For the past few months I've been getting ready to race around Vancouver Island!!! 
I will be away from June 5-June 22.


IF you're interested in following my team you can!
Here's the link to follow us! 

http://www.vanisle360.com/wp/resources-2/race-tracker/ 

You can click on each leg to re-visit the race or click to follow whatever race is happening that day! 

The boat I am sailing on is called Dominatrix and we are in Division 2. 

We start on Saturday June 6th and we finish on Saturday June 20th. 

Think good thoughts for us: no waves, good wind and sunshine!

Jessica

Its that time of year again! Where I go from an RMT to a sailor! 

In less than 24 hours I will be embarking on a sailing race from West Vancouver, across the Georgia Strait and then back!

If you'd like to follow my team's progress click on the link below:

Southern Straits 

Click to view the race tracker, and then select only the boats doing the Short Course and look for Silik! 

Hope that its windy for me!

Happy Easter; I will be back in the office on Monday April 6th 2015. 

Just a few links for some interesting articles/videos I've read/seen! 

Concussion Recovery

Texting and Back Pain

Correcting Bad Desk Ergonomics 

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to go sailing on Six Metre boats down in the States - so I did! 

The weekend was amazing and I had a great time! ... although I did leave the weekend with these very deep bruises on both of my biceps brachii. As spectacular as they looked they were not very painful at all.

Since there were two almost identical bruises I decided to do some experimental work: 

Would working on the bruises really help it heal faster than not working on it? 

In school we were taught how to help speed up the healing process by "dragging" out the stagnant blood so the lymphatic system could reabsorb it quicker. 

I've done work to bruises before but I have never had the chance to compare bruises that received treatment versus no treatment. 

I decided to only treat my left bicep brachii and leave my right one to heal on its own. 

This is what the bruises looked like on Day 2 with no work done: 

I started doing some massage work to the left bruise that night and by Day 4 this is what the bruises looked like: 

Not much difference from a distance; but upclose you could see how the left side looked "smoother" in comparison to the right side which looked "splotchy": (L-R: Right Bicep Brachii, Leftt Bicep Brachii)

After that the bruises started to heal quite quickly! By Day 7 they were basically healed: just a little bit of the inferior portions left: 

Both of the bruises were gone by Day 9. 

I didn't notice any major difference in the healing between the two different sides. I'm right side dominant and use that arm a bit more than the left side so that might have been a factor in the way the right side healed. 

Overall I believe that working on bruises does help them dissolve quicker - I can't tell you how much faster than not having any massage done. 

I will definitely be doing more "experiments" when the opportunity arises though!

Stay Tuned! 

Leaving a clinic is like breaking up with a significant other. 

I would like to formally say "good-bye" to a wonderful clinic that I've had the opportunity to work at for the last 6 years. 

Trikinetic Massage Therapy was the very first clinic I started working at as a new graduate in 2008. 

Over the past 6 years the wonderful people working there have seen my many hair cuts/colouring, heard about my crazy adventures and interesting dating life; supported me through some life changes and have always been there when I needed them. 

It has been great to work in a space where everyone gets along; and the feeling of community never wavered. 

Its just time for me to move on and experience new things in a new place. 

I will continue to practice Massage Therapy - I will now be working 5 days a week at Tonume Integrated Health (Mondays-Fridays). 

My last day working at Trikinetic will be Thursday June 26th. I will be starting full time at Tonume on Wednesday July 2nd. 

Thank-you Trikinetic for making my experience so lovely! 

Came across this article the other day - I'm glad that research related to massage therapy is finally making it!

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5173939?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

This Easter Weekend is an exciting one! 

I sail boat race on a regular basis and my team has signed up for a race called the Southern Straits 

The race starts the morning of Friday April 18th 2014 at 10:30am and is planned to be finished sometime between Saturday morning and Saturday night. There are different courses: an inshore course, a short course, a medium course and a long course. I will be sailing in the short course. The course starts in West Vancouver, and from there we sail across the Southern Strait to Entrance Island, back across the Strait to Halibut Bank and then to Point Atkinson. There is no stopping: we sail in the day and night; in the sunshine or rain.

If you're at all interested in following my team, you totally can! There is a program that will be tracking all of the participating boats from the time we start, until the race is done! Click here and click on the link to get to the tracking page. From there you can select to see all the boats participating or you can select single boats or fleets. 

I hope you all have a great weekend.. if you're looking for a laugh or want to kill some time follow Team Silik! 

Jessica

Just recently I've experienced acute neck pain for the first time. I now know how it feels - it sucks. 

Here's the story of how it happened: 
A few friends and I went to watch some MMA fights (which were amazing - there was a KO in under 30 seconds for one fight!), and after the fights, we thought it would be a good idea to try get into the cage and get some photos. (The friends I was with were all involved in some type of martial arts/boxing so this sounded like a great idea.) So we go down to cage level and start talking to some of the people who were involved in the fights. Miraculously my friend and I got into the cage and start play sparring. 

We were probably in the cage for 45-60 seconds; maybe 90 seconds max. We went from play sparring to grappling on the ground. Eventually we were led out of the cage and the night went on. 

The next day I sat in a sailing seminar for 8 hours - with very poor posture. I know - "practice what you preach". Sometimes you just can't get comfortable when you have to sit for long periods of time. I understand that too. 

By Sunday afternoon I could barely move my neck in rotation or side bending (mainly to the left). I thought I could tough it out, but by bedtime my neck was throbbing and it was painful to even just lay down on my back. 

The treatment: 
Monday morning came, and I was able to get a massage, a chiropractic adjustment, and acupuncture - and then I had to work for 6 hours. By Tuesday morning I was 80% better. As the weeks have gone by, I am not 100%, but I'm almost there. 

The Lesson of the story:
Don't trust your friend who you're play sparring with to not "make it real". Always be on your guard and make sure you ground through your centre of gravity. 
Also - don't wait to get help. Because thinking that you can "tough it out" probably isn't the best idea. 

Thank-you alternative medicine! 

As a RMT, I have a lot of patients coming in to see me for acute problems. I've been very fortunate in my life to have not experienced very much pain - but as life goes on, injuries do happen. 

In this section I'll be blogging about my own experiences with injuries and pain. May it be caused by sport, every day living, or my own stupidity. 

Since a young age I've been involved in sports almost all year 'round. I've swam competitively for 9 years, played Ringette for 3 years, girls ice hockey for 3 years; speed skated for 1 year, played high school sports and have completed obstacle courses. I run, snowboard, swim, box, and sailboat race.

So with every injury I've had and healed through; I've gotten a better understanding on how bodies react to treatment. I'm not saying that every body is the same (they definitely aren't), but I can now understand how people feel with injuries. Empathy at its finest.

Are you ready?! Life can get pretty intense - it'll throw you curve balls you're not expecting; and sometimes you get hit. 

- jessica

Location: Bucerias, Mexico.

The scene: Sunshine, waves crashing on a sandy beach... this is what was I could see from the window of the classroom. 

The ocean was calling to me as I was learning about how to treat the pelvis, lumbar spine, and abdomen. 

In an intimate class of 10 BC RMTs, Natale Rao gave us tips and direction to be able to guide bodies to correct imbalances to help with pain, posture, and overall general body wellness.

We began with a soft eye approach to a body scan. Without being overly critical, we were able to look at bodies and see where there was torsions, bends; looking at how clothes fell on the body helped with finding those areas. 

Myofascial release is generally a gentle way to help release "stuck" muscles. Using full palmar contact we engaged the tissues in a 3-dimensional load, and using intention, I learned how to loosen muscles around the hips, low back, pelvic floor, abdomen; which indirectly can help with structural corrections. 

I'm excited to start using these techniques to help patient's bodies realize that they can rest and be active in a more comfortable and "anatomically correct" way.