The Bodywork Bulletin
Hello Barstow Bodywork community!
Welcome to The Bodywork Bulletin! I decided to start this newsletter to share with you all the concepts, ideas and inspiration that swirl around in my head as I treat people day in and day out. Over the course of my career, I’ve built wonderful relationships with your minds and bodies and it’s my passion(MISSION!) in life to inspire you to care for your body in the unique ways that I’ve observed that it needs. It’s easy for you to come in and get some super specific fix and homework about one thing that’s bothering you, but it’s my hope that with some regular exposure from a trusted source, you might be reminded to more regularly implement some of these lifestyle habits that will foster better health and wellness.
July 2026
We’ve been as busy as ever this summer with an influx of people needing help with interesting injuries and navigating new body pains-no doubt because y’all are active with projects around your homes, pursuing new physical hobbies, and starting new or returning to fitness routines. We love to see it, and are honored to be your first line of defense when discomfort or pain crops up! Many people resign themselves to not being able to do things when their activity causes them some pain. Odds are almost always that your body is just adjusting to new demands and with some targeted massage and a mobility routine to reduce the tension that builds, your body will adapt to that new level of performance, allowing you to do that activity without any repercussions. If this sounds like you, it’s time for a massage-give us a call to find out how we can help you figure out what’s holding you back!
That being said, We have been seeing A LOT of tendonitis in the shoulders! Simply put, tendonitis is when a tendon becomes inflamed. Tendons anchor our muscles to our bones crossing joints so that we can produce movement. The top, or head, of our upper arm bone(the humerus) is round like a rock and sits in a shallow socket(think teacup saucer) to give us a lot of movement in all directions. The head of the humerus can shift a little forward, a little backward, a little up or down, or rotate inward or outward within that socket which puts strain and friction on the tendons that cross over. When half your muslces are short, and the other half are overstretched, using them repeatedly is going cause friction and irritation, like a rope being pulled back and forth over a rock. If left untreated, that tendon, like the rope, can actually fray and compromise the integrity of the muscles’ strength. In its acute state, tendonitis is surprisingly painful. While anti-inflammatories and cessation of use for a short period is recommended. How many of you can stop using one of your arms for a few days? If you were to find yourself in this state once, or on occasion ‘when you use it wrong,’ in the short term or acute stage, receiving massage can reduce muscle tension throughout that tendon is where we can be the most impactful. When it’s not red, hot and inflamed, we can assess the length tension relationships that cross the shoulder and target the muscles that pull the humeral head away from center, thus straining the tendon. When you know your body has these patterns, seeing a massage therapist regularly to keep that migrating humeral head in check is going to keep you from having recurring episodes of irritation and intense pain. This concept and approach to bodywork is really effective in managing our clients’ body pain and fairly unique to our practice. We strive to provide exceptional value for your money by getting right to the source of your problem because we know you need to leave feeling well, and with results! If this sounds like you or someone you knows shoulder, you NEED to give us a shot!
March 2026
I want to talk to you all about something I’ve been personally taking for granted. I want to bestow upon you, or remind you in case you’ve forgotten that although regular massage sounds like a luxury. It is NOT! I fell out of getting regular massage for a couple years when my son was young, and have recently re-committed to monthly bodywork and even I forgot how it pays off all month long. Massage in its most basic form downregulates the nervous system which reduces muscle tension which then reduces your aches and pains allowing you to be more comfortable in your skin. Unless you find another activity that downshifts and reduces muscle tension and pressure/stress the same way, that sensation is going to build, and your nervous system won’t experience dips into lower ranges, ultimately contributing to your lack of awareness of how high you’ve really been. Knocking it down at a regular interval, keeps you operating at a lower level all month long and can also make your stressors stand out more. That awareness can help you identify and eliminate sources of stress, helping you scaffold a better lifestyle. After a few months, you’ll notice your body searching for that relief! In addition to relieving tension and stress, most people have a re-occurring, troublesome spot like their neck or low back that needs to be decompressed regularly. When they don’t get that relief, that spot can get worse, and typically expands by irritating a nearby structure. Being comfortable in your skin is imperative to a good mood, which bleeds into all things, like your attitude and performance at work, at home, or at the gym. Many people feel that massage is expensive. Massage is really expensive if you just get one or two a year when you “really need it” and choose to go to a spa where every single person gets the same rehearsed routine. Here at BMB, we are invested in caring for your body each time you come in, meaning you decide where we spend our time and we take creative license to thoroughly explore and treat your problem, AND whatever patterns we find that contribute to its recurrence so that you leave feeling light, and comfortable (well!) in your skin. In most cases, people report their trouble spots not being troublesome anymore. That feeling of wellness is priceless and it’s why we should prioritize regular massage. It sounds ridiculous, but even I forgot this! You don’t miss/remember/know what you’re not feeling/experiencing. So here’s your reminder that there is profound health benefit to getting regular work, you deserve it, and check your FSA/HSA for coverage!
January 2026
I’ve been busy learning a new facet of myofascial release! A tidbit that’s opened my eyes and changed the way I think about the body. Back in October I took a Visceral Manipulation course with the Barral Institute. Visceral Manipulation(sometimes mentioned as VM) is a manual myofascial release technique that focuses on the fascial connections and behavior within the abdomen and its contents-your organs! Turns out, all our organs are as intelligent and as highly communicative as our brain! Each one is wrapped, attached and hung for lack of a better term from our abdominal wall, rib cage and pelvis. Fascia can get sticky and adhere our organs to one another, the abdominal wall, rib cage, or pelvis-literally anything it’s next to, which will interrupt function, and most interestingly, limit movement. A good metaphor for this would be what happens to spaghetti after you cook and drain it. If you let it sit, all the noodles will start to stick to one another, forming one noodle block in the shape of your pan. If you kept them moving and added a little butter or olive oil, they would slide easily and take on any shape of its external container. Our abdomen is very similar in that, if we don’t alter our posture, our stance and vary our movement widely and frequently, things will settle and stick. Our brains are heavily invested in protecting the space and function of our organs, so in the event that they are stuck to something else, the brain will limit movement if that organ reports a big pressure or stretch response. This is important to understand, because I have used 110% of my brain and knowledge as a bodyworker to interrupt these patterns that cause people pain for the last 16 years, without fully understanding why the body keeps returning to that spot. Now I know that it’s because the nervous system is protecting our most vulnerable tissue, and if I can figure out which one, and reduce or eliminate the strain on that tissue, the holding pattern will vanish. The technique is very light pressure applied to specific structures throughout the abdomen, positioning and gentle stretching and mobilization to relieve the structure. I have taken only 1 of 6 courses, and have already seen incredible progress in clients I’ve been trying to figure out for over a decade. This is a game changer folks, and I’m so excited to take more classes! We have a few Visceral Manipulation therapists in the valley, so if I can’t fit you into my schedule or figure it out myself, I'm confident I can get you to someone who will. Be warned though, there are waitlists, because when word gets out about something this effective at eliminating chronic pain, people line up!
March 2024
It’s been a while since I put out an educational bit-sorry! Our topic for this newsletter is sciatica! We’ve been seeing a lot of this type of pain lately. Many of our clients are coming in with varied presentations of this pesky syndrome. You’ve probably heard this term a lot as it is an umbrella term used to describe pain that reaches down one or both legs. The spectrum of intensity varies greatly and it shows up very differently depending on the source of dysfunction! The sciatic nerve comes out of your spine on either side of your L4, L5, and sacrum1-3 vertebra. It passes through a network of deep/internal hip and butt muscles and then down the backside of each leg.
Simply put, any structure-bone or muscle pinching this nerve can produce pain, numbness, and/or tingling. It can be 10/10, unable to move, needing opiates to breathe easy-kind of intense, or it can be a lingering, obnoxious ache you somehow manage to stretch out just enough to evade having to do anything real about it. The people we’ve been seeing have been as high as an 8 and we beg of you, if you’re in the nagging ache category, please see us, or someone before it becomes a 10. Short of traumatic injury, our muscles can pull on our bones enough to start straining or encroaching on this nerve. Massage is an excellent tool to decompress the hip joint, release tight muscle and fascia to give it some more breathing room. If you’re experiencing something that sounds like this, come on in! We would love to listen to your experience and see if we can help. Full disclosure, if you’re already upwards of an 8, we will advise you see your physician first. For everyone else, please don’t let it get that bad!
