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About Mark the Spot Massage

Mark the Spot Massage Therapy specializes in neuromuscular massage that can help your body heal itself from injury or disease.

Don’t Stretch When Your Muscles are Cold

Cold muscles are tight and don’t have much stretch in them. Instead, warm up for five minutes or more before you stretch any muscle that you hold.

A little light running, a few minutes warming up in the sun, or even a warm bath will be enough to get your muscles moving and active before you stretch.

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Don’t Hold Your Breath While You Stretch

Your muscles need oxygen throughout the stretch so take good deep, slow breaths as you stretch.

Holding your breath can also raise blood pressure. Simple stretches such as shoulder rolls don’t require that you hold them, but other stretches such as quadriceps stretches should be held for at least 20 seconds. 60 seconds is even better.

Remember to breathe throughout the stretch.

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Stretching Mistakes

We should be stretching to stay limber and flexible, but if we stretch in a way that overstresses muscles or tendons, we can cause strains or even sprains while stretching.
Not all injuries come as a result of a single, bad stretch, either. Repetitive stretching that’s improperly done can cause injury over time.
Ideally, we should not wait until an injury occurs to begin stretching to relieve the pain or regain mobility. We should stretch every day.
As we age, we begin to lose flexibility and range of motion, especially in the shoulders and low back, which can then lead to other mobility issues.
Fortunately, age-related loss of flexibility can be reversed with a daily stretching program.

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Food Cures – Tart Cherries

Several recent studies have shown that drinking tart cherry concentrate several times a day helps to relieve muscle pain, arthritis pain and the pain from gout. The tradeoff, however, is that you’re getting several servings of fruit with all of the calories and none of the fiber.

Food Cures – Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a rich source of beta-carotene that your body will convert to Vitamin A. Vitamin A is one of the best nutrients for the skin. So whether you’re trying to avoid the effects of aging, or recovering from a sunburn, sweet potatoes, even fixed as oven baked fries can help.

Food Cures – Lemonade

If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you’ll never want another. Lemons are the highest source of citrate of any of the citrus fruits. Citrate will help dissolve calcium before it can form into a kidney stone. Squeeze fresh lemons or buy commercial lightly-sweetened lemonade. Both work.

Food Cures – Asparagus

Asparagus contains enzymes that will not only slow down the absorption of alcohol if you eat it before you go out, but will also prevent the hangover that follows should you overindulge. The best cure for a hangover, of course, is to avoid excess, but if you do, a few stalks of asparagus can lessen the symptoms.

Food Cures – Honey

Honey is one of the best treatments for a persistent or viral cough. One of the most effective ways to use honey is to create a mixture of 5 parts honey and one part instant coffee. Each morning, mix one teaspoon of the mixture into a small cup of boiling water until dissolved. Drinking this mixture several days in a row may help to relieve your persistent cough.