Sports Massage is a specialized form of Swedish Massage that we offer at Massage Therapy Center Palo Alto. It focuses on enhancing athletic performance, boosting endurance, and facilitating post-event recovery. It especially benefits professional and amateur athletes, exercise enthusiasts, dancers, and performers. Sports massage practitioners…
The lymphatic system is a branch of the circulatory system and a major part of the immune system. It is made up of organs (spleen, thymus, tonsils, adenoids) and lymph nodes and vessels. It produces the clear, extracellular fluid (lymph) that bathes the tissues and…
A fascia is a thin, elastic band or sheet of connective tissue that wraps most structures within the human body, supporting and protecting them. It attaches, encloses, stabilizes, and separates muscles and internal organs and generally acts as a shock absorber by creating tissue spaces.…
Sports massage, while originally developed for athletes, has transcended its initial realm to offer significant benefits to non-athletes as well. This therapeutic approach enhances physical performance, facilitates recovery, and prevents injuries, not only for athletes but for anyone who leads an active lifestyle or faces…
Myofascial Release Bodywork is a safe and very effective technique that involves applying gentle, sustained pressure into the myofascial connective tissue to eliminate pain and restore motion. The therapist applies pressure into the direction of the restriction by following the motion of the tissue, barrier…
Shiatsu is an ancient Japanese bodywork that uses hand, knuckle, palm, elbow, and foot pressure on specific points located along energy meridians, in order to promote the free flow of ki energy, the circulating life force. Oriental Medicine maintains that disease occurs because of stagnation or blockage…
Swedish massage is the classic style of bodywork. It is a scientific system of manipulations of the muscles and connective soft tissue of the body—to support relaxation, rehabilitation, and health maintenance. It increases blood circulation, thus enhancing delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells…
Pregnancy Massage combines specific features of Swedish massage, joint mobilization, foot zone therapy, and connective tissue work to alleviate many of the physiological, musculo-skeletal, and emotional stresses of pregnancy. Clients receive the massage in a side position, with pillows and bolsters provided for support and…
In Trigger Point therapy various methods are used to relieve and eliminate a hypersensitive area known as a trigger point—in the muscle, its tendon, or fascia. Usually the trigger point is not in the area of pain, but digital pressure over the point will elicit pain…
Craniosacral Therapy is one of the more gentle yet powerful therapies offered at Massage Therapy Center Palo Alto. This modality uses gentle, fluid movements of the bones and tissues of the head, chest area, and hips to enhance the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Imbalances are…
Deep Work Massage is a unique approach to bodywork and is distinct from Clinical Deep Tissue Massage. 'Deep’ refers to the opportunity for a deeply transformative experience, not to the amount of pressure used. Deep Work therapists have an educated understanding of the role of…
Neuromuscular Release incorporates deep yet gentle techniques for correcting unhealthy chronic tension patterns and structural imbalances. Developed by Langdon Roberts, M.A., CMT, this work combines current theories of neuroscience with therapeutic bodywork to ‘teach’ the client’s nervous system how to achieve and maintain the physiology…
Reflexology practitioners believe that there are major points in the hands and feet, with a rich supply of nerve endings that correspond to each organ and major muscle group in the body, and that stimulation of these points can have far-reaching effects. Reflexology practitioners use thumbs,…
Reiki is a Japanese hands-on healing practice that works with the human energy bio-field to promote balance throughout the whole system. It accesses the very high vibrational force in all living beings. To tap into the universal energy, or reiki, the practitioner attunes the person’s…