A body in
BALANCE
Massage therapy for injuries, pain and athletics
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
M
assage therapy has many
health benefits, from gen-
eral relaxation to injury
recovery.
While some may think a mas-
sage is only something a person
would receive at a spa, local mas-
sage therapist Rose Smarr said
that is only one style.
“In a very broad sense, there’s
two basic worlds of massage,”
she said.
“Almost The traditional spa
massage typically fo-
everything cuses
on the whole
runs body and bodily sys-
Smarr said it
between tems.
helps reduce stress,
muscle. improve sleeping and
the immune sys-
Nerves hate boost
tem.
to have In contrast to the
more overall ap-
pinchy proach, Smarr said she
in a different
pressure.” trained
technique called spe-
Rose Smarr, cific injury treatment,
licensed massage a type of deep-tissue
therapist work.
She said the thera-
peutic technique treats
specific problems by
working to balance the tension
of muscles in the body, “side to
side and front to back,” to en-
sure blood flow is not inhibited,
nerves are not obstructed and
joints move correctly.
The technique is used for inju-
ry prevention and recovery, ath-
letics and pain management.
“It can be applied to pretty
much any injury,” she said.
8 // Family Health Guide 2018
Injuries
Smarr commonly treats low
back pain and headaches, but the
technique improves many other
ailments because it affects blood
flow and nerves.
“A huge goal is bringing blood
flow in,” Smarr said.
When muscles are too tight,
she said, it constricts the capillar-
ies — the smallest blood vessels
that exchange oxygen, nutrients
and waste between blood and tis-
sue.
Loosening the muscles through
massage improves the blood flow
and helps the area heal, she said.
The process works similarly
on nerves, which run from the
spine throughout the body.
“Almost everything runs be-
tween muscle,” she said. “Nerves
hate to have pinchy pressure.”
The technique can also remove
pressure from bones, allowing
them to slide into place, she said,
especially in the back. Removing
tension from one side of the body
allows muscles to lie more natu-
rally and connected bone systems
to align better, she said.
Athletics
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Licensed massage therapist Rose
Smarr works on a patient at her office
in John Day. Massage therapy is
beneficial for people with injuries and
pain as well as athletes, she said.
Sports injuries can be treat-
ed with therapeutic massage, but
there are other benefits for ath-
letes as well.
Smarr said athletes use mas-
sage as a monitoring system to
notify them of potential issues
before major problems arise.
See MASSAGE, Page C9