Too much choice: too much confusion?
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:46PM The amount of choice we have today, whilst being the best we’ve ever had, can also lead to a little confusion. No longer is there one type of butter to spread on your toast in the morning, but now you need to choose from no salt butter, goats butter, tastes like butter, clearly it’s not butter!!!
Personally, I don’t cope well with too many options...and as it happens most of us get too over whelmed with too much choice and as a result end up with nothing! Unless one is an expert in the field having all these options seems to work to our detriment rather than providing a solution. And the same can be said with complimentary therapies and the alternative health industry.
Now, I could go into the many, many, many different types of therapy now readily available today, depending on your health issue, type of therapy personally suited to you and the best therapists and practitioners in said field. However, as a remedial massage therapist I would like to take massage as an example. I also believe massage as exploded since the emergence of Aromatherapy in the 1980s and now we find ourselves with huge choice when it comes to choosing which type of massage is best for you!
Every time I attend a health fair there is always a new massage style I haven’t head of adding themselves to the already huge list: holistic, Swedish, sports, deep tissue, remedial, aromatherapy, Hawaiian, Thai, Indian head, pregnancy, baby, hot stone, shiatsu, reflexology.....the list goes on!
Now, how many of the general public are ‘experts’ in massage? I’m guessing there really aren’t too many people who have in depth massage knowledge that would enable them to make an informed choice as to which massage they would most benefit them.
I fully believe that any form of touch is extremely powerful on a physical and emotional level so arguably whichever massage you go for it could be a win-win situation. But, add the fact that it will also depend on the therapist you get (and therefore the quality of the massage you receive), into the mix, you really need to know your massage! Confused? Yeah, me too and I AM a massage therapist!
That’s why I’m now going to plug the therapy I practice! Remedial massage (which does involve deep tissue work) as given me more job satisfaction that I could have believed possible. I don’t consider it a ‘job’ it’s too much fun! Sounding cheesy? Well, let me list some of the health problems I can help with: stress (physical manifestations and emotional); circulation; headaches; muscular and joint problems; sprains and strains; muscle atrophy; body maintenance and injury prevention; insomnia....just to name a few! Impressed? You should be because I can also chat at the same time!
Remedial massage used to be prescribed by GPs in the same way antibiotics are today and teams of massage therapists were sent out troops during WWI! Sadly, after WWII remedial massage was lost to the emergence of physiotherapy, which then dominated right up until Aromatherapy started being recognised for its health benefits. This put massage back in the map but unfortunately as much more of a ‘treat’ and ‘pamper’ therapy rather than a real health solution.
The battle continues to get Remedial massage the recognition it deserves by GPs, health insurance providers and the NHS but things are now moving in a positive direction, so it’s now up to you to make the choice: incorporate Remedial massage into your weekly/monthly health routine to prevent muscular problems or reduce the effects of stress; or seek Remedial massage after you’ve ignored your body’s warning signals and it’s all gone wrong!
Either way...there is really only one option...Remedial Massage!
I am based at my own clinic at Epic House, 128 Fulwell Rd, Teddington TW11 0RQ
Reader Comments (2)
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Stephanie
Excellent article and really helpful. Thanks for posting