MASSAGE THERAPY AND BODYWORK
What Modalities do we offer?
Our Licensed Massage Therapist offers therapeutic and remedial head and neck massage using a combination of modalities, such as Swedish, myofascial release (MFR), trigger point therapy (TrP), craniosacral therapy (CST), cupping, acupressure, and pre/post-surgical manual lymphatic drainage (MLD).
We also teach our patients how to do some of these treatments themselves for maximum benefit.
Who can benefit?
This type of massage is highly recommended for most patients who:
- Have headaches or jaw pain
- Clench due to stress
- Are preparing for or recovering from oral or facial surgery
Therapeutic massage can be a standalone treatment or may be incorporated into other sessions.*
Massage may help with:
- Reducing stress and enhancing relaxation
- Improving blood and lymph flow
- Decreasing pain, soreness, and stiffness
- Increasing range of motion
- Speeding up cell turnover, elasticity, healing
- Minimizing appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
- Facial contouring
- Reducing scar tissue and related adhesions
How can massage benefit someone with an orofacial myofunctional disorder?
💆🏼 Massage can reduce tooth clenching through relaxation.
Daytime teeth clenching is considered a stress response, and massage can reduce stress by promoting relaxation. Head and neck massage is an ideal complimentary treatment to orofacial myofunctional therapy. With orofacial myofunctional therapy treatment, patients learn to habituate good oral rest posture involving the teeth a few millimeters apart and nasal breathing. Nasal breathing has also been associated with stress reduction.
💆🏽 Massage can improve the flexibility and range of motion of the masticatory muscles.
With dysfunctional muscle use, some muscles may be overburdened and others underutilized. It is thought that muscles and fascial tissue will remodel along lines of stress, typically related to muscle overuse and mechanical difficulties. The resultant tissue can become tight, developing adhesions known as “trigger points.” Trigger points can exacerbate muscle weakness, dysfunctional muscle use, and limited range of motion. Trigger points can cause, complicate, or mimic other pain problems.
Massage can also prepare the tissues for exercise by bringing blood flow to the area, warming up the body, and making the tissue more hydrated, elastic, and freely moveable.
💆🏾 Massage can ease myofascial TMJ pain and other symptoms.
Trigger points in the head and neck can produce local or referred pain. They have been associated with otologic (ear) symptoms, sinus congestion, headaches, and more.
💆🏿 Intra and extra oral massage can restore balance in the muscles that support the TMJ.
Myofascial tension and imbalance can also cause a misalignment of bones. The mandible is suspended by a sling of muscles, including the medial pterygoid and masseter. Dysfunction in these muscles can cause jaw deviation. Also, the lateral pterygoid muscle has an insertion point onto the articular disc of the TMJ. Spasms of the lateral pterygoid muscle can cause clicking and popping of jaw related to loss of coordination between the condyle, articular disk, and musculature.
💆🏼 Massage can address tight myofascial tissues that can mimic tethered oral tissues.
Tight tissues of the neck and floor of mouth can restrict tongue movement and may mimic tethered oral tissues. In other cases, intra-oral and neck massage may help to prepare tissues for frenectomy.
💆🏽 Manual Lymphatic Drainage can be used pre- and post-operatively to reduce pain, swelling, and speed up recovery for surgical procedures, like jaw surgery.
This gentle treatment can prepare the tissue for surgery. It can make surgical procedures less traumatic by reducing swelling, bruising, pain, the chances of developing an infection, and other issues associated with surgical procedures. It can also help with wound healing and reduces scar tissue formation.
*There may be an additional charge for medical massage services incorporated into other treatment sessions.
