Welcome to Spectrum Health & Wellbeing - Your local Rowville Myotherapy Clinic

Like many businesses the clinic has had to abide to a number of stringent guidelines since March. Fortunately we were able to remain open to look after your needs. Now with eight weeks left before the end of 2020, I am pleased that at present there are no restrictions to receiving your Myotherapy, Reflexology or Reiki.

If you have not been in this year, or for the past 12 months, you will be required to undergo an initial 1 hour appointment for your return first appointment; to check, update and revise any medical conditions and records.

COVID-19 guidelines remain in place, which means;
• The wearing of a mask in clinic is compulsory
• Only one adult client allowed in clinic at a time (no partners or children)
• One adult may accompany a child if the child is undergoing treatment

The clinic follows all DHHS COVID hygiene regulations.

Clinic Hours
Since mid-October there has been a change to clinic hours. Current clinic hours are:
Mon / Tues / Wed 2pm – 6pm
Thursday 9am – 6pm
Friday & Saturday 9am – 12noon

How’s business? Fantastic and running smoothly, or could it be better? How about patients? Got enough or want more? How about work-life balance? Whatever the question, if there is something about your practice that you would like to improve, then it is time to innovate.

When a business is new and enthusiasm high, creativity flows and it is easier to see new business opportunities. As the business settles with regular patient numbers and work-flow becomes comfortable and routine, there is often less creativity and urgency to continually innovate and grow. Like a plant that you need to fertilise, prune and water so that it grows and remains healthy, you also need to look at ways to innovate and grow your business to keep it profitable.

Innovation is about looking at ways to improve what and how you do something and implementing it. It is about addressing an area of the business that requires improving, coming up with one or several possible ideas and then turning the best idea into a solution that adds overall value to your patients.

By focusing on how you can improve your business and enhancing the way you run your practice, you ultimately impact your patients’ experience with you. It’s the little things that you do in business that have a flow-on affect and make a difference to patients. The greater their experience, the better the relationship and willingness of the patient to remain loyal to your practice and refer people to you.

Being skilled at massage is only one (albeit important) part of customer service, as all aspects of your business impact your patients’ experience; everything from the way your potential patients find you, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software you use, to the physical layout of your clinic.

Innovation is not about making changes for the sake of change. It has to add value to the business in some way; efficiency, financially, environmentally etc. Also, it is not only about making positive changes that improve your current business operations; it is also about creating and implementing new ideas and a vision for your business’ future.

At all times remember that what you want or need to improve and change in your practice will affect your patients either directly or indirectly. For example; being exhausted from working to many hours will impact your physical, mental and emotional ability to optimally deal with patients, which may require you to cancel patients due to illness; possibly giving an unsatisfactory treatment and potentially losing business. An innovative idea could be to sub-contract work out to another therapist to ease your workload. Although this is not a new idea, as it is new to the way you currently do business, it is innovative.

Whether or not you implement the proposed idea will be based on various factors that you need to consider. Is the innovation realistic? Does it match your business model? Can you afford this innovation? How will it impact your patients? And so on.

The point is, innovative thinking enables you to look at all possible solutions and ideas. Not the innovative idea you can work with? No problem; be creative and come up with an innovative solution you can work with; that will benefit both you and your patients.

Remember, the key to innovation is being creative and doing something new or different to the way you currently do it, so that it adds value to your business. Innovation is not necessarily about inventing something new; E.g. an App for your business.

It is with enthusiasm that I announce my involvement with Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) as a Myotherapist. This is a newly developed position that will enable VMCH to offer in–home massage services. Although the concept is not new, I am looking forward to putting my thirty years of experience in health and business to developing and expanding the current massage services offered by VMCH Wantirna.

Australia's population is ageing as a result of sustained low fertility and increasing life expectancy. This has resulted in proportionally fewer children (under 15 years of age) and a proportionally larger increase in people aged 65 and over. Massage therapy for older persons is a growing industry and therefore an essential part of health care in terms of the quality and life expectancy of the Australian population.

In 2016, there were 3.7 million (15%) Australians aged 65, with the number and proportion of older Australians expected to grow. By 2056, it is projected there will be 8.7 million older Australians (22% of the population) and by 2096, 12.8 million people (25%) will be aged 65 years and over.

Benefits of Massage for Older Patients include:

• Massage helps to soften muscles and tissues by increasing blood flow to the areas and ultimately reducing overall muscle tension.

• Improved circulation and blood flow through the muscles and joints, enhancing mobility and reducing pain from stiffened muscles and joints.

• Muscles and ligaments tighten with age and inactivity. Massage therapy loosens tight muscles and joints, improving range of motion which enables the person to maintain and active lifestyle.

• The increase of blood flow to the limbs makes the muscles and joints more supple and relaxed which enhances proprioception and body awareness, aiding in balance, gait and reducing the occurrence of falls.

• Massage therapy releases endorphins, hormones and stimulates neurotransmitters that are beneficial for the functioning of the nervous system

• It helps improve sleep through its relaxation benefits

• It improves the immune system by stimulating the Lymphatic system and assists the removal of toxins in the body.

• It helps relieve arthritic pain caused by Osteoarthritis and other conditions by increasing blood flow to the joints and warming affected areas.

• Massage produces feelings of caring and comfort, especially if the older patient is alone and/or unwell.

During the 1980s and 90s I did martial arts, achieving an international standard of skill and high level of physical fitness. Several months ago I returned to training after a 20 year break, training 2 to 3 sessions a week, pushing myself to duplicate the same level of ability and fitness I had decades ago.

Out of this experience I learned several things. First I am much older and my level of fitness is nowhere near the capacity it once was. The word ‘fitness’ encompasses cardiovascular, strength, endurance and flexibility, and although I wanted to train at the level I had decades ago, I was lacking in them all. This of course led to exhaustion and injuries, yes several of them in the space of three months.

My routine became train, soak in the bath with Epsom salts, stretch and get a massage, and this was when I was not recovering from injury. Injuries meant full recovery, time away from training, Myotherapy sessions and rehabilitation.

Over the years I had maintained a general fitness level and within weeks my cardiovascular fitness returned. Muscular endurance was lacking, though as the weeks turned to months even this improved. Flexibility was an issue, where in the past I could do the splits, however this time I tore muscles as I tried to emulate techniques from years past. Daily stretching was essential to avoid and recover from injury. This too improved.

Given time the physical body will improve its level of fitness and may even achieve or supersede its past levels; depending at what level you were previously at. What is important as we age is the time it takes to attain our fitness goals and how well we manage recovery. Maintenance is the key – massage, relaxation, nutrition, stretching and time.

There is one other key factor I have learned during my journey, and that has to do with ‘mental attitude’. It seems cliché, but alas true; ‘You achieve what you think you can achieve’ and ‘you become who you believe you are.’ As long as your goals are realistic in terms of what is possible and when, it comes done to mental attitude when achieving your fitness and health goals. In fact this can be said about achieving any goals.

Improvements: 1% at a time

When it comes to recovery from injury, acute and chronic conditions, reducing pain and generally feeling well, we each have our expectations as to how long we would like it to take. And here lies the discrepancy. Our expectation of ‘how long we would like it to take’ does not always coincide with the reality of how long it will take.

In terms of musculoskeletal conditions, the time it takes for a patient to recover from injury or a condition depends on many factors;

• The severity of the injury/condition
• The duration – how long have they had it?
• The location in the body
• The patient’s health status and age, including diet
• Is the patient able to take the required time off to recover appropriately?
• Is the patient pro-active in following the recommended treatment advice?
• Will their recovery require a multi-disciplinary approach?
• To what extent is the patient willing to make sacrifices, change behaviour and lifestyle or even career to ensure the condition does not continue or return?

Text books and valid websites give guidelines as to the expected rate of recovery. Although these guidelines are based on academic knowledge and studies, they do not take into account all of the abovementioned factors.

As a general rule, I use the following formulas:

• For every year you have had the condition, allow a month of treatments
• For every month you have had the condition, allow a week of treatments
• For very week you have had the condition, allow days of treatment

Add to these formulas the above factors and you may get a sense of how long it may take.

It is often thought that children and adolescents recover faster than adults, but as they are still growing and developing, they may actually need more time to recover between high-intensity training sessions and competition.

After nearly 30 years as a therapist, I have witnessed an increase in the demands of youth sport in terms of training hours, physical and mental demands and specialisation. For a youth who undertakes more than one sport, or activity, these stresses multiply.

After training and competition, muscles have been worked hard, have been overstretched and may suffer micro-tears which cause an inflammatory response. This inflammation and other factors such as tightness, adhesions, build-up of waste products, pain receptor stimulation and nerve irritation, cause varying degrees of pain; depending on how hard they have exercised. Once the pain is present, this can hinder muscle function, manifesting in restricted movement or limited power, making performance less effective.

Physical and mental fatigue from over-exercise leads to lack of concentration, which may then lead to injury and burnout. Rest and recovery is critical for youths who participate in competitive sport or who train/ play three or more times per week, or who play more than one sport; specialise in one sport year round, or who participate in extracurricular conditioning activities.

Very active youth who have little chance to relax and recover, constantly release adrenaline and other hormones that can have a negative effect on their immune system, leaving the body more vulnerable to illness and generally making it more difficult for the body to recover. It is therefore essential that the youth is given time off to rest in order to recuperate. When properly rested, the body can perform optimally when competing or training.

Although a day off between activities might be adequate for youth who participate in recreational sports, higher levels of training and competition require higher levels of physical and mental stress; so it is imperative that a recovery program, which includes rest, massage, stretching and correct nutrition be developed and implemented to maintain an optimal performance state.

Importance of Massage for Recovery

What determines a Remedial Massage Treatment?

You can go online and find thousands of Remedial Massage Therapists and numerous training colleges and associations related to remedial massage. Going back some 30 years you would have been hard-pressed to find a Remedial Massage Therapist. If you were after musculoskeletal therapy, your best option was to go see a physiotherapist.

Pre-1990s massage primarily focused on ‘relaxation’ and was offered mostly by beauty therapists and places such as day spas. As the benefits of massage for the treatment of (soft tissue) muscular conditions became accepted, massage education and the industry began focusing more on remediation.

It is now standard practice of the massage industry that massage therapists have at a minimum a Remedial Massage qualification. But as a consumer, how do you know what determines a Remedial Massage treatment?

So what is ‘Remedial Massage’? Remediation is defined as, ‘The act or process of remedying something that is undesirable or deficient’ and ‘the correction of something defective or deficient’. In massage this specifically refers to the treatment of muscle, tendons, ligaments and fascia that are dysfunctional in some manner: i.e. are injured and/or restricted in movement and/or function.

The process of receiving a Remedial massage involves the following:

• The initial Interview. This is where the patient will be asked to fill in a confidential Health Questionnaire together with signing a Consent Form. This ensures that the details provided are correct and that both the therapist and client are aware of the treatment offered.
• The Assessment. This involves a Postural Assessment; Range of Motion (ROM) tests and any specific tests to assess the degree of the dysfunction.
• Treatment. This involves a range of remedial techniques such as Myofascial Release, Cupping, Trigger Point Therapy, Deep Ischemic Pressure, Stretches and many others.
• Re-Assessment. This is where the initial ROM tests and /or special tests are revisited to ascertain any improvement of the dysfunction post massage.
• Home advice. This can include exercises and stretches, postural advice, use of equipment etc.
• Additional Appointments. As the condition presented is dysfunctional, it will either require additional treatments from the therapist or the therapist may refer the patient on to a higher qualified practitioner; i.e. Myotherapist, Physiotherapist, Osteopath etc.

The important thing to note is that even if the therapist holds a Remedial Massage qualification, unless they are performing and assessment, applying remedial techniques, re-assessing and offering therapeutic home advice, with follow-on treatments, it may be that you are simply receiving a ‘relaxation/therapeutic’ massage.

Firstly not all headaches are created equal. There are muscle tension headaches, migraines and more severe causes such as Meningitis.
In general headaches can be....
1.related to poor posture
2.related to weakness in the supporting neck muscles
3.caused by tension in muscles of the neck and upper back
4.related to dysfunction of the vertebrae of the neck and back
5.caused by dehydration, food allergies or hormones
6.successfully treated by your Myotherapist / remedial massage therapist
7.reduced with stretching exercises

Myotherapy can help you reduce Tension headache
One of the key ways that Myotherapy can reduce the symptoms of headache is by releasing muscle tension. The picture on the left indicates in red where the pain refers to when there is specific muscle tension. By applying techniques such as Myofascial Release, Cupping, Trigger Points just to name a few, muscle tension can be released. This together with specific stretches and postural advice will reduce your muscle tension headache, decrease pain and inflammation, leaving you headache free.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?
The plantar fascia is a band of connective tissue (ligament) that runs along the sole from the heel to the ball of the foot and supports the arch of your foot. It enables you to push off from the ground. Bruising or overstretching this ligament can cause inflammation and heel pain. If you strain your plantar fascia, it gets weak, swollen, irritated and inflamed.
Repeated strain can cause tiny tears in the ligament. This is more likely to happen if:
• Your feet roll inward too much when you walk (excessive pronation).
• You have high arches or flat feet. People with flat feet may have reduced shock absorption, increasing strain on the plantar fascia. High arched feet have tighter plantar tissue, leading to similar effects.
• You walk, stand, or run for long periods, especially on hard surfaces.
• You are overweight, including pregnancy. Weight places a greater mechanical load on the plantar fascia.
• You wear shoes that don't fit well or are worn out. Wearing shoes with poor arch support or stiff soles.
• You have tight Achilles tendons or calf muscles.
• Certain sports. Activities that place a lot of stress on the heel bone and attached tissue, i.e. running, dance and aerobics.
• Middle-aged or older. Heel pain tends to be more common with ageing as muscles supporting the arch of the foot become weaker, putting stress on the plantar fascia.
Plantar fasciitis can happen in one foot or both feet and is often associated with a heel spur.
Most people with plantar fasciitis have pain when they take their first steps after they get out of bed or sit for a long time. You may have less stiffness and pain after you take a few steps, but your foot may hurt more as the day goes on. It may hurt the most when you climb stairs or after you stand for a long time.
You may need to take an X-ray of your foot if there is a possibility of a stress fracture.
Signs and symptoms
Pain is usually felt on the underside of the heel, and is often most intense with the first steps of the day or after rest. It is commonly associated with long periods of weight bearing or sudden changes in weight bearing or activity.
You may experience:
• Sharp pain in the inside part of the bottom of the heel, which may feel like a knife sticking into the bottom of the foot.
• Heel pain that tends to be worse with the first few steps after awakening, when climbing stairs or when standing on tiptoe.
• Heel pain after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position.
• Heel pain after, but not usually during, exercise.
• Mild swelling in the heel.

What does ‘psychosomatic’ mean? ‘Psycho’ relates to the mind and emotional state of the individual and ‘soma’ means ‘of the body’. So, ‘psychosomatic’ means; ‘of or relating to a disorder having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes.’ That is, ‘relating to or concerned with the influence of the mind on the body, especially with respect to disease.’

To put it simpler, ‘what you think affects how you physically feel.’ A simple example of this is when a person is anxious about an upcoming event and develops a headache, cold, or has abdominal symptoms such as diarrhoea or constipation. Once the event has passed, so do the symptoms.