Located in historic Inglewood – Calgary, Alberta

Why Diagnostic Imaging Isn’t Your Whole Story

by | Feb 18, 2025 | Fitness, Health Goals, Misconception

Breaking news: Diagnostics are not the ‘be all and end all’!

Sometimes your health journey can feel challenging. You may have been making progress but then somewhere along the way you hit a wall, and you start to wonder if all your efforts have been in vain. Instead of being able to look back and see how far you’ve come, you tend to look so far ahead that your path to recovery suddenly seems intimidating and unattainable. What can make those feelings of doubt and disappointment worse is when you receive results from diagnostic imaging and now you have even more proof that your body is “falling apart”.

Though diagnostic imaging has an important role to play in modern healthcare, using it as the only lens through which to understand the complexities of your health may be misleading or over-simplistic. Many medical and scientific journals note that imaging is not foolproof due to things like errors in the reading of data, getting false positives, and when any deviation in the body is assumed to correlate with a negative or definitive diagnosis.

For example, in ​an article published in the National Library of Medicine​, researchers looked at the lower-back health of 98 asymptomatic people, aged 20 to 80 years old. Within this test group, they found that “64% of these people without back pain had an intervertebral disc abnormality (i.e. bulge, protrusion and extrusion), and 38% had an abnormality at more than one level.” This demonstrates that although the imaging results warranted a high percentage of structural abnormality, the people with these abnormalities did not experience weakness, numbness, or pain because of it. Additionally, the article goes on to say that “athletically active young individuals, who were otherwise asymptomatic, had higher prevalence of disc degeneration and many other abnormalities in lumbar spine compared to normal individuals”. This again underscores how a singular piece of information like disc degeneration (observed from a high-tech machine) cannot define the complete outcome of a very complex system (your body).

When the nervous system gets ‘fired up’ during times of stress, the brain distributes a whole host of responses to various parts of the body. If we focus on capturing only one part of this equation, which may not even have relationship to the actual issue, we are not getting the whole story. It is therefore imperative that we seek to understand the interplay of physical, mental, and emotional factors in our health, integrating both objective data and subjective experience. This means acknowledging the lessening levels of pain you do feel, or the increase you’ve noticed in your mobility or movement, or the benefits you receive from new habits in your day-to-day life.

This may be the beginning of your story, or you might be in the middle of it, but putting together your puzzle of health is what we do best! ​Book in today​!

Speaking of journeys, today Theralleve toasts to being in business for 5 YEARS!! To celebrate, we will be donating a portion from every treatment booked in February to Fear is Not Love – a Calgary-based charity to which we have previously donated and that is close to our hearts. Thank you so much for your patronage.

Disc Degeneration in Lumbar Spine of Asymptomatic Young Adults: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9123103/
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Small Steps, Big Outcomes: It’s never too late to start

by | Jan 8, 2025 | Fitness, Health Goals, Misconception, Self-care

Growing old is inevitable, but choosing to “age well” is a choice you get to make every day.

Admittedly, as fundamental as good health is to your wellbeing, achieving and maintaining it can sometimes come with a host of challenging factors. Genetic predispositions, environmental influences, access to care, and societal pressures like believing self-care is “selfish” or everything is already “going downhill” makes it seem even more unattainable. Not only that but outdated medical information about pain and rehabilitation (example: the RICE Method for acute injuries) continues circulation rather than promoting efforts to understand and utilize viable, game-changing healthcare alternatives.

It is enough to do your head in but while these challenges may exist, there is still cause for optimism as there are still plenty of things you can do each day to shape your future health whether you are 20, 80, or somewhere in between!

By making the decision to act in small but consistent ways, you hold the power to move toward better health. Contrary to what you may have been told, you have the ability to be mindful of where you’re at and adopt healthier habits to start living from a more empowered place.

Prioritize Movement:

If the idea of “staying active” stresses you out, think of it as moving your body. You don’t have to own a gym membership (unless that’s your thing), you just need to find a way that gets you moving at least once a day, most days of the week. You can go on a walk or run, do a home workout (sitting or fully mobile), or just put on your favourite tunes and groove along in whatever capacity feels good.

Especially for those of you who have had a RAPID treatment with me, you know how much I champion movement because, when combined with drinking more water, it helps your brain more effectively process and release bodily pain to get you feeling better.

Whether it is a high or low impact activity, moving your body has been shown to help with maintaining or bettering mobility, increasing circulation, slowing bone density loss, and improving cardiovascular and cognitive health.

Speak Up:

One of my overarching goals in both RAPID and massage is to increase your body (self) awareness. Whether this awareness is developed during your assessment or treatments, or when you are away from my clinic, I want you to get into the habit of understanding what makes your body tick. Gone are the days when you were told not to complain when things hurt and instead brush the dirt off and get on with it. More recent wisdom recommends pausing when there is pain and then taking action. This involves staying up to date with medical screenings, check-ups, and preventive care, even if you feel well.

If you wait for things to disappear on their own or worry in solitude, you could be doing more harm than good. Addressing any health concerns early on can increase your chances of receiving the treatment you need and the advocacy you deserve from the health professionals you trust. If you ever need more support from me, [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], just ask!

Rest & Recovery:

Similar to knowing when to move, you also need to know when to rest. Creating good habits around sleeping are particularly important. For my generation and younger, we have a habit of “scrolling” our social media feeds late at night. Although it’s not always possible to be completely off your devices, consider taking breaks where you can and being firm on the difference between what is necessary and what will have negative consequence. Less screen-time overall does make a difference, especially before bed.

Alternate nostril breathing: Also known as Nadi Shodhana Pranayama, this exercise involves inhaling through one nostril and then exhaling through the other. (You can Google for detailed instructions). Said to improve lung function, lower heart rate, and reduce anxiety, this technique advices practicing on an empty stomach and avoiding if you’re congested or sick.

Mental & Emotional Wellness:

Treat challenges and setbacks as learning opportunities where possible. Participate in activities in social settings. Connect with people you like. Do puzzles, play cards or other games to keep your mind sharp and stimulated.

One of the best things to come out of 2024 for me has been volunteering as a reading mentor at my local library. Each week, I help my “buddy” not only grow his reading skills with the books we read, but also by playing word games that increase his literacy, vocabulary, and problem solving skills. We both have a lot of fun while learning.

Celebrate Progress, not Perfectionism:

Moving towards health is about taking intentional action which is not always perfect. It is about the act of doing/trying and knowing you get the chance to do it all again tomorrow. It is about being kind to yourself. It is about knowing that each time you choose to do something or not do something, you make an impact. In that case, the best thing is to imagine the best outcome you want and act on it.

And as a friendly treatment-related reminder: I know that sometimes it can feel frustrating or disappointing when where you are right now is not quite where you want to be. If this is the case, I always recommend you look back to where you started as opposed to looking too far ahead. That way you will more often see the progress you have made which can further your trust in the process as well as your momentum.

In the end, “aging well” is knowing that every stage of life offers its own unique opportunities for growth, well-being, and joy. Whether you are laying down the foundation for the future or maximizing the quality of your life now, it is never too late!

Get after your goals with our ongoing support: (re)claim your wellness today!

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Massage misconception #2: water and toxins and massage – oh my!

Massage misconception #2: water and toxins and massage – oh my!

by | Mar 17, 2021 | Misconception

Drinking water is, without question, one of the best things you can do for your body. Not only are we made of it (roughly 60-70% depending on which health journal you read), but water provides many other benefits to the body including:  

– Maintaining homeostasis (the self-regulation of internal processes),  

– Supporting and enabling digestion,  

– Delivering oxygen to the body’s numerous cells,  

– Lubricating joints, and   

– Aiding in the recycling of waste 

It is not surprising then that many massage therapists will advocate the importance of water consumption to their clients. However, two statements that often get caught up in the mix (and taken in support of drinking water) are:

  1. a client should always drink lots of water after a massage and
  2. that “drinking water helps flush out any toxins that were released during a massage.” 

Both of these statements will be explored below because both are, to varying degrees, massage misconceptions.   

Let’s start by talking briefly about the role of our kidneys. When the kidneys are doing what they do best, this can include the regulation of pH levels, excretion of waste, production of hormones, as well as movement of extracellular fluid to keep blood flowing to other vital organs*. In simplest terms, the kidneys (as well as organs like the liver and other bodily systems) filter out the bad and recirculate the good. 

Though there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to encourage prime bodily function, it must be reminded that water consumption (and absorption) is not the same for everybody. While some people can drink 1L without batting an eyelash, others are running to the washroom after two glasses. There are many reasons why a person can only handle so much, and context can be everything. That is why, as therapists, additional care must be exercised when telling our clients to “drink plenty of water today” post massage. One client might take our advice to mean “the more water the better” and try to drink a gallon of water on the way home. This may sound extreme but with results ranging from a mild headache to that of kidney overwhelm known as hyponatremia***, it is worth the call for caution. And please know, I reference this extreme scenario not as a scare tactic to deter anyone from drinking water after a massage, or anytime really, but that there are many factors around water consumption, and it is crucial that we recognize them and not generalize.

Next, we have the sometimes-popular belief that declares massage and water consumption to be the “dream team” for toxin removal. According to some, which can include some massage therapists, one benefit of massage is explained as helping to release toxins from the tissues with water being the ideal exiting vehicle. This is simply not true. 

Two main reasons being first, there is still little consensus as to what a ‘toxin’ is (which is quite fundamental to the argument for it) and second, there is even less evidence to explain how a massage technique can aid in a toxin’s specific expulsion. If we consider caffeine to be a toxin for example, to suggest that a massage will magically expel this from one’s body through touch alone (no matter the pressure) is an exaggeration and oversimplification of science. It also adds extra fuel to any fire that says massage therapy is not on level with the rest of the health industry if we continue to defend such claims**.  

As a massage therapist, I know the value of massage and for that same reason I have great hesitancy (and disbelief) in stating that a toxin – which is synonymous with ‘poison’ – can be so easily got rid of. There is just not enough evidence to support this. 

So, if we (the therapist) must say anything about water consumption, as I learned in school, we should encourage our clients to “stay hydrated” and please stop talking about toxins.   

 

*https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Kidneyhealth/Documents/kidney%20guide.pdf  

** https://www.painscience.com/articles/drinking-water-after-massage.php   

*** This happens when the sodium is too low in the bloodstream which causes an imbalance that can dangerously overwhelm the kidneys.    

  

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Massage Misconception #1: Pain versus Gain

Massage Misconception #1: Pain versus Gain

by | Feb 2, 2021 | Misconception

You may be familiar with the expression “no pain, no gain.” Well-known to the fitness industry, it promotes the idea that without pain we will never achieve our fullest potential. Even if we are left battered and bruised in the process, we must still be willing to do anything necessary to get an excellent result.   

The massage industry is not immune to this motto either, with many people eagerly lining up ready to hurt because they believe that is what their muscles need. However, this way of thinking is potentially harmful*.  

This is because many of us think that to see the results we want we must really feel it happening. However, when we ignore our body’s adverse reaction to something and push through anyway, we are more likely to endure injury or have an area overworked. Yet, as opposed to evaluating what is going on, we largely assume and accept that “this is what is supposed to happen”.   

Let’s say you arrive with a stiff neck and pain between your shoulder blades. Even before I physically assess any muscle, one of the many questions I will ask you is what kind of work you do. Let’s say your answer is desk work. Although some of my attention will be to focus on your back and delve into other details of your health history, my education and experience will tell me to look to your front first. That is, for as much as you might love me to drive my elbow in between your shoulder blades and torque on your neck for the next sixty minutes with the deepest, most intense, and pain-inducing techniques I can muster, I am going to refuse.  

What? Refuse? But it hurts! Hurt me more so I hurt less!!  

I will refuse because more times than not, your pectoral muscles (via your work posture) are likely to be the main culprit and prioritizing them can increase your body awareness and create a more effective massage. Think about it. When we sit in front of a computer all day our shoulders roll inward, our heads crane forward and our backs get stretched and stiff. Everything has moved forward and caved inward.   

If I only focus on where the pain feels most prominent, in this case your mid-back, I am immediately doing you a disservice. Similarly, if I only apply techniques with an intention to satisfy your desire for pain by adding more pain, not only might I (unintentionally) injure you, but I bypass the bodily responses that should be informing my actions in the first place! As your massage therapist, I want your muscles to “let me in” so I can do my work and by the end of the treatment I want you, my client, to not only have a better understanding of the postural imbalances you contribute to daily, but feel empowered using tools you now have, to create better habits. I should not be out to hurt you, and you should not be out to hurt you either.   

Being someone in the business of pain management and relief, my overarching want is to prove that a massage does not have to leave you breathless, squirming in pain, and/or sore for days after you see me. (I have a had at least a handful of my clients shudder as they recall treatments where they asked for pressure that left them hurting.)** 

Muscles deserve attention and the nervous system should be stimulated, but never should either feel under attack. That is why I am always happy when I have a client who originally wanted me to “bring ALL the pain” become noticeably impressed with how pain-free their experience was, and yet their muscles felt “worked” and a longer-term benefit remained.

So, the next time you are in pain and booking an appointment, know that you do not have to be in extreme pain to have a good massage and get the results you want.  

     

*’Harmful’ because in some situations, like someone who has osteoarthritis or who is pregnant, deep pressure is not advised. Always check with your doctor as well as your massage therapist if you are unsure about how your condition(s) can affect your massage.    

**Massage is a shared responsibility and pain is very subjective. Please speak up if you are in pain because if you do not tell us, we do not know.