Ionic Foot Detox

Wow, 2 posts in 1 day.

There is a lot of discussion about Detox foot spas and whether they work. I purchased one of the cheaper ones in November and have used it on myself and my clients. They are quite amazing to watch and I regularly get clients coming in pairs so they can see each others foot spa as its happening. It has created much interest around our island.

The footspa works on principles of electrochemistry. The array is like a small element that is immersed in the water and places negative charge on the hydrogen in the water molecules. Negative hydrogen is supposedly absorbed via osmosis into the body and acts as a free radical scavenger. Free radicals are damaging to our cells and body and can set up disease states in our bodies, so removing some of them would seem like a good idea.

The footspa is filled with water, with half teaspoon of salt. After 30 minutes, some peoples water looks like the picture above. This client has had the strongest colouring of the footspa water of all the people who have used it. Her first 3 foot spas also had a lot of cream coloured foam around the arrays (supposedly Lymphatic in origin). Most people also have distinctive black particles (suggested heavy metal elimination) and some people have had small cheesy looking chunks (excesses of yeast).

The people who had a treatment remark that they felt more energised. Some felt pain around the teeth (amalgam fillings) or could feel stimulation around the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits and face/neck. It's all interesting and I think we'll find out much more about this relatively new treatment in the future.

Amazing Chinese Cupping

My first cupping experience came with a shiatsu massage from a terrific Japanese practitioner in Toowong, Brisbane. Her name is Meiki Araki. She has the shiatsu yoga studio on Jephson street. She doesn't speak a lot of English, and I was pretty excited the first time I rang to book and there was a Japanese voice on the phone. My thoughts, "The real thing". As a massage therapist, I get the usual shoulder, elbow and hand irritations that come with doing too much in the busy times of the year. My right shoulder was feeling pretty awful.

She came to the hotel I was staying with my young daughter. The treatment she gave me was memorable, in that it was quite different to any massage I'd had before. Meiki completed my experience with Cupping therapy. At first I didn't know what I'd let myself in for, but I love trying all kinds of massage and this was a new experience. It hurt a bit, not painful, but a pinchy feeling. She used glass cups with a suction device to create a vacuum in each vessel. It took about 7 minutes to put the cups on and they stayed on for about 10minutes. By the end of the 10 minutes, they had lost their pinch, replaced by a very warm feeling.

The most amazing the distinct detensioning of the back and shoulders when the cups are released. It feels unreal. But even more to my amazement was that the shoulder pain was gone,

completely gone. At that point I made a committment to myself

to learn this amazing technique.

I get the same sort of feedback from my clients when I use it on their injuries. It is a great enhancement to any massage treatment. It works really well with shoulder and neck pain, and also with lower back pain. Probably the most thankful of my clients was a triathlete who injured his knee only days before leaving Norfolk Island to compete. Cupping to his Ilio-tibial band (the side of the thigh) released his knee instantly. Injury gone.

Cupping therapy has its origins in oriental medicine and has been practised for thousands of years. The cups were traditionally bamboo (readily available), then glass. The vacuum was created using flame to remove oxygen from the cup and then quickly applied to the body. The cups are applied along the meridians of the body, like acupuncture, or concentrated around areas of tension and pain. The red marks (not bruises) are more noticeable in areas of muscle tension and poor circulation and can remain visible for a couple of weeks. Cupping increases circulation, removes toxins and restores Qi (energy pathways) of the body. If you would like any further information about Chinese Cupping, contact me.