December 2004/January 2005 | Vol. 5, No. 12
© 2004 American Massage Therapy Association®
All rights reserved.
Hello, e-touch reader!
Millions will make New Year’s resolutions this year. One of the most popular will be to get in shape, and low-impact exercise like walking is a great way to do it. This month’s feature by therapist Josef DellaGrotte, "Walking Right-The Path To Fitness And Health," tells you how to get the most out of walking properly.
We hope you enjoy this double-issue of e-touch, and as always, thanks for reading! Have a safe and happy holiday season!
All the best in the New Year!
The Editors
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WALKING RIGHT—THE PATH TO FITNESS AND HEALTH
By Josef DellaGrotte
The walking experience is primordial. All land-based creatures do it. Humans have been relying on this primary functional activity of daily life for as long as we have been around. Some people have developed it into a high-grade level of functional movement, an exercise that can combine performance with art, with health and fitness. Walking is uniquely human (though on two legs we cannot match the speed of most animals). We, nevertheless, can move with direction, determination, purpose and intention. Here the abstracted image ends and the real somatic feel begins.
Power Walking With Ease: From Hips To Spine To Arms
Walking upright requires an alignment with central gravity that is unique to humans. This connecting link starts from the hips, the strong bony structure and articulations of the pelvis generate three actions which are essential to getting lift and forward power. The hips have to rotate laterally, bend and extend, and flex. That power is then transmitted to the spine and the ribs, which need to be in the best alignment to transmit the vectors of force.
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Getty Images Regular walking is a great way to improve overall health by reducing the risk of several life-threatening conditions, including cardiovascular disease. |
Does this sound discouraging? Look at it this
way, if you recognize you are working too hard to walk, it is only a matter of
some sensing, learning and movement awareness to shift out of a poor habit
into a better way of walking to get the system functioning the way it was
designed to do.
Try This Exercise
-
Face a door or wall. Place your fingers on
it and organize yourself to be standing close and in the vertical plane.
Avoid any leaning forward or putting pressure on your fingers.
-
Now, stand on one leg. Keep that leg
straight and push through that leg as if you were pressing into the
ground and generating a ground force, a spring-like action that runs up
your spine and gives you the feeling of uplift (getting taller).
- Think of directing the force through your body and notice how the body starts to turn. While you are doing this your other leg should have no weight on it. It can be touching the ground with the toes with the heel lifted to maintain your balance. Practice this activity on one leg, rest, and then do it with your other leg.
The key to this exercise is trial by experiment in order to sense differences and notice connections. Simply by doing and noticing, you start to activate your innate ability to feel the connection between pushing through a straightened leg and following that force as it travels through your body. It will probably rotate you slightly through the left if you are standing on your right leg, or to the right if you are standing on your left leg. Follow the force of this thrusting until you are clear where the end point is. Simply by doing this exercise you are already developing movement awareness of sensing limbs, joint actions, resonant motion, lengthening and strengthening in an interconnected way. Once you start to cultivate the sensing of such connections, your walking will improve automatically.
Walking as described above elongates the spine, provides strengthening, endurance, relaxation and perhaps most important, confidence building. Walking is the basic foundation of fitness.
~Josef DellaGrotte, Ph.D. is a Feldenkrais
Method® practitioner, muscular/ massage therapist, and trainer. He has been
in private practice for more than 25 years. DellaGrotte conducts training
and programs in Core Integration at the BodyMind Integration Center in
Watertown Massachusetts. For more information, visit his Web site at
www.dellagrotte-somatic.com.
Regular exercise, such as walking, can improve your overall health by decreasing your risk of death, heart attacks, stroke, high blood pressure, some cancers, osteoporosis, depression, anxiety and obesity.
The surgeon general recommends just 30 minutes of physical activity, including walking, on most days to reap these benefits. A brisk 30-minute walk burns about 200 calories; walking slowly for 30 minutes uses 100 calories.
Source: National Institutes of Health
GIVE THE GIFT OF MASSAGE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Gift certificates for massages are sure to be a hit with anyone on your holiday list. What better time of year to treat yourself or loved ones to a massage? To find a qualified AMTA massage therapist near you, visit the locator service online today or call toll-free at 888-THE-AMTA [843-2682].
CONSUMER SURVEY SHOWS MORE PHYSICIANS RECOMMEND MASSAGE
AMTA’s annual consumer survey shows the number of people who received massage in the past year remained the same as last year-21 percent. However, the survey also revealed that more physicians recommended massage to their patients.
For the eighth year in a row, AMTA commissioned Opinion Research Corporation to conduct the survey, with telephone interviews taking place from August 5-8, 2004. The 1,009 adults (a representative sample of the population) responded to a variety of questions about their use of massage and their views about massage and massage therapists. (The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.)
The survey indicates that use of massage among the general population has not been affected by the economy, and that American adults understand that massage has value for their health and for pain relief. Among those who have received massage in the past five years, 47 percent say they have had massage to relieve pain at least once. Likewise, an injury or pain is the second-highest reason given for what would motivate consumers to have regular massage. The number one motivator to have regular massage is a discount or free massage.
Twenty percent of all those surveyed say they have discussed massage therapy with their doctor or other health-care provider. Among those who had this discussion, 62 percent say the health-care provider responded very positively or encouraged them to have massage. When asked specifically if their physician had ever recommended massage, 61 percent said yes, compared to 51 percent saying yes in 2003. In western states, 70 percent of physicians recommended massage therapy, compared to only 48 percent in 2003.
The survey shows that those who describe themselves as African American increased their use of massage to 26 percent, compared to 14 percent in 2003. This is an 89 percent increase in one year. This segment of the population also reported the highest change in positive response from their health-care providers about the value of massage, and the highest jump among physicians who strongly recommended massage to their patients (83 percent of health-care providers recommending vs. 47 percent in 2003).
Awareness about getting massage for pain relief and management of pain also increased. When those who had massage in the past five years, and had received massage for pain were asked what had provided the greatest pain relief, massage therapy and chiropractic showed strong increases, while medication was viewed as slightly less effective compared to 2003. Twenty-one percent said massage gave the greatest relief from pain (compared to 14 percent in 2003), 30 percent said medication was best for them (compared to 33 percent in 2003) and 14 percent said chiropractic gave the best relief from their pain (compared to 9 percent in 2003).
More details about the results of the consumer survey are available on the AMTA Web site, www.amtamassage.org.
Top Reasons Why People Get Massage
Q: I’ve read about some of the physical benefits of massage therapy. But how can regular massage benefit my mental well-being?
A: Massage therapy can improve mental well-being in the following ways:
- Fosters peace of mind and a feeling of well-being.
- Improves ability to monitor stress signals and respond appropriately.
- Enhances capacity for calm thinking and creativity.
- Satisfies needs for caring - nurturing touch.
- Reduces levels of anxiety.
- Increases awareness of mind-body connection.
- Helps relieve mental stress.
- Releases endorphins.
FIND A PROFESSIONAL MASSAGE THERAPIST
Use AMTA’s Find a Massage Therapist® national locator service to locate a qualified AMTA Professional classification member anywhere in the United States. This service will direct you to professionals who are well trained, adhere to a professionally recognized code of ethics and standards of practice, and are committed to continuing their professional education and development.
Visit the locator service online today, or call toll-free at 888-THE-AMTA [843-2682].If you have a friend, coworker or relative who could benefit from using the online locator service to find a professional massage therapist,
send them a personal E-mail message from AMTA. Spread the benefits of massage!Working hard or studying too long?
Need a boost of energy and mental focus? Place your thumb behind your ear and your index finger in front of it. Start at the top of your ear and gently rub the border, slowly moving down to the earlobe. Do both sides at the same time, and viola! You will feel more alert and charged to go on.
Paul Yarwood
Aurora, Colorado
For a different massage tip each week, visit AMTA’s Massage Room.
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