Did you know that better posture can help you relax? According to two University of Wisconsin-Stout psychology students, they have found evidence that this is true. The students conducted a research project and found that "anxiety levels dropped 10-15 points after a massage." Well, duh, lol. But the cooler thing is the test subjects got taller. According to the survey, "the subjects stood from about four-tenths to half-inch taller after each treatment." Of course there has been a lot of studies that massage reduces anxiety, but none that connected posture with the reduced anxiety. For the full article, please read it at https://www2.uwstout.edu/news/index.asp?event=news.get&ID=2007

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Low back pain is an extremely common problem suffered by 70% of people at some point in time. This common problem can be extremely debilitating and is the second most common reason to seek medical attention. Although low back pain can strike anyone at any time, there are some things that increase your risk of developing the condition. Risk factors include:

~ Being overweight
~ Poor body posture
~ Occupations with lots of lifting or prolonged sitting
~ Smoking
~ Increased age
~ Poor fitness
~ History of low back pain
~ Pregnancy

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Many structures in and around the head are capable of producing headaches. Headaches are a very common problem and are experienced by nine out of ten people. Headaches are categorized into many different types such as migraines, stress, tension and cluster, which are based primarily on the symptoms they produce. Because many headaches are caused by tension and dysfunction of the muscles and joints around the head, massage is an effective source of relief for many headache sufferers. They are also one of the many reasons people seek out regular massage. Massage treatment of headaches uses gentle and natural methods as opposed to medication.

A few ways to prevent headaches are:

- Drink water regularly as dehydration can cause headaches.
- Avoid foods that may trigger headaches such as caffeine, alcohol or chocolate   and/or your own food allergies that you know can cause your headaches.
- Maintain good posture while sitting, standing and even sleeping.
- Avoid prolonged postures by taking a break or stretching.
- Exercise regularly to reduce stress and maintain overall wellness.

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You have pain, do you wait and see if it gets better on it's own? The simple answer is no! Although pain may subside without any type of treatment, that does not mean that the damaged tissues has returned to optimum health. If left untreated, damaged tissues remain in a weakened state which leaves it vulnerable to re-injury and degeneration. Don't wait weeks or months hoping that the pain will just magically go away cause it doesn't. The secret to pain relief is nipping it in the bud when you have the pain, to take care of it right away because the actuality is that your problems will fester and become potentially more and more serious until you are in severe pain. Or until you re-injure the affected area and don't understand why it is so much worse. When you wait, the problems will take that much longer for you to heal. Massage is there to help you relieve the pain as well as to help you heal your body to optimum health. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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