If you are interested in finding out more about how reflexology works  please click on the following link which takes you to an article I have written and posted on Ezine.

Thanks

Louise

Click Here.

It is estimated that up to ninety percent of disease is stress related: and perhaps nothing ages us faster , internally and externally, than high stress levels.  It is unrealistic to eliminate stress altogether in today’s fast paced world but wouldn’t you rather feel zingy than zonked when under pressure?

Aromatherapy, Reflexology and Tsuboki Face Massage are all valuable tools to use in managing our stress levels; they all help us relax,  but use different mechanisms within the body to do so – if you are unsure which therapy is best suited to your circumstances please call me, and we can talk it through.

Louise

1. Squeeze and ‘Chinese burn’ your lower forearm and wrist.  Squeeze the outside edge of you hand.
2. Supporting the palm of your hand with your fingers, thumb walk up the furrows between the tendons on the back of the hand.
3. Working from finger tip to base pinch the top and underside of each finger, then do the same to the sides of the fingers.
4. Turn your hand over, use thumb pressure to rub and massage the fleshy area at the base of the thumb.
5. Now use your thumb to rub in a circular motion over the area of the palm that covers the knuckles.
6. With your thumb rub and circle the area in the centre of the palm – this is a reflexology point for the solar plexus.  Take a moment to observe yourself.   Are you are holding your breath as your mind focuses on something new. Be mindful of your breath at this point, try to let it deepen, engaging the diaphragm.
7. ‘Caterpillar’ with your thumb over the creases in the inner wrist.
8. It is fun to compare the done with the undone, feel the difference?
9. Now do the other hand!

This is for all the lovely ladies I met this evening in Oxford. There follows some basic facts about our hands and repetitive strain injury (RSI).

• There are 8 bones in your wrist, 5 in your palm and 14 in your digits – 27 in total.  Our hands are articulated by two sets of muscles and tendons.

• Our hands possess the greatest natural positioning capability of any part of our body and they give us the richest source of tactile feedback.

Repetitive Strain Injuries

A healthy muscle is soft and elastic – at each end it tapers forming denser, stiffer tissue called tendon.  The tendons attach muscle to bone.

When a muscle is overused with repetitive movement the muscle fibre shortens.  The greater density of tendon tissue makes it stronger than the major portion of muscle fibre, but the corresponding loss of elasticity makes tendon tissue prone to microscopic tears at the point of attachment resulting  in inflammation and irritation.

Common hand and wrist RSI’s in the workplace are keyboard and computer work related.  Other more outlandish recreational RSIs are gamer’s thumb, rubik’s wrist and raver’s wrist!

Prevention is better than a cure – stretching the muscles with exercise and massage on a regular basis helps to lengthen the muscle fibres and takes pressure off the tendon. Use your massage routine to keep your hands flexible!

Louise x