Dry needling can be added to some Massage services and is included in our Acupuncture for Pain treatments.

Dry needling is a technique used for musculoskeletal injuries and pain management. This treatment that involves a very thin acupuncture needle being inserted into specific trigger or motor points to relieve muscle, joint and myofascial pain and dysfunction.

Trigger Point (points of soft tissue tension) and Motor Point (points where nerves innervate the corresponding muscle belly) dysfunction can develop during occupational, recreational or sports activities when muscles are over worked. If the overwork of the muscles is chronic, normal recovery is not possible. Muscles and fascia are very prone to tension and restriction, but respond quickly to Dry Needling.

Dry Needling releases trigger or motor points causing the muscles to relax and soften. This promotes the proper circulation of blood, nutrients and metabolic wastes. Adjoining and opposing muscles are allowed to return to their natural length, reducing strain on tendons, ligaments and bones. Inflammation and pain are reduced. Chronic dysfunctional structural patterns are released and an environment for healing is created.

Generally, a patient cannot feel the dry needle be inserted. Upon stimulation of a trigger or motor point a local twitch response or sudden slight contraction of the muscle may create a very brief dull ache or cramping response. This response is normal and considered a positive therapeutic reaction. Once a twitch response has been elicited, the muscle fibers in that area relax, ‘inflammation’ is reduced and circulation improves.

Immediately after treatment patients commonly experience heaviness in the limbs, a result of the release of chronic muscle tension and muscle soreness that may be felt up to 24-48 hrs. The application of heat or ice, analgesics, essential oils or taking a warm/hot Epson salt bath and drinking plenty of fluids usually reduces the soreness.

Dry Needling is also known a “Ashi” needling in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. Ashi Points are tender or sore Acupuncture points on the body. Because Motor Points often overlap with Acupuncture Points, the treatment of a musculoskeletal condition will sometimes directly resolve some other apparently unrelated medical problem.

If you’re in Grand County Colorado and considering a dry needling session, please call to learn more or book your appointment on our online portal.

Cupping is much like the inverse of massage – rather than applying pressure to muscles, it uses gentle vacuum pressure to pull them upward.  The entire back may be treated, including the neck, shoulders, middle and lower back, and sacral area.

Cups are placed on the skin and may be left for a period of five to fifteen minutes or they can be moved over the area to raise “sha”. The color and pattern of the “sha” marks depend on the level of stagnation in the area, and range from a bright red to dark purple, usually lasting 3 days to a week – sometimes longer if the person is very sick or sedentary.  You will look like Gwyneth Paltrow or Michael Phelps.

If there is no stagnation present in the treated muscles, there will be only a pink marking which disappears in a few minutes to a couple of hours. Sites where there is old trauma or injury may require multiple Cupping treatments to remove all stagnation. You will find in follow up treatments the marks will be progressively lighter as the toxin and adhesions are systemically removed from the body.

So if you’re in the Grand Lake Colorado, Granby, Kremmling or Winter Park Colorado areas and you are considering Cupping therapy, please give us a call to learn more.

While Sage Massage Therapy offers both Swedish Massage and Deep Tissue Massage it’s important to understand the differences and benefits of each type of massage.

Swedish massage is the most commonly offered massage technique, utilizing light to medium pressure and long smooth gliding strokes.  It relaxes skin surface tension as well as the nervous system to soothe the nerves, reducing both emotional and physical stress.  Swedish massage is a staple in most stress management programs.

• Reduce stress & anxiety
• Increase blood circulation
• Ease whole body tension
• Release toxins & metabolic waste from muscle tissue
• Boost immune system via lowering stress cortisol levels

Deep tissue massage is that “hurt so good” medium to heavy pressure that aims at affect the deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue.  The massage therapist will choose between several strokes depending on the size of the muscle that they are working on.  The aim is to treat chronic muscle pain & sports related injuries.

• Treatment of whiplash and sports injuries
• Chronic low back pain
• Postural misalignment
• Muscle spasms, strains and knots.
• Breaks up scar tissue & fascial adhesions
• Improves muscle flexibility & reduce recovery time from muscle strain.

If you’re in the Grand Lake Colorado or Grand County Colorado areas and you are considering a swedish massage or a deep tissue massage, please give us a call to learn more or book your appointment.

Major depression and anxiety affect more than 28 million American annually. Depression is among the ten most frequently reported medical conditions.

Many patients seek alternative therapies because they cannot tolerate the side effects of antidepressant medications, such as SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and MAO (monomine oxidase) inhibitors. Chinese Medicine – both herbs and acupuncture – offer safer treatment and significant help.

According to Chinese medicine, there are seven emotions that a person can experience: joy, anger, worry, pensiveness, sadness, fear and fright (shock). These are normal emotions and healthy responses. But when these feeling occur for no apparent reason and are persistent, depression has set in. In the Eastern view, worry, anger, and sadness are signs of depression and can affect their associated organs, the heart, spleen, and liver.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses a variety of techniques such as acupuncture, herbal medicine and diet recommendations to treat an individual’s specific depression symptoms. Acupuncture increases cerebral serotonin, which has anti-depressant effects. Acupuncture can minimize insomnia, fatigue, and other symptoms of depression.

In conjunction with Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture can be an effective treatment that corrects the internal imbalance or root cause of the disease. If you are taking anti-depressants, we can prescribe Chinese herbs that work in conjunction with your medication to address your symptoms.

In Chinese Medicine, headaches are considered to be the experience of stagnation or turbulence in the circulation of energy and blood flow. This may be due to injury or internal imbalances in the organ systems created by the stressful lifestyles that most of us lead.

Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs have an excellent chance to not only relieve a headache in progress but to eliminate the source of the headaches and help restore a person to an improved quality of life. You will start to feel better in a few weeks but in order to treat the underlying cause it usually takes 2 months.

Acupuncture is not only effective for migraine headaches, but also works very well with tension headaches, cluster headaches, post-traumatic headaches, and disease-related headaches that might be due to sinus problems or high blood pressure.

Pain is caused by a blockage in circulation. When you have a lack of blood flow, your muscles and nerves do not get the nutrients they need to function normally.

A woman’s body goes through many cycles over a lifetime.  From puberty, pregnancy, and finally menopause, with years of menstruation in between, a woman’s body and hormones are in constant flux.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a powerful tool in treating and supporting women’s health.  Acupuncture treats each woman according to her own patterns of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms.  Acupuncture, a safe and natural alternative, may be used in conjunction with conventional health care