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The Fragrant Muse?

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Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, United States
I'm a Creative Soul and Happy Person. I have a passion for my Family, Aromatics, Fairy Gardens, Pugs, SoulCollage, Miniature Worlds, Visual Journals.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

What I Learned at a Recent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Seminar





Yesterday I attended a really excellent seminar in Harrisburg called "Effective Treatments for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" which was given by Cross Country Education.


Here are some things I learned:


1.  Bodyworkers need to address the entire median pathway when treating CTS, not just the arm and wrist.  This means specific neck and shoulder work.


2. Besides repetitive movements, some of the contributing factors to carpal tunnel syndrome are:   poor posture, vitamin B6 deficiency, pregancy (edema), the use of vibrational tools, long periods of time in cold environments, soft tissue dysfunction,  misdiagnosis and lack of information about the condition

2. Most doctors, upon giving a diagnosis of CTS, immediately want to do surgery.

3. Surgery should be a last resort for CST.

4. If you do put a rubber band around your fingers then open and close your hand for 20 seconds, a couple of times a day, you'll increase hand strength.




5. Dry skin brushing is a good way to warm the tissue before working on the fascia.  It feels like heaven.


6.  The instructor was Gary Adkins from Michigan.  He has about 20 years of bodywork experience and knew the material inside and out.  He kept the class engage with humor, superb preparation and lots of hand-on practice.




 7.  You can do some interesting neck work using a towel.

8.  If you run around the room taking pictures of people on the massage table, you never know when someone will pick up your camera and take
your picture.



  8.  It was fun being the student for a change.


4 comments:

Cyndy said...

Hey, Liz. Thanks for the lesson!

Since I work on computers none stop, CTS has been something I see a lot with my clients and that I experience myself. Must learn to expand from beyond the keyboard!!

One thing I was taught was whenever my hand and/or wrist start to bother me was to rub and relax the muscle that is above my elbow (sure enough, it is always the tight one). This sounds in line with your suggestions for upper arm/neck...

Good to see you having so much fun on the "other side of the desk (er, table)!"

Deb said...

I like the photo of you...all rosy and glowy...Looks like a great class...thanks for sharing the info...it's fun to see what you're up to.
Blessings!

Kitty said...

i wish my massage therapist knew as much as you! i am a dry brushing fiend!

Ambiance in the Attic said...

Liz, very good information here. I have problems with carpal tunel ocassionaly and these are some good tips to help.