WELCOME to Massage Extraordinaire's Blog

Arnica is an amazing little flower!  This flower is a part of the Daisy family and can be used to reduce inflammation, decrease pain and help bruises heal quicker. A tube of Arnica cream can be purchased at many health and drug stores and is also found in several different muscle-rub products that athletes like to use when they are having pain. By itself, Arnica cream doesn't have a scent, but often it is added to products that do.  Menthol, peppermint and other helpful ingredients that are considered to have strong scent by some, are often added to pain relieving gels and creams because they are very helpful in reducing pain. If you are sensitive to strong menthol type scents, be aware. Here are a couple products that we like to use and few key ingredients that they contain: Biofreeze Menthol - Cold therapy to numb pain Boswellia - A plant product that also helps fight inflammation Arnica - Helps with inflammation & pain Biofreeze use to be challengin

What is Fascia? Fascia is the connective tissue that literally holds the entire body together. Imagine a whole roasting chicken that you would find at your grocery store. If you were to pull up on the skin of the chicken, you would see a substance that is attached underneath the skin and also to the muscle beneath it. It is clear, thin and sticky. This is the fascia. How the fascia becomes damaged  and what happens when the fascia is damaged Plantar fasciitis: Plantar, being the bottom of the foot and fasci itis (any word with "itis" at the end of it, means that something is inflamed and irritated).  Put those two together and you have a recipe for very uncomfortable pain that can often takes weeks or months to rehabilitate. If you have ever experienced plantar fasciitis, you have unfortunately become acquainted with damaged fascia. This is just one common example of how the fascia can play a role in contributing to our various aches and pains.  What