Our Valentine’s Special includes:

• Full body warm cocoa butter massage
• Chocolate truffles
• Essential oil bath salts for soaking
• A moisturizing cocoa butter bar to take home

For ultimate relaxation that continues at home, add our Valentine’s Day Special to any 60 minute or longer Swedish, Deep Tissue, Pregnancy, or Couples Massage. Just $15.00 per person. May also be added to a gift certificate, however you will need to come by the office to pick up the truffles, bath salts, and cocoa butter bar. Available Feb 1st-19th. Limited supply, order your gift certificate or schedule your appointment now! Only 20 left!

whiplash

For me, when I hear whiplash and see these images, I instantly tighten my muscles in my neck, shoulders, and upper back and start to get a knot in my stomach and feel pain in my body. Whiplash is a non-medical term used to describe neck pain associated with a trauma. The medical terms you will hear doctors use are cervical strain/sprain along with hyperextension/hyperflexion when diagnosing a neck injury.
I’m sure everyone at some point has experienced some sort of neck trauma, whether it is from a car accident, sporting injury, fall or repetitive motions. How many of you still feel pain from those accidents/injuries? I have been in a few car accidents and remember a time whitewater rafting down the White Salmon River when I got whiplash, severe hyperextension of the neck, because of Husum Falls. That was three years ago and I continue to experience chronic pain in my neck and upper back every day along with occasional tinnitus (ringing of the ears) and numbness and tingling in my arms.
Over the course of the last three years I have not found any treatment with massage, chiropractic or acupuncture to provide me with significant pain relief. I have received one of these treatments one-two times a month over the last three years. All of them have provided me with temporarily pain relief and have ensured my success in continuing to do 20-25 hours of massage a week, along with my outdoor activities. However it wasn’t until I recently took a class by the Rolf Institute in Advanced Myofascial techniques that I experienced significant pain relief along with increased range of motion in my neck.
In early December 2011, I took a class on the neck, head and jaw along with a two-day class on whiplash/chronic neck pain. In this class we went over the neck anatomy extensively. We also discussed how people can live in a state of chronic whiplash for years and how pain from a trauma can take hours, weeks, day or months to set in. When a massage therapist receives training in a modality, they must also experience the modality; given my past neck injuries I was a great candidate for the class. I experienced significant pain relief for the last month and have been applying these techniques on almost every guest I see at Zama with great success. The third and last day of the class, I felt my eustachian tube (ear canal) adjust and so far I have not experienced any tinnitus. The techniques we learned are very passive and take a while to administer, mainly because we wait for your nervous system to respond which allows for movement. It is best to receive this work over short multiple sessions.
We have many therapists in the office who are trained by the Rolf Institute in the Advanced Myofascial Techniques; they are Juniper Vojta, Jarrod Morrow, Lynn Bukowski and Racheal Kasprzak. Jarrod is the only LMT who has been certified in these trainings whereas Juniper and Lynn have taken many classes but have yet to complete the certification process and Racheal has just gotten started.
Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions about chronic neck pain and what treatment would be the most effective we are happy to help find a solution to fit your needs.
Lynn Bukowski
Founder of Zama Massage

What are you looking for in a massage today? Are you looking to just relax or
are you dealing with chronic pain? What are your immediate needs as well as your long term goals from a massage?
This will help us find you the right massage therapist. In addition, you can always
read about the therapist’s trainings on our website.

People tend to get caught up in the “should I choose a male or
female therapist?” You should only see a therapist who will make you
comfortable; however, in my experience I have received some of the most
profound massages from those who may not have been my first choice, male
or female. I encourage you to step outside of your first choice and open
yourself up to a healing experience that may be the perfect fit for you.
Please make sure to communicate anything that makes you feel uncomfortable
during your session. This is very important so that the therapist can meet your
expectations and needs during your massage session.

Click here to order your gift certificates online or call now and check three people off your list!

With Sports massage, many people think it is just mainly for before or after participating in a sports event. Pre-event massage should consist of stretching and massage which moves blood towards
the heart. Post-event massage should include some stretching but the main focus
should be on deeper massage which focuses on moving blood into the deep
layers of muscle tissue. Sports massage is also available for those who
need a more focused massage on an area that is prone to injury. This
type of Sports massage is for those who are in a normal workout routine
and need constant maintenance.

Regular massage is very important for everyone at all levels of activity.
Hopefully this has cleared up some questions for you when you’re choosing
between Deep Tissue or Sports Massage. If you have more questions please
ask your therapist what is the best style of massage for you or give us a ring.

Thai massage is just the answer. Thai massage uses Asana’s yoga posses to assist you into a deep therapeutic stretch and relaxation. Come see why everyone loves Thai massage so much.

This offer is good only with Jarrod, Juniper, Lynn and Troy. Please mention this offer when booking your appointment. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Offer Good until 11/30/11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Zama Massage Receives 2011 Best of Portland Award

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

NEW YORK, NY, October 20, 2011 — Zama Massage has been selected for the
2011 Best of Portland Award in the Massage Therapy category by the U.S.
Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding
local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies
companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in
their local community and business category. These are local companies
that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their
customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the
winners in each category. The 2011 USCA Award Program focuses on quality,
not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered
both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization
funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across
America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public
relations, marketing and advertising.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in
their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business
owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and
other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an
advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs
across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@uscaaward.com

URL: http://www.uscaaward.com

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1. Injury
2. Overuse
3. Sedentary Lifestyle

Many knots are caused because we use our bodies enough to injure ourselves or overuse the muscles we have. Unfortunately the most common source is a sedentary lifestyle. Professional experience has taught me that sitting at my computer right now typing away is building up knots right now. Regardless of the cause, a persistent knot will remain until it is broken up… in more than one way.

The first way to break up a knot is to understand a very basic principle around knots: They need intervention. Something called the “Pain-Spasm-Pain” cycle causes a knot to stay a knot. One of the three categories from above causes the pain, and a spasm follows suit, which causes more pain and more spasm. This cycle continues unless you interrupt it. The following will help to intervene:
1. Massage is well known for, “Getting the knots out, ” and really helps with persistent knots.
2. Stretching is one of the very best things to do to reduce and avoid knots.
3. If a knot is causing a movement pattern which in turn causes swelling, then using ice for no more than 10-15 minutes can help.

Reduce knots by doing the following:
1. Avoid sitting while hunched over. Stretch!
2. Get plenty of exercise, and consult your physician if you don’t know how much you should get.
3. After you exercise, Stretch!
4. Hydrate (Coffee and Beer don’t count)
5. Get your B Vitamins, and plenty of Potassium and Calcium

Why does massage help?
Besides breaking up the pain-spasm-pain cycle, massage brings new blood supply, and with it oxygen, so muscles can function properly. Some muscles become rock hard and the supply of blood is less fluid. Breaking up the physical knot and bringing oxygen in will gradually restore normal function. Massage will not always vanquish an unwavering knot in one session though. Often enough knots need frequent sessions to be completely terminated. Even once the pain from a knot is reduced to a memory the trigger point can become latent and come back later on.

Why do I get the same knots over and over again?
We tend to develop patterns in life. Our job, posture, activity, inactivity and so on. These patterns cause the same muscles to be used or ignored. When they are painful and persistent they are considered active trigger points. A latent trigger point won’t have as much feeling unless someone or something touches it, pinches it, or puts pressure on it. Knots can affect the way we move, stand, sit, our overall strength, and how we carry ourselves among other things. The most shocking part is that we may not even know we are being affected until it is has become a serious pattern modification in our lives.

Why do knots cause pain in different areas when they are getting massaged?
Knots, or trigger points have the unique quality of referring sensation to other very specific areas in the body. Many areas will refer pain to specific points throughout the body and trigger point therapists will use these specific points to treat specific conditions. A few very common conditions that can be treated with trigger point therapy are:
-Headaches
-Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
-Fibromyalgia
-Plantar Fasciitis
-Disc Pain (often referred to as radiculopathy)
-Sciatica
-TMJ
And many more…

Knots are possibly the most common thing a massage therapist hears as a primary complaint. These little nodules in our muscles cause unnecessary stress for us at various points in our lives. With a little education, a lot of peace can happen. I hope this helps.

David is running a special through Nov. 15 on trigger point massage:

$10 off a 60 minute trigger point massage focusing on the neck, back and shoulders. 

Call today to make an appointment with David at 503.281.0278 or visit our online appointment maker.

For those of you who want to know the physiology, biology, and biochemistry of knots, I have provided a little link here for you. This article has information about knots and it is some of the most comprehensive in the area of physiology of trigger points I have seen. It is a great resource for the science minded.