Healing Therapy

Alignment massage therapy uses bodywork techniques that involve strategies to correct dysfunction of soft tissue in the body. This can be simply releasing tension in the body, to stress relief of your neck, to correcting a hip imbalance! There are many ways our bodies get out of alignment.

How does the body get out-of-alignment? There are lots of ways: stress from work; tension that build up; body functions that are not capable to do movements; accidents; genetic pre-dispensations.

Technical Info About Alignment Massage Therapy

Generally speaking, it relies heavily on strategic deep tissue work and muscle activation techniques for posture correction and pain relief. Massage therapists know how the musculoskeletal and nervous systems work together, what problems lead to pain, and how to restore optimal balance and performance. This can involve using guided assisted stretches and hands-on techniques.

With a thorough understanding of the physiological + psychological mechanisms of pain, I can evaluate and address your root causes. “Regular” massage feels good at the time. But if you want alignment massage therapy, find a skillful practitioner who can look intensely into the real causes.

Different Kinds of Massage Therapy

Massage can be broken down into 2 main categories: relaxation and therapeutic. Relaxation covers techniques like Swedish, hot stone, aromatherapy and craniosacral [tho this last one can also be therapeutic]. Therapeutic massage includes deep tissue, trigger point, myofascial, and sports massage as well as orthopedic which I do. If you are looking for massage to help with a specific issue, orthopedic massage is the best!

So if you’re looking for alignment massage therapy, you should search for a practitioner who does therapeutic bodywork. That’s what I do and you can have a look at what I do on my website:  https://tompettengill.com/ .  And check out my Yelp reviews. https://www.yelp.com/biz/tom-pettengill-massage-santa-cruz-17?osq=Massage+Therapy

Why Even Do Alignment Massage Therapy?

If you feel like your body needs improvement and isn’t working well, alignment therapy can help get you back into a better functioning position. Our bodies can undergo unfavorable changes due to many things – like overuse, surgery, chronic incorrect posture, nerve pain, improper gym workout techniques, etc.

There are more reasons why alignment massage therapy can help you. A few are: decreased muscle tension; joints out of position; “forward head” posture. side bent posture; hip rotation; limping caused by an injury to the “opposite” leg/foot; nerves that get “trapped” in the body’s tissue; increased calmness due to decreased painful conditions.

Pain is the body’s call for attention, and practitioners who know alignment massage therapy listen to their clients and start a thorough process of evaluation. This can involve clearly seeing strain/stress patterns before they become chronic problems! These practitioners have been trained to pinpoint complications where the body be agonizing!

How To Find A Skilled Practitioner

If you have pain and especially chronic pain, it can arise from common imbalances and dysfunctional patterns. This can be relieved with a combination of skilled massage therapy and intelligent corrective exercises that a talented massage practitioner knows.

However, in order to select the right techniques and exercises, your therapist must have a full understanding of body systems. This also involves knowledge that the brain and body work together – – –  most common musculoskeletal complaints are incorrectly assessed.

To find a skilled practitioner, you can ask a friend, but you’ll probably need to do some research locally. You can look for how experienced a practitioner is, if they do therapeutic bodywork [or just relaxation massage], and also how genuine a person is. This may involve a phone call to assess how legitimate the practitioner really is!

The Therapeutic Bodywork I Do

I’ve been doing alignment bodywork since 2006 and have a lot of experience with people who have felt tension and pain in their bodies. I do “orthopedic” bodywork that finds out what’s out of balance and uses techniques to correct this problem areas. It’s simply seeing what’s out of alignment and knowing the best way to improve the client’s condition!

Below are 2 videos of clients that had difficult conditions when they 1st came to me. As usual, re-aligning a body takes several sessions to fully recover and re-integrate back to fully functioning.  Rebecca. The next vid is when I was working in Berkeley:  Suzanne Low Back Pain. 

When we talk about massage and massage techniques, the use of hands is almost universal! Of course, other ways are to use the forearms, elbows, feet, knees, and even the upper arms for broad strokes. So, what about healing hands massage? How is it different?

It all comes down to how a massage practitioner uses the techniques AND the awareness of the client to create a healing environment. But 1st, let’s take a deeper look into the different kinds of massage and how they differ.

Different Types of Massage

Swedish is the most common type of massage; it focuses on relaxation but can also be energizing. It is THE best way to get a relaxing massage that will reduce your stress and improve your circulation. It’s not usually therapeutic – it’s meant to be calming! With this technique, finding a practitioner who can do healing hands massage would be a good benefit!

Deep tissue massage focuses attention on specific “trouble areas” of your body. The massage therapist might use slow, deliberate strokes that focus pressure on the layers of muscles, fascia or other tissues that are deeper in your body. Less rhythmic than other types of massage, deep tissue massage is usually therapeutic. Since the focus of deep tissue is more on relieving physical pain, healing hands may not be as common.

Orthopedic massage is a very specific type of therapeutic bodywork that is the most extensive and far-reaching if you are looking for relief of injury or chronic pain. Why? There are different types of massage but orthopedic uses a set of diagnostic tools to determine the dysfunction in your body and then uses special treatment techniques to alleviate those problems. Healing hands massage is common here!

If that’s what you are looking for and need for your situation, certainly contact me and I’ll gladly discuss your situation, and we can set up an appt to get to work! Contact Me Here

Different Types of Massage, cont.

Sports massage was developed to help the muscles for each particular sport. It uses a variety of approaches – before, during, or after sports events. You might use it to promote flexibility and help prevent injuries. It may also help relieve muscle strains and speed up recovery. Similar to deep tissue massage, sports massage is more geared toward alleviating physical problems – so it is not as likely to find healing hand massage.

Craniosacral uses light touch and subtle movements to assess and address any imbalances or restrictions in the craniosacral system. The craniosacral system includes the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and all of the spinal cord. Craniosacral practitioners have more sensitivity for the subtle practice of healing hands massage –

Myofascial release works specifically on the fascia that is completely throughout the whole body! Fascia is very important because it connects literally everything! A trained therapist usually uses gentle pressure on specific areas of the body to release tension within the fascial system. The therapist stretches the fascia in a way that encourages it to return to a more relaxed state. Email me at  tpett.ortho.massage@gmail.com for a free consult!

Comparing Different Types of Massage

There are 2 basic types of massage:

1] Wellness

2] Healthcare

With wellness massages, there isn’t a specific problem in the body that needs to be addressed – it’s more about relaxation and stress reduction. But with Healthcare, there is a structural issue that the client wants to have addressed.  Here’s an excellent video explaining these issues:  Healthcare Massage

Healing Hands Massage

So, are you looking for healing hands massage . . . with a practitioner who can heal with their hands?  Then, you should look deeply into who the practitioner is. It’s an art to find a reliable massage therapist with the skills to do bodywork and create a healing environment. And 1 key to finding a skilled practitioner is how long they’ve been in practice. Healing massage usually takes a bit of time to develop!    

That is exactly what I do in my orthopedic massage business! I work with people who want to get their bodies back to an optimal functioning state along with learning about healing themselves. You can get:

1] therapeutic bodywork to alleviate physical dysfunction

2] healing that can go along with bodywork.

Just getting 1 of these but not the other is ok – but getting both will speed up your whole process!

You are welcome to contact me for advice and suggestions about how you can get therapeutic bodywork alongside healing hands massage! If you want your body to feel and perform better, then both therapeutic bodywork AND healing is the best way. Remember that you always get a free consultation as well as $20 off by scheduling online: Tom Pettengill Massage Scheduler