Massage Therapy is a MUST DO!

Massage isn’t always a good nap.

Remember those New Year’s Resolutions you made a few months ago? Yeah me too. Instead of the “I’m going to lose weight.” Or “I’m going to eat healthier.” I went went with opted this year for truly caring for my body. Schedule all the check ups like the dentist and the yearly physical. No it’s not glamorous or even really Instagram worthy but it’s life improving.  

My biggest change and challenge is I decided it was important to schedule a monthly session of massage therapy followed by my chiropractic zone adjustment. Some call it is a relaxing massage but I can assure you that during my sessions, there is no relaxing into a sweet sleep. My therapist Kyli digs into the hips and low back to really workout the kinks. There is a lot of deep breathing through the pain. A couple hours after I am done, I feel amazing. It’s so worth the pain. We joked that I must like it since I keep coming back for more.

I will be honest, setting up a monthly massage session seemed so high maintenance. When I tell most people I hear, “oh you are so lucky.” That judgement almost stopped me from continuing but luckily, I shut down those voices and have continued.  

One of the biggest reasons I get massage is because flying both as a passenger and the pilot result in lots of sitting. I have heard the phrase, “sitting is the new smoking”. Yikes! According to Yale Medicine prolonged sitting can lead to vascular problems, muscle tension and weakness and so much more. Most Americans will sit 8 hours a day at work with few breaks. It’s killing us!  

As I am already dealing with weight issues, I didn’t want to add heart issues. This was one of the main reasons I decided to look at my insurance benefits to see where I can access the preventative care options. I was really lucky in that my benefits can go against my deductible. While it isn’t paid outright, and comes out of pocket for now, hopefully by the end of the year, it will have some money off. The bigger hope is my overall health will be really improved.

Have you looked into your plan? I know it can be tough to find the who, what, where and when but this article from Loop Health has some help. It hits on the cons too. I realize not everyone can do everything but at least look at the options.

Back to my massage session…..I always walk in thinking this time I will be the patient she works on that is in such great shape. No knots, very little pain and she really doesn’t have much to do. She will ask me if I want full body or just focus on the hips and back. When I talk about all the pains everywhere, it’s always full body. Maybe one day though….maybe. Every time I am knotted up like a bad string of Christmas lights. It’s so pathetic I can only laugh.

I will say that after being consistent for the last few monthsI am noticing positive changes. For one, I am back to doing yoga. A few years ago, I had a pretty significant surgery that really limited my core strength which spiraled into back and knee pain. I really notice how much better I sleep with in the first few weeks of a session. I don’t have to toss and turn to get that “just right” position. I think the combo of these two is allowing my body to really truly heal after years of issues.