminate the environmental carbon impact of transporting the water.

Environmentally Friendly Cups

No more environmentally unfriendly bottles. We are now using to-go cups manufactured by ECO Products. The cups, lids and straws are all made of 100% renewable plant based plastics. This material is also ASTM certified to be 100% compostable. We hope you will agree that this is a far better alternative to plastic water bottles. 

We selected an eight stage filtration system from Crystal Quest which removes a wide variety of contaminants and unwanted chemicals from the drinking water. Vive! specifically chose a system that includes a filter for removing fluoride from the water. Fluoridation of the water supply has become a controversial subject. If you wish to read more on the subject, we suggest an article about water quality written by Dr. Mercola.  He is an acknowledged author, researcher and expert in the preventative health field, focusing on Osteopathic Medicine.

We elected not to use a reverse osmosis system since the municipal water system already provides some basic water filtration. Reverse osmosis systems are particularly helpful to those people whose water is supplied by well systems. While these systems are excellent at removing contaminants from the water, they tend to waste a lot of water and also tend to remove many beneficial minerals from the water. Click on READ MORE if you want to learn more about the 8 stage water filtering process supplied by Crystal Quest. 

Are you experiencing lower back pain, pain between the shoulder blades and spine, neck stiffness and upper shoulder pain? Such pain could be caused by your posture and the debilitating effects the following could have on your muscles, bones and nerves:

• Couch slouching
• Leaning forward, bending at the waist while in a chair at the desk/computer
• Forward neck protrusion while using the computer or cell phone or sitting for long periods of time
• Rounded shoulders, not standing or sitting erect
• Sleeping with arms over head or hugging a pillow.
• Looking down on your laptop or cell phone

Today we are considered a “flexion society”. As many of you have perused our hallway picture of a skeleton hunched over sitting at a computer desk, it represents what happens to the spine in an electronics-driven society. The spine takes its toll these days when poor posture is perpetrated by flexed necks and waists from such things as hovering over cell phones, tablets and computers. Such flexion can cause great stress to the spine and muscles. Today, we see more and more people having a forward neck (where the neck protrudes forward beyond the shoulder mid line), having rounded shoulders and slouched upper bodies.