subject: Back Massage: Ease Cramps More Effectively [print this page] If you are a home-owner (or renter), a parent, a caregiver, heck, even a pet-owner, you are on-the-go! Between carrying groceries or kitty litter, moving car seats, picking up small children, carrying back-packs, you are under physical (perhaps mental) pressure. As a parent, I can attest. If I am not making a bed, cooking meals, taking children from one activity to another, I am doing laundry, feeling my back hurt! This is truly common. My solution? Back massage at my local spa. The more frequent the better.
You can go to your local spa and find out more. There will be a whole range of massages offered, and I encourage you to try all of them, but start with the back. Besides the feet, it is probably the most neglected part of your body, but needs special care, as it is used in everything from walking to sitting, to caring for children to even eating.
A caring masseuse will give you plenty of information, including lotions and explain the methods. You, like me, may chose a semi-nude, versus a nude (towel covered) option. My first massage relaxed and refreshed me. My back is still feeling great, even a couple of weeks later.
When I started complaining to my spouse about my back, he said take pain relievers". When I spoke with a girlfriend, she recommended (with great sympathy) a back massage. She has been having them frequently for the past year, and has great things to say about them. She especially loves her masseuse, and pretends she's on vacation in the tropics when she is having one.
While modern medicine is great, it won't always get to the root of the problem. Massage is an ancient technique, which has been used through the ages to cure many ailments. With modern advances in medicine, massage became pass, a thing no longer needed. However, in the late 1990's (including the Olympic year in Atlanta) massage made a comeback and was considered a valuable medical service.
There are many forms and types, along with areas of massage. In my case, a back massage suits my needs. I am a wife and mother. My duties include chauffeuring girls back and forth, laundry, mealtime, home organization to name but a few. I have been known to mow the lawn, cut back overgrown plants and dig deep in the soil.
While I encourage my girls to exercise and stretch, I end up driving them all over, while I sit and watch them. This isn't necessarily good for my back. One would think it's so easy to get my exercise while they get theirs. This would be great in a perfect world.
My little 6 year old will not let me win. I cannot leave her to watch her sisters in their classes, she will not walk with me, she will not ride her bike, sit in a stroller, or even take a piggy-back from me. I must sit. Sit and wait. While they exercise, I sit. And again through her class. And so I go for a back massage time after time, after time.
