Therapy for Healthy

Hailed in the US as one of the most popular yoga styles among movie stars, Bikram yoga has now found its way to Thailand. The instructor is Benjaporn Karoonkornsakul, a former investment banker who learnt Bikram yoga while working in Hong Kong.

Benjaporn, 31, followed a training course and received certification as a Bikram yoga instructor in New York earlier this year.

Introduced to the Western world for the first time in Los Angeles in 1974 by Bikram Choudhury, this form of yoga immediately differentiated itself from other schools.

Bikram yoga does not require the numerous and complex asanas (postures). A 90-minute session is composed of just 26 simple postures and is carried out in a room heated to about 34 degrees Celsius. Thus, it comes as no surprise to hear that many people have nicknamed Bikram yoga the “hot yoga”.

“That’s the main way in which Bikram differs from other types of yoga. I personally feel it’s a perfect combination of yoga, a work out and meditation. And that makes it even better! You get to stretch, meditate and sweat a lot. It gets rid of all the pain and aches in your muscles and also clears your mind,” says Benjaporn.

Its inventor drew up new postures and drew upon some basic yoga poses to help strengthen his muscles after a severe childhood injury crippled him. Benjaporn says that all the 26 poses of Bikram yoga are easy yet offer maximum muscle strengthening.

“You won’t find any compromising poses in Bikram yoga. That’s because Bikram himself wanted to create yoga poses that were easy for him at that time, but I assure you that all enable the same maximum muscle build-up, stretching and strengthening effect. And during the 90 minutes of our class, we want to make sure that you can complete all 26 poses without skipping or compromising any particular one to make it easier on yourself. It’s simple and I’m sure everyone will be able to follow it. Here, we encourage you to work at your own pace and stay within your own limits. But we also make sure that you don’t short-change yourself,” says Benjaporn.

Benjaporn recommends Bikram yoga to anyone in good health aged 10 and above. She also stresses that beginners should come to classes regularly - she suggests three or four times a week - to see and feel the improvements in their well-being.

“Most people will experience an improvement in the knee and back area. Many also say that they’ve shed some unwanted kilos. During and after class, I encourage my students to drinks a lot of fluids so they won’t dehydrate.”

Benjaporn Karoonkornsakul, the Managing Director, founder and owner of Absolute Yoga Bangkok (http://www.absoluteyogabangkok.com) has trained to become the first bikram hot yoga teacher in Bangkok. After the first year, Absolute Yoga Bangkok branched out to offer other traditions of yoga and opened more locations to distinguish ourselves as Bangkok’s dedicated yoga place. Our future plans are to continue to expand both in locations and in what is most beneficial to the practioners of Thailand.

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What is Mesotherapy?

Mesotherapy is a fat and cellulite treatment that is practice by over 20,000 doctors in France. The Mesotherapy treatment consists in injecting a micro amount of medicamentous substances right under the skin, in the direct vicinity of the problem to be treated. Mesotherapy is used for a variety of things including, weight loss, Cellulite removal, face and neck rejuvenation, and hair loss.

Mesotherapy origins

The origins and principle of the Mesotherapy is a medical treatment consisting in managing drugs by microinjections in the skin. This technique was developed in 1952 by Doctor Michel Pistor a French doctor. The overall philosophy of Mesotherapy treatment translated from French is: “To inject little, seldom, at the good place”. In other words, a drug must traverse the smallest possible way. This philosophy is key to insuring that the solution is injected to benefit the problem which one wants to deal with, versus treating the entire body.

By using the localized Mesotherapy treatment philosophy a Mesotherapy doctor avoids the problem of substances passing in blood and from going in the stomach or the liver. With other type treatments the body can be faced with unintended damage that is often caused by the sometimes aggressive drugs.

What occurs at the first consultation?

To insure the body is maintained with proper care during the treatment period the first consultation is very significant, and should revolved around collecting much in the way of personal background and health information. This is necessary because it helps the doctor decide when and if to begin the treatment.

Do Mesotherapy injections hurt?

The Mesotherapy injection is almost painless and is practiced without anesthesia. For individuals with more sensitive skin it is possible to apply an anesthetic cream 1/2 hour before the treatment.

What is the cost of Mesotherapy?

Mesotherapy treatments range from $300-$550 per area per treatment. An initial consultation and examination is needed. The costs for these initial consultations typically run $250 to $275. As with any treatment, Mesotherapy in Houston will cost less than Mesotherapy in Los Angeles.

Are there Mesotherapy side effects that I should be concerned with?

Barring allergy to a Mesotherapy ingredient, the side effects are usually limited to bruising. The bruises as a rule fade within one week. It is recommended that allergies and other sensitivities should be discussed during the first consultation.

How long does the treatment take?

The procedure generally takes 30 minutes and requires no preparation or recovery time.

Can I go back to work after the treatment?

The patient is able to return to work immediately after treatment.

How long do the benefits last?

Doctors practicing Mesotherapy treatment claim that the areas undergoing Mesotherapy treatment areas will remain free of undesired fat as long as the patient continues to practice healthy dietary habits and ongoing exercise. Mesotherapy treatments for cellulite will require maintenance on a six month to one year basis.

Will my insurance cover Mesotherapy treatment?

Because a Mesotherapy injection is considered an elective procedure, insurance usually will not cover the procedure.

Read more about Mesotherapy Cellulite Treatment Alan Hood is a contributing writer at Houston Medical Center.

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If you’ve been checking out massage lately you may have come across the term “neuromuscular massage” or “neuromuscular therapy”. You may be wondering what they are. Are they different? Are they types of massage? What are they good for, anyway?

The terms “neuromuscular massage” and “neuromuscular therapy” (also called NMT) tend to be used interchangeably. They refer to a style of bodywork that uses constant, focused pressure on a specific area. This pressure is applied for a period of time lasting up to 30 seconds and uses the fingertips, knuckles, elbow, or possibly a small tool called a t-bar. NMT is based on the following premise: Muscle spasm does not have to involve the entire muscle. There can be small areas of spasm that refer, or transfer, pain to another area. These areas are called trigger points because they trigger a pain reaction in a different spot from where the spasm is located.

When a muscle (or part of a muscle) spasms, the flow of blood to that area is cut off or severely decreased. Blood carries oxygen, so when blood can’t flow to an area, oxygen can’t get there either. This lack of oxygen results in a buildup of lactic acid (the same chemical that causes the “burn” that people who work out sometimes feel), which itself causes muscles soreness. The trouble is, soreness and pain can cause even more spasm and therefore less blood flow, less oxygenation and even more lactic acid buildup. It can turn into a vicious cycle which is very hard to break.

Also, spasm can put pressure on nerves running through the area, which can cause symptoms of nervous involvement, like numbness or tingling, as well as pain. And because nerves transmit impulses along their entire route, these symptoms can be felt fairly far away from the source of the trouble.

What the NMT practitioner does is apply continuous pressure to the trigger point for a fairly long period of time, until they determine through their own touch and feedback from the client that the spasm has released. While they are putting pressure on the area no blood can get through anyway, but when they release the pressure the blood will flow back in, providing the area with needed oxygen and helping it heal. Sometimes the effects are immediate and the client feels the pain resolve right away; at other times it may take up to a day or two for the residual soreness to subside.

Obviously this can be a very intense technique; it is meant to be used for serious pain. If a client has a lot of trigger points it can take more than one session to treat them all. Even without the actual trigger point work itself, it can take time to locate the source of the pain (remember, the trigger points are located somewhere other than where the pain is felt). Also, the practitioner will probably use lighter work like Swedish massage to “warm up” the tissue before the trigger point work and to promote general relaxation afterward.

NMT can be used for the following conditions, as well as many others: - low back pain and stiffness - neck pain and stiffness - headaches - repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome and temporomandibular joint syndrome - athletic injuries - problems with numbness and tingling in the extremities (arms, legs, hands, or feet)

Of course the primary effect of NMT - and the desired one - is pain relief. But other effects include improved flexibility and range of motion, better posture, more balanced muscle tone and increased energy.

So if you have problems with chronic pain or other symptoms that might be coming from muscle spasm, but other forms of massage have not helped much, you might want to consider neuromuscular therapy. Its intensity can be worth it.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Massage

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