July/August 2002, Issue 98

On the Cover
Pedal Power
Massage Gives Cyclists the Competitive Edge
by Jennifer Warren
Photos by Jonah Sutherland

It's Monday morning and I'm movin' kinda slow. I take mental notes as I make my coffee, for my body is talking to me. I am listening and its requests are loud and clear; I need a massage. Sunday, I rode 100 miles in the annual Spring Century race.

Cycling results in a unique set of aches and pains due to the aerodynamic position used to be more efficient, trying to cheat physics whenever possible; this is what you think about when you're the motor. I am in good condition, but early season and challenging rides like this can be a wakeup call for the muscles used in cycling. Although it's a good sort of soreness, and I am reminded I am alive, I feel a bit like the rusted Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.

In This Issue

Gold-Medal Massage
Touch Helps Olympic and Paralympic Athletes Reach the Podium
by Brandi Schlossberg, Associate Editor

The massive crowd is a blur of faces and flags, sparkling with camera flashes and booming with applause. In the center of the light and noise stand the athletes. Medals of gold, silver and bronze hang from their necks, and the flag of each winner's country waves proudly above.

This is the pinnacle of athletic success; a place on the Olympic podium is a testament to years of training and athletic prowess. The 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics (an international competition for disabled athletes) were held Feb. 7 through March 16 in Slat Lake City, Utah.

Behind all the glorious moments shared at these Olympics and Paralympics - from the big air of snowboarders to the slice of skates on ice and the joyful tears of champions - stood a team of 230 volunteer massage therapists.

The Berry Method, To Address Mid-Back Tension
by Taum Sayers

One of the primary goals of the Berry Method of Corrective Massage is to enhance the body's health by addressing its constant balancing act in regard to gravity. These techniques serve to reduce tension and nourish the body's innate repair mechanisms by encouraging a state of balanced posture and ease. Berry Method practitioners don't claim to fix anything, but rather to reduce the obstacles that interfere with the body's incredible healing abilities.

Throughout a bodywork career that spanned 50 years, Lauren Berry applied corrective massage and body-balancing concepts to decrease pain and restore function in thousands of people. His principles included respecting what he referred to as one of the body's primary automatic functions: maintaining upright balance with gravity.

Ergonomics
How They Affect Your Business and Your Health
by Sheri Wallace

So-called "insufficient ergonomic protection" is responsible for $1 of every $3 spent on worker's compensation. But even more costly is the loss of productivity. Nearly two million workers suffer work-related musculoskeletal disorders every year, and more than 600,000 lose work time. Massage therapists are among those whose jobs entail heavy physical labor and constant body use, and so are at high risk of developing ergonomic injuries. Whether you're self-employed or an employer of massage therapists, ergonomics is an issue that could affect your bottom line.

Fair Trade
U.S. Table Market Responds to a Flood of Imports
by Kelle Walsh, Managing Editor

You've seen them at Costco and Sam's Club. The Spiegel catalog has one. Flip through the pages of Sky Mall the next time you are up 30,000 feet and somewhere between the teeth-whitening set and the electric pants-presser, you'll find another. Massage tables seem to be ubiquitous these days.

These tables look the way a massage table should look: colored vinyl cushioning atop a wood frame, some with face cradles and carrying cases. And the best part? A price tag that would make any debt-ridden massage-school student jump for joy - sometimes as low as $189.

But while bargain tables, which are imported mostly from China and Taiwan, may seem like a therapist's dream come true, they are proving to be American massage-table companies' worst nightmare. Imported massage tables have already cut a considerable slice out of the domestic portable-table market, and the future doesn't look much better.

Body & Spa: Healing From the Sea
by Melinda Minton

Ingredients from the sea are making the rounds in spas with astonishing popularity and definite drama. In fact, these single-celled wonders have been key ingredients in beauty products and spa therapies for ages in other parts of the world.
Read the Full Article

R E S E A R C H
Massage Improves Function, Reduces Pain and Anxiety Associated with Subacute Low-Back Pain

Movement Therapy Benefits Senior Citizens

Pages from History: Vibration and Vibrators, Part One
by Robert Noah Calvert

The earliest recorded forms of ancient therapy used to deliver vibration were from the Greeks and Roman era. Vibration was the first massage stroke imitated by the mechanical devices.   Read the Full Article

Practice Building: Solving the C.E.U. Puzzle, Part Two
by Sue Painter

Part two explores the many types of courses - ranging from hands-on video to online - available to today's touch therapist, and tells you what to ask C.E.U. providers before signing up for their classes.