News: July 2015

It's a win-win

Did you know that by choosing massage therapy, you're not only making the best choice for your health, but also for your wallet? A study was published this month (Pubmed) that evaluated both patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness across various treatments for back and joint pain in the United States. The study involved 16,546 patients diagnosed with back and/or joint pain. The patients received treatments either from doctors, including osteopaths, orthopaedics, neurologists, rheumatologists, internal medicine doctors, and family/general doctors, or from other provider specialists, including massage therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, and acupuncturists.

Massage therapy, along with osteopathy, internal medicine, family/general medicine, and chiropractic, was the most cost-effective at improving physical function of patients with back pain. Even more enlightening, the researchers reported that " ... only massage therapy was cost-effective among non-doctor providers in improving quality of life measures."

This is wonderful evidence to support those who are looking to treat their back/joint pain without the use of medications, invasive procedures, and budget-breaking medical bills. Treatments like drugs, surgery, and chiropractic adjustments, although sometimes necessary, often only help the symptom and not the cause of the pain, leaving patients at higher risk for more pain in the future. The choice is a no-brainer. For a better quality of life and a healthier back and budget, the winner is massage therapy!

Activate your core to relieve low back pain

And speaking of back pain, watch this short video for a simple yet powerful exercise you can do to support low back health and core strength.

Learn how to properly activate your core to strengthen your abdominal and gluteal muscles, improve your alignment, and reduce neck and lower back pain. All this in less than 5 minutes! These simple exercises include pelvic tilts and bridge pose.

What's new with me ...

With the 4th of July fireworks on the East River and my husband's office on the 30th floor in midtown east, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. We took Sienna, who was so excited to be out at night! We got there early, so the three of us had plenty of time to gallop around the floor holding balloons and pretending to be ponies. When the fireworks began, Sienna exclaimed, "It's a rainbow of colors!" See lots of new Sienna pics and videos here.