Therapeutic Bodywork
Treating Chronic Conditions
Chronic conditions are often the “result” of an amalgamation of interlaced events, compensation patterns, and neuromuscular coping mechanisms; your brain tells your muscles how to fire, and after injury or repetitive patterns, it can get locked into a setting that is no longer useful as you continue your life.
Vela Bodywork works with the premise that when something is going on chronically, we want to find the root(s) and address them. At first, the roots can be complicated to identify amidst the many things that hurt. Through balancing the system on its foundational level, noticing what the body best responds to in treatment, and addressing the components of your whole system sequentially, we can actually re-set the way the body functions.
Therapeutic massage is integrated as needed into sessions and is often part of a larger plan that works alongside complementary healthcare providers, such as Physical Therapists, Chiropractors, MDs and NDs.
Vela Bodywork has a profound interest in patient education and problem-solving. Sessions will include discussion about home care and how best to continue facilitating the changes made during a session. Vela hopes that at the end of treatment, you will be more empowered and have the necessary resources to maintain your health.
Treating Injury & Motor Vehicle Collision
The body has an incredible ability to heal. The repair of tissue occurs in phases, including inflammation, repair and remodeling. Therapeutic massage is effective for rehabilitation beginning in the repair stage, when the site of injury starts to stitch up with collagen fibers (scar tissue). This begins to happen about 2-3 days after injury. Before then, it is best to ice the site of injury and rest (if it hurts, don’t move it — the tissue hasn’t had a chance to regenerate yet).
Healthy formation of scar tissue is of immense importance, since it sets the path for the future capacity and range of movement. This process occurs after all injuries, in all places in the body: whiplash, strain or sprain in the back or shoulders, skin and muscle tissue abrasions following falls, bone breaks and joint injuries.
When the body heals, it stitches itself up with collagen. Imagine it as a sort of Tetris game. The scar tissue falls into place reliably yet without any strategy, creating patchy, overlapping sections that are not mechanically optimal. The therapist assists everything linking up properly, creating, in the end, a sturdy foundation for future movement.
Vela Bodywork is passionate about using a medley of manual techniques that optimize for full-range, function movement. Therapeutic massage will be provided in the context of a well-balanced lymphatic and craniosacral system. This careful care of your whole system assures that you fully recover from your injury or chronic condition.
Vela Bodywork currently accepts PIP (Personal Injury Protection) patients for Motor Vehicle Collisions and L&I for work related injury. Superbills available upon request.
Treating Stress
When a person is stressed, their sympathetic nervous system is hyper-activated, sensitizing them to pain. Stress can land in the body in a multitude of ways: a feeling of anxiety that coils around the belly; tight muscles; sedentary inclinations; clenching; erratic heartbeat; shallow breathing; the sense that everything is closing in around you.
Besides intensifying your symptoms, stress can inhibit the body’s systems on a systemic (whole body) level, literally making you feel ill.
Treating stress, at least in part, about management. The good news is, massage is a highly effective way to reduce chronic pain and stress. Massage releases chronic connective tissue and muscular holding patterns that can actually “lock” you into a certain posture over time (think being crouched over a desk or holding your breath from stress), and it can also directly address any acute body pains that can be giving you trouble.
Finally, massage reaches your sympathetic nervous system (your “fight or flight” response) when it is in overdrive from accumulating stress. Massage works in part by inducing a deep, relaxed state, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest & digest” response). This is where the re-boot happens and where healing can begin.