Cyber Monday Special Deal!

Massage Special Deal is on again! Cyber Monday has prompted a one-day-only sale.  Buy the Special Deal to get great savings on therapeutic massage at Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT! Clock's a-running!

Win a Massage!

From November 19th til 11:59 PM, December 31st, all my clients who have a 1-hour or longer massage session with me at regular rates are automatically entered to win a free 1-hour massage in January 2011 on any available date of their choice.
Each session clients have during this period is an automatic entry in the drawing.  The winner will be announced here on a blog posting.  The winner will receive notice by email and a gift certificate will be sent to their address on file.

Please book your next appointments online: http://joelklmt.genbook.com/.  Remember, short sessions are NOT qualified entries! Must be a one hour session or longer.  BUT, if you simply cannot do a whole one-hour session, two or more short sessions will qualify as one drawing entry.  Also remember that you must have your actual session during the entry period, not just book one!

Good luck to everyone!
~ Joel

Want to Win a Great Massage?

Starting Nov 19th, anyone who buys a regularly priced 1-hour or longer massage from me before 11:59 PM December 31, 2010 automatically enters to win a free 1 hour massage good for any available date in January.

Every separate paid session qualifies as an additional entry in the drawing.

Make your appointment now! (Be sure to choose a one-hour or longer service! Short sessions and consults don't qualify.  Sorry!)

Good luck!

Want a special deal on massage therapy? Don't wait to read this!

Groupon-type Special Deal from Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT coming soon!

A fantastic special deal for massage will be on sale soon! Please bookmark this link:
http://tinyurl.com/2et8hng

As you can tell, I'm VERY excited about this!

For the first time ever, I'll be offering a Groupon-type deal on my gift certificate website (that's where the link takes you).  The offer is available to anyone who sees it, so be sure to pass the link on to your family and friends.  Even share the link with your Facebook and Twitter friends!

BUT...

There is a limit as to how many are sold and the time you have to purchase them.  Be sure to grab yours quickly!

(BTW, visit and "Like" my Facebook page at http://facebook.com/lmtinmanchesternh)

Scar Tissue & Massage

Scars are common among us.  We were wild when we were kids.  We got nicks, scrapes, cuts, jagged rips and assorted tears in the protective layer we call skin.  Did you know that skin is actually an organ? Yup.  We don't think about it much, but, sure enough, skin is actually the largest organ in your body.  It's purpose is to protect everything we are inside the skin.  And anytime we break the skin, we allow germs in.  Germs, bacteria, some viruses...  It's not good.

But we're equipped to handle it, to some degree.  We have little cells whose job it is to circulate throughout our bloodstreams, looking for damage to our organs, including our skin.  When the brain gets word that there is a break in the skin, it sends these cells directly to the site to effect repairs almost immediately! It's amazing.  One kind of cell brings patching equipment material (collagen fibrils) while another brings a gluing material to hold the fibers together.

The collagen fibers are thrown down at the placement of the wound to close it up, but this is an emergency! These cells are like a M*A*S*H unit, not like a plastic surgery clinic.  Brain says to close up the wound and there's nothing that says to do it in a pretty way.  So the cells throw the fibers down helter-skelter and the fibers end up laying in every which direction in an attempt to close up the wound.  Glue is thrown on top, followed by more fibers, followed by more glue, and on and on.

Depending on the size of the wound, the amount of inflammation in the area and the ability of the cells to actually reach and close the wound directly determines the amount of material thrown down, the length of time the cells will take to effect repairs and length of time before the scar tissue is strong enough to hold together.  Cells don't take any chances -- they pile on the collagen fibers and glue until the area is well-sealed.  Generally, scars take 5 days to 4 weeks to heal well enough.  If the wound is too big, too long or too deep, it will take far too long to close up the wound and the wound will take stitches to bring the good edges close enough together for a good repair to happen quickly.

Let's say the wound is now closed.  What you have is a discolored, usually red or pink rather bumpy or raised scar in place of the open wound.  The cells have done a great job and have continued along their way to look for trouble elsewhere.  Meanwhile, you're left with a new scar.  Now, for most of us, these scars make great conversation pieces when we're young.  We might even still boast about them when we get a bit older.  But then, it depends on personal mindsets as to whether or not we want other people to see our scars.  If they're always covered, we don't usually give them much thought.  But if they're in obvious places, the face, arms, neck, exposed areas, we may become conscientious of them as we grow into adulthood.

Here is where massage comes in.  But before I get into that, I'd like to bring into our conversation a cousin of the scar -- adhesions.  Actually, they're much the same thing -- scar tissue.  But I'm going to differentiate between them by referring to them this way: let's say "scars" are outside on the skin; "adhesions" are the inside the skin.  By "inside", I mean both actually on the inside side of the skin as well everywhere else in our bodies inside the skin -- organs, veins, muscles, other soft tissue.  Bone's don't scar because degeneration and reformation is a constant process throughout most of our lives.  That means that certain cells are constantly taking away bone material while other are constantly replacing it with new.  All that remains is for the decisions of mechanical stresses placed on the bone to determine how the replaced bone will form.

So, now to massage and how it is used where scar tissue and adhesions are concerned.

Because collagen fibrils are thrown down in no particular direction, scar tissue ends up looking more like an unstacked pile of wood instead of deck.  This is contrary to what we'd like to see.  If the fibrils would all lay in one direction, namely, the direction of the wound, the scar would be much less noticeable, smaller and much less discolored.  In essence, aesthetically pleasing if not nearly invisible to someone who doesn't know to where to look for it.

One technique of massage is cross-fiber friction (CFF).  By the way, CFF shouldn't take place on a brand new scar.  At least a week, sometimes much longer, must pass before this technique is applied.  We want to make sure the wound is closed and that our work won't reopen it.

CFF is used to break up scar tissue and align the scar fibers in the direction of the wound.  A finger or thumb is used to effect the movement and no or extremely little lubrication is applied.  The tip of the finger or thumb is placed on one side of the scar and slides across the wound, taking the skin with it.  If a lubricant is used, the skin will likely slide beneath the finger.  This is okay for a short time, but will eventually become a nuisance ache, rather like a rope or friction burn.  Once the finger reaches the other side of the wound, it is stopped and motion is reversed.  This continues as long as necessary to travel the entire length of the wound several times.  Too much aggravates the skin, so we don't want to do that.  But we DO want to reduce the amount of scar tissue.  So we may do this on a one inch scar for 2-3 minutes, perhaps longer.

You can also do this at home.  You may wish to put a natural oil on the area to help nourish the skin while you do it.  Vitamin E oil, rose hip oil or something similar is good for helping reduce the coloration of scar tissue and helps break up the fibers, too.

Adhesions are treated a little differently.  Pressure of CFF takes place only in one direction, then the finger moves without pressure back to the original position and the process starts again.  The difficulty with adhesions is actually being able to feel or palpate the adhesion.  It's key to do CFF on the adhesion and not in the general area because the collagen fiber making up scar tissue and adhesions is NOT the same material your skin (or whatever you're working on) is made of and won't take kindly to continuous CFF.

Adhesions can take place anywhere, but massage therapists generally work on ones located in muscles, tendons and ligaments including those in the spine.  Along with CFF, the therapist may use other techniques such as myofascial release, Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais Method, among others.

One additional location for adhesions, important especially for women, is the breast.  Breast tissue sits above the layer of muscle on the chest and may be damaged in lots of ways - breastfeeding, wearing too tight a bra, weight of the breast itself, sports activities or any rough handling.  The breast itself is an amazing piece of equipment.  Internally, there is adipose tissue (fat), ligaments and structures associated with the production and delivery of milk.  Adhesions can form in the connective tissue, the milk structures, ligaments or on the inside of the skin, especially when a baby breastfeeds or following surgery on the breast or nipple.

While all massage therapists are able to massage breast tissue, there are many reasonable laws, regulations and ethical boundaries in place within the profession and at the regulatory level to protect the client.  Many women get breast massage and for a number of reasons, but most are clinical in nature.  Search out a therapist who has been specially trained in this type of work before agreeing to having it done.  A written release and detailed explanation of what will take place is usually required by law before a massage session even begins when it includes breast massage.

One last bit of interestingly positive news.  It doesn't matter how old the scar is, massage can help reduce the amount of scar tissue and the redness coloration of the scar! New scars will see results much sooner, but old scars will also vastly improve over time.

In the end, massage therapy for reduction of scar tissue and adhesions is widely accepted in the medical field.  I've used it myself many times, including on myself, with terrific results! CFF for scars and adhesions can easily be integrated into a full-body massage or area-specific session.  Just let me know if you'd like to try it.

Website: http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian

Book an appointment: http://joelklmt.genbook.com/

"Like" me on Facebook: http://facebook.com/lmtinmanchesternh



National Massage Therapy Awareness Week Oct 24-30, 2010

Massage has come a long way toward being recognized in the general public over the past many decades. As an alternative healthcare choice, therapeutic massage is growing by leaps and bounds, helping people recover from achiness, pain from accident and injury, working along with other conventional medical practices to improve your health and well-being.


Granted, there are a number of businesses who say they practice massage and are just covers for illicit practices and they continue to keep us battling them in legislative sessions and with regulatory agencies because, plain and simple, they give massage a bad name. Every therapist on the up-and-up attempts to educate their clients in the differences between an honest therapeutic practice and an establishment providing sexual services or worse under the guise of massage.


Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT does not condone the use of the words Massage, Massage Therapy or Therapeutic Massage for establishments providing sexual or erotic services, escort services, as covers for drugs, human trafficking or any other illegal or illicit operation.


Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT is a non-sexual massage therapist. Any suggestion of a sexual nature outside of medical terminology or reference will result in immediate termination of session and session will be charged, no matter at what point during the session it occurs.


As part of my recognition of National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, I'm discounting relaxation and deep tissue massage and reflexology sessions of any length by $20 per hour off regular rates. Discount begins October 21st and ends October 30th at the last session of the day.  Discount is unavailable on consults, massage introduction session, chair massage or specials.  Discount may not be combined with any other offer or discount.


Appointment must be booked online at http://joelklmt.genbook.com. You may also call (603) 935-8422 and leave your name, contact number, email address, date and time of desired appointment and the type of massage service requested...


HOWEVER...


Your appointment is NOT guaranteed by leaving the message until you receive a confirmation email notice from Genbook.


For more information about me and Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT, including types of massage, client reviews, policies, purchase gift certificates or links to other bodyworkers around the country, please go to my website.


Website: http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian

Book appointment online: http://joelklmt.genbook.com

Please support National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, October 24th to 30th! Stop the pain, stop the tingling in your fingers, stop the nagging backache, stop the stiff neck, stop the sore feet.  Book your appointment with Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT now.

Muscle Relaxers or Massage?

Let's say you've overworked your back doing some work around the house.  At the end of the day, you're stuck with a nagging backache that won't quit and you feel miserable.  Do you reach for aspirin, a non-aspirin pain reliever, muscle relaxers, maybe an alcoholic drink ... or the phone to call your massage therapist?

Many Americans automatically reach for a bottle of pills to deal with such aches and pain without giving much thought as to whether it's the best idea.  They take painkillers easily and go on with their lives or a muscle relaxer knowing full well that it's going to knock them out soon.

Pain relievers work by blocking the pain receptors in your brain and muscles.  They work on your entire body, not just on where the problem lies.  Muscle relaxers actually shut off the chemical reaction notification process between your nervous system and brain -- again, all of them.  That's why they knock you out.  Maybe your back hurts, but your arms, neck and feet are affected just as much as your back.  What's more, when you waken, you feel like you've been run over by a truck, your brain is in a drug-induced fog.  When you've collected enough energy to focus on what's going on in your body, you realize there's still some nagging backache and you reach for the bottle of pills again.

Meanwhile, life goes on and you can't work because the pills won't let you stay awake.  You can't drive, either.  The kids want to play with you, but you can't tolerate movement OR stay awake long enough.  You can't even watch a movie on tv without going to sleep for several hours.

Massage, however, has no drugging effect because no drugs are involved.  Massage works directly on the muscles involved in your pain, elongating chronically shortened ones, relaxing congested areas of muscle bellies, stretching out tendonous ends of muscle tissue and warming connective tissue that causes the pain in the first place.

A relaxing effect does take place as relaxing muscles ease the constant transmission of trouble between pain receptors in your muscle fibers and your brain, but more in the form of relief than the shutting down of medications.  What's more, relaxed muscles stop acting on the bones they connect to, allowing tissue between bones to relax as well and allow them to return to their non-painful dislocation or subluxation.

What's more, massage will relieve your pain for the longer term with no undesirable side effects.  A therapeutic massage is so much better for you all-in-all than taking muscle relaxers or painkillers.

The next time you're in this situation, please give me a call or book an appointment with the convenience of online scheduling at http://joelklmt.genbook.com  You'll be glad you did.  Consults, other than medical consults, are free and urgent care consult includes testing, evaluation and an abbreviated massage session designed to give you near-immediate relief and costs only $60.  If my evaluation of your predicament shows a problem that is beyond my scope of practice, I may refer you to a physician.  But simple muscle pulls may be worked on right away, giving you respite from annoying aches and pain.

For more information about me and what I do, please see my website: http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian

Sciatica & Massage

What is Sciatica?
This is a nerve dysfunction that affects your low back, hip and leg.  There are several causes of this dysfunction -- injury to your spine, overuse of certain muscles, posture and even age will do it.  Precisely how sciatica affects you depends on the cause of the dysfunction and the cause, in turn, directs how it is treated, if at all.

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body and the largest in your legs.  Branches off the main nerve serve all areas of your body from your lumbar spine to your feet, so it's no wonder why a person affected with sciatica would want relief from it.

Find the Cause!
Have you been diagnosed with sciatica or sciatic pain? Before seeking treatment, determine what is causing the problem to begin with.  Sometimes, the symptoms alone are used to make the diagnosis.  Here's why it's so important to know what's causing the impingement on the nerve.  Many branches of the Central Nervous System (CNS) reach out from between the five lumbar vertebrae and several more emerge from openings in the sacrum (the diamond-shaped bones between your low back and tailbone) to form the sciatic nerve.  Any impingement of the feeder branches of the nerve from the CNS may cause or result in this traveling pain.

In addition, both the branches to and from the main nerve itself run a course through, between and beneath several muscles from the time they leave the spinal cord until they terminate in your feet and elsewhere along the way.  Damage to or tension in any of these muscles may result in squeezing the nerve and issuing sciatic pain.

Compressed vertebrae tend to pinch the nerves, too, and a degenerated disc allows the vertebrae above and below it to put the squeeze on it.  So can a bulging disc.  A herniated disc creates another whole set of issues including sciatic pain.  Poor posture over a long period of time may result in deforming the curve of the lumbar spine resulting in a weakening of the nerve, along with a number of spinal diseases such as scoliosis.

Massage To The Rescue?
Could be!

Should a diagnosis of tight muscles be indicated as cause, especially tension in the muscles of the posterior hip, that is, your backside, a massage therapist trained in the physiology and therapeutic workings of releasing those muscles may well be your ticket to hope! Even a cause not directly related to muscles may be benefited with massage because muscles may tighten around the affected area to splint or prevent further damage to the nerve.

A couple of worthy notes here: First, a massage therapist is not legally able to diagnose, though most of us have an idea what may be at the root of the problem when the symptoms are described.  Second, life holds no guarantees and massage is never held up as a cure-all by competent therapists.  Our intention is to work the muscles to release their tension.  It's up to your body to recognize the change in muscle tension and make the adjustments.  That's why we say that we only allow your body to help heal itself, we don't fix things.

Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome are closely related in that pain symptoms are exceptionally similar.  The piriformis muscle is located deep inside the muscles of your rear end and the sciatic nerve runs beneath and, sometimes, right through it.  If the piriformis is tight, the nerve gets pinched and pain is felt in the hip, buttocks and down the back of the leg as a steady or shooting pain.  Piriformis Syndrome is the keynote to the therapist and is the first targeted muscle we work on to release trigger points (constricted muscle), elongate and relax signals of sciatic pain to the brain.

Other muscles may also be causative to the pain or may simply impede progress of your recovery, so the competent therapist will work those muscles as well.  These include the major players of the deep lower back, glutes (your butt) and hamstrings, along with performing assisted stretching exercises with you on the table.  Additionally, we may give you homework to do -- exercises you can do at home to help between visits to your therapist to aid and speed your recovery.

Together, these treatments by your therapist may very well be able to do what other treatments have been unable to do for you -- help your body return to wellness!

To your best health,
~ Joel

What do you do now?
My Website
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Did You Know...


...your body has three types of muscle working inside it? Each type works in a specific way and cannot be used for any other purpose. Each looks different, acts differently, is even powered somewhat differently than the others.

(1) cardiac muscle is only found in the heart. Although cardiac muscle more closely resembles skeletal muscle in looks and structure, it differs in arrangement of fibers and how those fibers make the muscle work. Additionally, cardiac muscle works involuntarily, meaning that you can't consciously make it move.

(2) smooth muscle is found in places like the digestive system, waste removal, blood and lymph circulatory systems and other places. It works differently in that smooth muscle doesn't go through sudden, violent contraction as the other two types do. Instead, contraction happens slowly and takes place over long periods -- even semi-permanently. Smooth muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle.

(3) skeletal muscle is used in body movement together with bone and joints as a system of levers and pulleys. Skeletal muscle is a voluntary type of muscle; you can will it to move. But it can also move involuntarily, for instance, in spasm and reflex. There is much that is interesting about skeletal muscle, but one thing in particular stands out to the layperson even though they may not realize it.

There are two types of skeletal muscle -- fast and slow twitch muscle fibers control strength and contractile ability of each individual human being. All humans have both types of fibers in their skeletal muscle, BUT, not necessarily in the same amounts! That is why some of us are faster runners, higher jumpers or have more (or less) endurance in the use of our muscles.

In other words, if you have more "fast twitch" muscle, you are predisposed to short-term, sudden bursts of energy and movement. Fast twitchers will do better in such events as short distance sprints, jerking press weight-lifting, high-jumping, etc. Slow-twitchers have more endurance and can run the long distance marathons, do heavy lifting and carrying, etc. Nothing you can do will change that, no matter how much you train, how far you run, how much weight you use to strengthen your legs, you'll never be the long distance runner some people are.

Isn't that interesting? Here's something else: Men have about 46% of their body mass tied up in skeletal muscle. Women have about 36%. Excluding steroids and toning, this is why muscle mass in men is so much larger than in women, even in female bodybuilders.

So, the next time your kids come home disappointed that they didn't do as well as someone else in that school track meet or doesn't have the biceps another guy has or gets winded a lot sooner in that tennis match, it isn't necessarily due to a lack of trying!


Muscles and Massage

Now that you're aware of this information, know also that massage works on all types of muscle and muscle types. Therapeutic massage can be used to affect cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle using different types of massage strokes, depending on the needs of the client.

Massage is good for you! Make an appointment right away!

Website or Book an Appointment!

Massage in Manchester, NH

Greetings from Joel Kouyoumjian, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)

I've been blogging for almost a year on my website, on Merchant Circle and Facebook, so I decided to get out into the blogging world and post my stuff out here for all to see and get better exposure.

Most of what I'll write here speaks to you as a massage client of mine or, perhaps, a future one.  Topics will mainly concern massage and how massage is good for you along with other forms of bodywork and wellness education.  I hope you'll find it informative, educational and interesting.  I also hope you'll provide feedback on the subjects and how they relate to you.

Please pass on my blog address to your family and friends and be sure to check out my website (http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian) and Facebook page (Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT) and don't forget to "like" my page!