Inflammation and Massage

Inflammation seems to be the word right now. Everywhere you look or read you will hear about inflammation, even radio commercials now are reminding you that you have inflammation. So how does inflammation and massage connect? When I work with my clients the focus is the whole person as an individual,what is the goal, and what is the approach for each person.

Lets set up the scene, the space that you could walk into and how massage and herbs can work with you and inflammation.
              I have a client, Sara, she's married with two young children, works full time and is coming in for massage for headaches and low back pain. After talking more with Sara we find that her digestion is sluggish, and she has difficulty loosing weight, and feels overwhelmed,tired.
             You can start by looking at our lifestyles, working, eating habits, time in front of computers, longer commutes, less time away from the job and see stress. Stress is not the issue, it's the build up of stress overtime. For this client it is slowing the whole system down, and this is when we start to look at inflammation in the body. Inflammation will show up in the body in many ways, the body is a powerful healing system, with this we can work with it and bring it back to balance.
            For this client, I would start with the headaches(main goal) relaxing the muscles into the neck and head with gentle cranial work then essential oils like lavender and peppermint to relax and reduce the connection with the headaches. Inflammation can be in the neck / head area due to stress from work, driving, posture.This would be a first step, using oils that have anti-inflammatory properties, ex:cinnamon, mustard, turmeric, then moving from their a guided meditation to help relax the mind.
            I would also approach the digestive issue, this can be done with a warm castor oil massage to the belly, golden milk and gentle twists to get the bodies digestive tract moving. When you have a slow digestive system you will have inflammation sitting in the area of undigested or- non moving foods. This over time causes inflammation leading to pressure in to the low back 
            I like to share many suggestions and  tools with my clients in hope that they find ways that work for them in calming the system. This will help with inflammation and allow the client to take control of their healing through a calmer system.