Medical Massage is good medicine, not merely relaxation

If doctors knew the true causes of health and healing, they'd be prescribing massage therapy to most of their patients rather than prescription drugs. Massage therapy is good medicine, and it's a far more potent healing therapy than most people realize. In fact, I believe that every person, healthy or otherwise, should receive a massage therapy treatment at least once a month.

Why is massage therapy such good medicine?

Because it helps move lymph, blood and oxygen to the various organs and tissues in ways that normally don't happen in the bodies of most people. This is especially true for those who don't exercise: for them, massage therapy is critical for maintaining any degree of health.

There's also the "touch factor" of massage therapy that I believe to be remarkably healing. There's something almost magical about the human touch, and its qualities can't be measured with scientific instruments (yet), but researchers know very well that it has powerful physiological effects: touch calms people. It reduces blood pressure, it boost immune system function, and it makes people feel loved. These are very important for those seeking health and healing. (And if you don't believe me, just volunteer at a nursing home some time and offer free hand massages to the patients. I've done this, and you'd be amazed to see the different it makes in the people you're touching.)

The human touch is powerful medicine, which is why I find it so bizarre that doctors seem so afraid of touching their patients. But you don't need a doctor for this kind of healing: find yourself a good massage therapist and get some healing on a monthly basis.

New Monroe pain clinic can help you live a comfortable life

You may have lived with chronic pain such as migraine headache, back pain or fibromyalgia for years.
By mid-summer, you could be feeling a lot better.

At Integrative Pain Management, Monroe's new pain clinic, Dr. Jacob Khesin brings decades of study and experience and a history of success to the treatment of pain.
Many people suffering from pain now are going through a challenging time because of stricter regulations on prescribed pain medications.

"What I do is a good alternative and compliment to traditional health care," said Khesin last week in the newly-remodeled clinic in the former Planned Parenthood office on Woods Creek Road near U.S. Highway 2. "It's strictly medical."

Integrative Pain Management is located at
15228 Woods Creek Rd. SE, Monroe, WA 98272
for more information, call 360-545-3061 or visit
www.IntegrPM.com.

Jacob Khesin, who has studied in China and Russia as well as in the United States, uses a variety of physical techniques to treat pain both acute and chronic.

Among the many conditions with which he has success is pain related to bulging or herniated disks, migraine, pain related to multiple sclerosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, pain from old injuries and post-operative pain.

Khesin treats many pain conditions with pain management massage. Such massage, he explained, is nothing like the kind of relaxation massage that many places offer.

Much pain, especially neurological pain, is caused by pressure and inflammation of nerves. Medical massage is a useful approach to address that pressure or inflammation.

"What I do is far from a regular massage," he said."It’s specific manual therapy."

Medical massage restores the function of the soft tissues of the body, he said. But often, the cause of the pain isn't found in the soft tissue.

"This work is often not related to muscles," said Khesin. "Most of the trouble is related to connecting tissue, ligaments and tendons."

It's those areas that Khesin may target.

"I do specific work to relieve pressure on specific body parts," he said.

Medical massage has also been found to be useful in the treatment of migraine and headaches said Khesin, who is a member of the Washington Academy of Pain Management and who works at Northwest Hospital in Seattle with a team of other doctors including neurosurgeons, neurologists, pain doctors, sports and rehab specialists.

Between 80 and 85 percent of people who come for migraine treatment experience relief with medical massage, said Khesin. The same holds true for most of the other conditions he treats.

Sometimes the response is nearly miraculous.

One recent patient had disk-replacement surgery several years ago. The recovery for that surgery, said Khesin is "absolutely horrible." For years, the patient took a lot of pain medication. Unable to move much, he gained weight and more health problems.

After several months of working with Khesin, his condition improved enormously, allowing him to cut back significantly on pain medication.

"His mind is clear, he feels much better, and he lost 20 pounds," said Oksana, Dr. Khesin's partner, an architect who redesigned the clinic for its current use.

For another patient pain management massage delayed rotator-cuff surgery for two years.

Typically, it takes several treatments to experience optimal results. Most people respond quite well with two treatments a week for about a month.

Integrative Pain Management has an array of comfortable, attractive treatment rooms, and soon practitioners will join the practice to offer acupuncture, chiropractic and naturopathic care as well.

Khesin, who also has offices in Bellevue and Seattle, has had his own practice since 1997, and is also skilled in many other modalities, including Chinese manual orthopedics, applied kinesiology, cranio-sacral therapy, low intensity laser therapy, myofascial release, deep tissue, reflexology, and manual lymph drainage.

With his extensive education and years of experience, as well as his compassion and intuition, Dr. Khesin is confidant that he can offer help to the people of the Sky Valley who suffer from pain.

"What I do really works," he said, “Maybe it’s time to rethink your pain management strategy.”

Integrative Pain Management is located at
15228 Woods Creek Rd. SE, Monroe, WA 98272 for more information,
call 360-545-3061 or visit www.IntegrPM.com.