Drain those sinuses!

For years I have taught people to manually massage the sinuses with their thumbs. A mother came in today and told me an awesome story about her 5 year old doing this at a basketball game.

So, these two mothers and some of their children are sitting in the stands and the one friend complains to the other about her cold and is blowing her nose and all. The cute little 5 year old 'trained' patient of mine, spontaneously reaches over and starts massaging her friends' sinuses to help her.

The mother of the 'massagee' asked the 'massager's' mother "What is your daughter doing to mine?" She then had to explain the sinus drainage technique and the why behind it! Great story or what? Are kids awesome or what?

Here are the basics of the sinus drain technique:

1.Using moderate pressure, use thumbs starting in the middle of the forehead (frontal sinuses) and push laterally or sideways towards the ears, repeat 2-3 times (especially if you feel a lot of 'gunk' or mucus underneath).

2.Start with thumbs on either side of the middle of the nose (maxillary sinuses) and again push sideways towards the ears as in step #1.

3.Start with thumbs under jaw and in front of big neck muscle (SCM-sternocleidomastoid) and push down towards collar bone.

This will help sinuses and eustachian tubes to drain, whether you are 1, 5, or over 50...and even a 5 year old can master it and do it on a friend!


Other sinus-mucus tips:
1.Avoid dairy (adds mucus that you don't want)
2.Do the "C" (vitamin C that is...lots of it...depending on one's size: 500-1000-2000mg at a time
2-3 times a day).
3.Use saline solution and squirt it up the nostrils (not for the faint hearted, but very helpful)

Good luck!

New Massage Therapist

This is Karli Stevens, and her dog Max. She is happy to be on board at the office and specializes in the following therapies:

Deep tissue massage
Swedish massage
Injury/Structural Integration
Advanced Cranial Sacral therapy
Shiatsu

Come on in for a massage...it's good for the body and the soul.