Carpal Tunnel Symptoms are complaints of numbness and tingling in the arm and hand, sometimes intermittent but often constant. These feelings can be uncomfortable enough to wake you up at night and make it difficult to hold onto things with your hands. Repetitive motions, particularly tight hand grasping, can cause 'tendonitis' or if chronic 'tendonosis'. This inflammation and swelling can pinch the nerves that pass through the carpal tunnel area of the wrist, causing the pain, numbness, and loss of gripping strength characteristic of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Rest, changing activity, ice, massage therapy, keeping the wrist in a neutral position and stretching can improve the symptoms of CTS. Working through the pain can compound the problem. Tennis elbow and shoulder impingement are similar overuse conditions that can worsen with continued activity but have the potential to resolve with rest and therapy.
Fibromyalgia Can significantly affect a person’s quality of life. Massage treatments can improve sleep, reduce stress levels and decrease pain for those who suffer from Fibromyalgia. Nutrition, exercise and adequate sleep are important factors that help manage Fibromyalgia.
Headache There are a wide variety of massage techniques that can be helpful in addressing chronic, vascular, tension and migraine headaches. Muscular tension in the shoulders, neck and head often caused by postural imbalances, can be released with manual therapy, decreasing the frequency and duration of headaches. Learning how to reposition and realign how and where we hold ourselves in space can enable those who suffer with headaches to manage symptoms.
Lymphedema Management includes a complex treatment protocol called Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT) using Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD), bandaging of the swollen area, exercises and skin care. Treatment is performed in two phases, an intensive phase, and a maintenance phase. Lymphedema is the swelling of a body part, most often legs or arms, but can affect the face, neck, abdomen or genitals. It is the result of the abnormal accumulation of protein rich edema fluid. It may be present at birth, but it more often develops later in life without obvious cause. Lymphedema can also result from surgery or the side effects of radiation therapy for cancer, lymph node removal, after injury, trauma or infection. Lymphedema can only be diagnosed and treatment prescribed by a physician and should only be treated by a Certified Lymphedema Therapist who has had extensive training in Lymphedema Management. After intensive CDT with a Physical Therapist that is covered by insurance, MLD is frequently performed at RN Therapeutics to maintain limb reduction. 
Pain affects everyone at some point in their lives. Chronic pain can include discomfort in the neck, shoulders, back, hips, hands, legs,and feet. It is typically related to complex functional and/or structural muscular imbalance and dysfunction and can be effectively addressed by developing an appropriate treatment plan. Breaking the pain cycle by eliminating or managing the sources of pain and increasing blood flow to restricted tissues can provide relief for many conditions. Massage can reduce and manage pain that arises from a variety of sources, such as trauma, inflammation, surgery, headaches, arthritis and terminal illness. Postural Stress can hamper recovery. A customized program to improve posture can enhance rehabilitation.
What my clients are saying...
"With Fibromyalgia, my body is very sensitive. Karen used special techniques to decrease my pain with such a light and gentle touch, I could tolerate the treatments without any problem.”
--T. Steinmetz