City Osteopathy » breast massage

Breast Feed to Better Health

August 3, 2016

If you think that breast feeding your baby is good for you and your baby, you are not wrong. You bond with your baby; feeding helps you lose weight and gives protection to the baby from many diseases like allergies, gastrointestinal complaints; it also contributes to better neurological development. Feeding your baby is helpful to you, too. Mothers who breast feed are at lowered risk of suffering from various cancers, osteoporosis, hip fractures, arthritis, diabetes and post-natal depression.

How breast milk changes colour…

For the newborn, the mother’s milk or colostrum is thinner but packed with leukocytes that confer immunity to the newborn against many illnesses. This has been proven by research. What is startling is that mother’s milk may actually change in response to the physical needs of the baby.

Acute injury and Treatment from Massage Therapy

December 7, 2015

Injured yourself and can not get in to see your osteopath or phyiotherapist? Being assessed and treated by a qualified therapeutic massage therapist, when the injury is acute can aid in the healing and recovery.

RCEM Learning (Creative Commons license)

An acute injury (24-72 hours after the traumatic event), as a result of an impact or trauma such as a fall, strain, sprain or collision, can cause sudden and sharp pain.

Signs and Symptoms of an acute injury are:

Pain

Tenderness

Redness

Skin that is warm to the touch

Swelling

Inflammation

During the acute stage of an injury, swelling is the body’s natural response to inflammation and injury. As a result, the blood vessels at the injury site become overwhelmed and leak into surrounding tissues.

The lymphatic system is the body’s natural edema(swelling) removal system.

A qualified therapeutic massage therapist can assess and address the acute injury, as well as advise whether further medical attention is needed. By utilizing lymphatic drainage massage swelling can be kept to a minimum. This will help to lessen the pain felt during the injury. Reducing the swelling, will also decrease the chances of bruising, and scar tissue will have a less of a chance to form. The healing time for an acute injury can also be shortened.

Once the injury moves past the acute stage (greater than 72 hours after the traumatic event and absence of swelling and inflammation), a therapeutic massage can assist in restoring range of motion and function to the affected area, reduce scar tissue formation, improve tissue healing and ease muscle spasms that form as a result of the pain. Self-care will be provided to help with injury recovery and prevention.

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You & Your Child's Health

April 23, 2015

Photo by andcombust, Creative Commons.
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It’s not easy being a mother running around looking after everybody and keeping everyone happy and healthy. On our Open day, we have a few workshops that we think can be useful for you to help looking after yourself and those who are in your care.

With the common colds, coughs and flus, head and neck infections, there is a simple technique that you can perform at home as parents to help with your child’s recovery. It works with the lymphatic system (the body’s own policing system for infections which is an important component of our immune system.

Another common issue we are seeing in children is the increasing number of postural strains in neck and shoulders. There is no doubt a correlation with our increasing use of iProducts and sitting based activities. Our Osteopath Elaine who is a mother of 3 herself, will be sharing with you her experience dealing with postural issues in her children and her patients. She will also talk about ergonomics, growing pains and exercises you can do with your children.

One aspect of women’s health that is often overlooked is the health of the breast tissue. Akin to all living tissue of our body, it requires a certain amount of mobility and flexibility for it to function optimally. With our long hours of sitting and emotional stresses, we end up with overly contracted tight chest, head and neck muscles. Overtime these will impact adversely the physiology and health of the head, neck and chest. Postural strains aside, it may negatively impact on the physiology of the breast tissue – its ability to regulate its own tissue health (especially with the lymphatic system) and its milk producing property.

Marcia, our massage therapist will discuss her experience working with breast tissue in nursing mothers, women have had growths in their breasts and post surgical cases. Also, things that you can do at home to ensure the healthy function of your breasts.

If you or your friends are interested in coming on Saturday 25 April to attend these workshops, please call or register here.

City Osteopathy Hong Kong

Breast Tissue Massage for Women’s Health & Nursing Mothers.

April 12, 2015

Open Day 25 April 2015

Marcia will be conducting a workshop on breast tissue health and what massage therapy can do to help with post surgical scarring, lactation issues and other breast tissue conditions.

Breast Tissue Health is important throughout every stage of a woman’s life.

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Poor Posture, Tight Bras, Chest Injuries, Breast Surgeries, Premenstrual/Menopausal Symptoms, Pregnancy/Lactation Discomforts can all have an impact on a woman’s breast tissue health; regardless of shape and size.

Marcia, our massage therapist, will be discussing how all these factors affect breast tissue health, how therapeutic breast massage can help and give self care recommendations at the City Osteopathy Open Day on April 25th.