Medical Massage

Investing in massage is an investment in your health. Regular bodywork will not only improve how you feel; it will also reduce your healthcare costs, save you time, and dramatically enhance your quality of life.

At Wellness at 505, we provide medical massage techniques including Craniosacral Massage, Deep Tissue Massage, Prenatal, Massage, Vagal Stimulation, and other types of specialty massage.

CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a light-touch approach that can create dramatic improvements in your life. It releases tensions deep in the body to relieve pain and dysfunction and improve whole-body health and performance.

Few body structures have more influence over your health and well-being than your central nervous system. And few body systems have more impact on your central nervous system than the craniosacral system – the soft tissues and fluid that protect your brain and spinal cord. Every day you endure stresses and strains and your body absorbs them. But your body can only handle so much tension before the tissues begin to tighten and potentially affect the brain and spinal cord. Unfortunately, this can compromise the function of the central nervous system – and the performance of nearly every other system in the body.

CrainoSacral Therapy releases those tensions to allow the entire body to relax and self-correct. Using a gentle touch practitioners evaluate your internal environment. Then they use distinctive techniques to release any restrictions they find. By freeing the central nervous system to perform at its best, CrainoSacral Therapy naturally eliminates pain and stress, strengthens your resistance to disease, and enhances your health and well-being.

And because it’s so gentle, CranioSacral Therapy can be effective for all ages, from newborns to the elderly.

CranioSacral Therapy improves your body’s ability to take better care of you.  It helps relieve a full spectrum of pain, illness, and dysfunction, including:

• Migraines and Headaches
• Chronic Neck and Back Pain
• Stress and Tension-Related Disorders
• Motor-Coordination Impairments
• Infant and Childhood Disorders
• Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
• Chronic Fatigue
• Fibromyalgia
• TMJ Syndrome
• Scoliosis
• Central Nervous System Disorders
• Learning Disabilities
• ADD/ADHD
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Orthopedic Problems
• And Many Other Conditions

A typical CranioSacral Therapy session takes place in a quiet, private setting.  You generally remain fully clothed as you relax on a comfortable, padded table.

Your therapist begins by gently touching various parts of your body to monitor the rhythm of the fluid that is flowing around your central nervous system. By carefully listening with the hands to locate areas of weak fluid flow or tissue motion, your practitioner can trace those areas of weakness through the body to the original source of dysfunction. Delicate manual techniques are then used to release those problem areas and improve the form and function of your central nervous system.

A CranioSacral Therapy session can last up to an hour or more.  It can be used alone or integrated with other therapies to create powerful effects. What you experience from your own session is highly individual.  The sessions are generally deeply relaxing, creating feelings of warmth or gentle pulsing in the areas the therapist is working on.

CST has been reported by patients with cancer to help:

• Alleviate side effects from chemotherapy, radiation, and other treatments
• Decrease or eliminate nausea
• Increase appetite to assist nutritional needs
• Sense of taste and smell return to normal
• Restore energy, vitality, and strength
• Eliminate swelling and stiffness after long periods of immobilization during radiation treatments
• Strengthen immune system, which may be compromised from cancer treatments
• Reduce the chance of infections
• Improve the quality of life
• Decrease Pain

Cheryl received her training through Upledger Institute in Palm Beach, Florida. She has been practicing this amazing therapy since 1999.

*packages available with discount pricing!

A deep tissue massage targets deep into layers of muscle and the surrounding tissues. As opposed to a gentle massage designed to be a relaxing body rub, this technique targets areas of tightness and applies concentrated pressure to the sub-layer of muscles and fascia. Deep tissue massage may at times seem intense, but it is designed to release restricted or injured tissues and expedite pain relief. Benefits include:

• Stress relief
• Relief of inflammation
• Reduced chronic back pain
• Increased range of motion
• Injury rehabilitation
• Lower blood pressure and heart rate

Starting at $95

Prenatal massage is one of the best methods of relieving pregnancy aches, pains, and emotional imbalances. Not all massage therapists are licensed to perform prenatal massage. Prenatal massage training includes specialized techniques designed for the pregnant body as well as training for specific pressure and areas to avoid.  Benefits include:

• Alleviates back and leg pain
• Relieves sciatica and nerve pain
• Reduces anxiety and stress
• Improves mood and lifting depression
• Reduces swelling
• Eases insomnia
• Regulates hormones

Starting at $95

The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body, connecting the brain to the neck, heart, lungs, spleen, and digestive system. It has many functions within those body systems with vital involvement in sensory and movement functions and a major role in balancing the nervous system, which is the focal point of this article.

When the Vagus nerve gets stimulated it releases a substance called “Vagusstoff”, also named acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in our capacity to calm down, to switch from our stress response back into our rest and digest response.

The vagus nerve communicates the state of our organs back to the brain. The higher our vagal tone, the better our emotional and physical wellbeing, and the better our ability to stay in control during stressful situations and exercise adequate response. Low vagal tone makes it difficult to “switch back” into a calm and relaxed state and may be associated with chronic inflammation, negative moods and emotions, feeling isolated, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and digestive issues – just to name a few.

Try to think of the Vagus nerve as an on/off switch between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, your stress response fight or flight, and your rest and digest response. On the sympathetic side, turning the switch ON when experiencing a stressful event, the vagus nerve is involved in increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, and energy levels, allows you to be more alert and focused, accelerates breathing, and redirects blood flow from the digestive system to the brain and muscles. We can become faster, stronger, and react quicker to a “dangerous” situation. Energy is not “wasted” on digestive functions! On the parasympathetic side, turning the switch OFF to get back into the rest and digest phase, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, slows breathing, and instills a sense of calmness and relaxation in the body and mind.

Remember that in a stressful situation blood flow to the digestive system is going to be decreased, slowing down digestive functions? That is an important factor when considering that many of us stay in a state of “stress response” for prolonged periods of time. The Vagus nerve is in constant communication between the gut and the brain and is also involved in sending anti-inflammatory information to the body. Hence, unmanaged stress can add to digestive and inflammatory issues.

$175 for 75 minutes

*packages available with discount pricing!