Use it or lose it--avoiding back pain

>Human tissue needs to be exposed to loads to become strong<
>Human tissue needs to be exposed to loads to become strong<
>Human tissue needs to be exposed to loads to become strong<

In other words, "use it or lose it"
Massage can help you with pain, yes - but the ultimate strategy for avoiding many common pain experiences is gradual, graded exposure of the tissues to load.

From the article
>Human tissue needs to be exposed to loads to become strong – and the spine is a good example of this. Regular loading prepares the joints, muscle and ligaments for normal tasks. Nobody would expect to run a marathon without preparing the body for such loading, so it seems logical that to be able to lift a weight requires exposure to that activity. – and the spine is a good example of this. <

https://theconversation.com/best-way-to-avoid-back-pain-lift-heavy-things-93702

Learning WHY you hurt can reduce your pain

Can a program of pain neuroscience education combined with cognition-targeted motor control training reduce pain and improve function?

According to this triple-blinded, well-designed study - it seems that the answer is yes.
(this is why I, as a massage therapist who treats people in pain, offer painscience resources and recommend movement therapy)

Note that in this study:

• They expected to find certain changes in the grey matter, in the brain itself...and did not. Admitting this indicates that the data is reliable, and does not suffer from confirmation bias.
• The fact that these changes were not found is interesting.

Read it to learn more (includes a link to the study itself)https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/painmanagement/72374

CRPS - a variety of articles from the epicenter of painscience

I have not yet read all of these articles--I am simply bookmarking them here for myself and for any people searching for information who stumble across this post.

The source, https://bodyinmind.org/ is based at the  University of South Australia in Adelaide, and Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney. The amazing Lorimer Moseley "leads the group in undertaking research that traverses ‘the translational pipeline’ from fundamental behavioural and physiological experiments in humans, to major randomised controlled trials and prognostic studies."

https://bodyinmind.org/?s=CRPS.

Massage and Back Pain - one of the better studies

There is surprisingly little research--real research--into how, why, or if massage actually helps with pain.

Why is that? Well, for one thing, a study needs a control group--people who think they are getting a treatment or medication, who aren't. Well, how do you do 'fake' massage? You can't--the person in the control group will know if they are being massaged or not!

Most of us know, instinctively, that massage feels good, is calming, is helpful for the nervous system. It is a rare person who does not crave a good shoulder rub when neck and shoulders are stiff and painful from sitting, driving, schlepping little kids around, digging ditches, milking cows, pruning trees (personal experience here!)

Here is the study--one of the better ones on the subject.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3570565/

Under your Skin: How you perceive touch

This is a great picture, showing how touches on your skin is perceived by your brain - including, of course, how massage is perceived.
Via mechanoreceptors in the skin, your brain collects information such as pressure and temperature. Your brain then evaluates where you are, checks to see if you have been in this place or this situation before, and decides what to do. If the brain decides you are in danger--if, for example you touch a sharp needle and prick your finger, the brain will take you to safety--by making your finger hurt, and activate muscles to make you pull your finger away.

It is important to understand that, although there are different kinds of mechanoreceptors in your skin, there is no such thing as a 'pain receptor'.

The picture is from this article, which explores if keratinocytes, the most common cells in the outer layer of skin, the epidermis, have a role in touch sensation, and how they communicates communicate with cell-sensory neuron communication, The researchers postulate that this may allow for easy, non-invasive treatment options for pain currently in use--specifically topical analgesics and antipruritics.

Schematic diagram depicting the proposed mechanism for ATP release induced by mechanical stimulation of keratinocytes and its interaction with P2X4 on sensory nerve endings.

Touching of the skin, and therefore the mechanical stimulation of keratinocytes, elicits release of factors such as ATP, which in turn, acts on P2X4 and possibly other receptors on sensory neurons found within the epidermis, thereby causing action potential firing in the neurons and downstream effects leading to touch perception.

The importance of touch.

The importance of touch.

I originally began studying massage because of its therapeutic value.
It means so much more. We are hardwired by evolution - the experience of touch is necessary for our emotional and physical well-being, down to our very immune system.
I believe that the hyper vigilance that has sprung up regarding touch, including casual social contact, is depriving us of this basic human interaction.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/07/crisis-touch-hugging-mental-health-strokes-cuddles

Strokes and hugs are being edged out of our lives, with doctors, teachers and colleagues increasingly hesitant about social touching. Is this hypervigilance of boundaries beginning to harm our mental health?

Paula Cocozza

 @CocozzaPaula

Wed 7 Mar 2018 14.46 GMTLast modified on Sat 10 Mar 2018 01.04 GMT

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 Illustration by Harriet Lee-Merrion

W

hen did you last touch someone outside your family or intimate relationship? I don’t mean a brush of the fingers when you took your parcel from the delivery guy. I mean: when did you pat the arm or back of a stranger, colleague or friend? My own touch diary says that I have touched five people to whom I’m not related in the past seven days. One was a newborn and two were accidental (that was the delivery guy). Touch is the first sense humans develop in the womb, possessed even of 1.5cm embryos. But somewhere in adulthood what was instinctive to us as children has come to feel awkward, out of bounds.

Older Muscles - Protein Intake & Muscle Mass Maintenance in Older Adults

This is a subject near and dear to my heart - I find it incredibly annoying that, at the age of 56, laying off my usual active lifestyle for a few weeks, my muscles melt away.
Unfortunately, muscle mass and strength decrease with age, even in elite older athletes, a condition called sarcopenia,and the process does indeed speed up after age 50.

This sucks.

Now, exercise does indeed offer a protective effect - so, yes, three weeks without dancing, hiking, or massaging caused my muscles to practically wither away (well, I was busy, my son got married :-)).

Most of us know that you need protein to build - and maintain - muscle.
I did not know that after 50, the body apparently is less efficient at metabolizing protein--according to the papers linked to below, older people need more protein to build/ maintain muscle.

In addition, protein intake should be divided between meals in order to maximize effects - this is true in individuals of all ages.

I myself do not take supplements of any type, nor do I intend to; the interplay of nutrients in any food is complex, and is not understood--no matter WHAT the manufacturers of supplements and vitamins might tell you.

Therefore:

• I intend to make sure I take in adequate protein during the day, and increase that slightly on days that I exercise.
• I will space my protein over my meals, with a daily goal of 45 to 50 grams - appropriate for my size, weight and age.
  For example, my  usual breakfast: plain yogurt, fruit, a few nuts works out to be 12 grams of protein, my usual lunch of salad - arugula, olives, feta cheese, chick peas - works out to be about 25 grams. 
• I will not go the 'high protein' route - this has not consistently been shown to be of benefit, and may be detrimental to kidney function.

Dietary protein recommendations and the prevention of sarcopenia Protein, amino acid metabolism and therapy, 2009 full text article

Functional impact of high protein intake on healthy elderly people, 2008, full text

Moderating the portion size of a protein-rich meal improves anabolic efficiency in young and elderly,
2009 full text

Protein and Amino Acid Restriction, Aging and Disease: from yeast to humans, 2014, full text
Leucine supplementation chronically improves muscle protein synthesis in older adults consuming the RDA for protein, 2012, full text

Dietary protein and resistance training effects on muscle and body composition in older persons., 2007, abstract