Peolpe With Diabetes Can Benefit From The Stick.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a display booth at a Diabetic forum in Calgary, Alberta.  There were vendors from all over the place offering information and products to those who have diabetes or are interested in learning more about diabetes. 

I was there with The Stick and related specialty products.  You may be wondering why diabetics would be interested in massage products and devices?   As you may or may not know there are 2 types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2.  Basically type 1 diabetics rely on insulin therapy to control their blood sugar levels.  Type 1 is also known as Juvenile Diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes is mostly controlled by diet and exercise as well as insulin therapy.  I knew there would be more type 2 people than type 1 people because my wife (who has type 1) has been to many of these forums and she mentioned to me that the clientele at the forum would be primarily type 2 diabetics.  Typically, type 2 diabetics have challenges with circulation and nerve pain.  The Stick is the perfect device to increase circulation and help people live a more comfortable life.  As far as nerve pain goes, The Stick can help with that too by allowing the muscles that surround the nerves to become less restricting.  With more blood flow, comes more compliant muscles.  With more compliant muscles, people should feel better!  Nerve pain can also be alleviated by massage therapy.  Again, The Stick is great for massage therapy.

It turns out that the people at the forum loved the idea that they could massage their own muscles in the comfort of their own homes.  They also loved the fact that they did not have to go to the ground to use The Stick or plug it in.  Most people who purchased a Stick liked the Travel Stick or Marathon Stick.  They liked that those sticks offered some flexibility are were not overly rigid. 

Travel Stick

Marathon Stick

People with diabetes can have complications with circulation and nerve pain specifically in their feet.  As a result, people were thrilled to learn that FootWheel could possibly help them.  In fact, by the end of the day, people walked away with more FootWheels than Sticks.  That is right, people purchased more FootWheels than Sticks!!

FootWheel

I am thrilled to be offering products that have so many applications!!

The Stick For Sleep Hygiene – Get A Better Nights Sleep!

First of all, what is “Sleep Hygiene”.  To me, sleep hygiene is everything you do to make your night’s sleep a healthy one.  It can be as easy as eliminating all distractions such as sounds and light or the pre-bedtime routine that you do before you go to bed.  I have friends who swear by ear plugs and sleep masks. 

For people with restless leg syndrome or body jerks, you should really try rolling out your body before you go to bed.  It will relax you, increase blood flow(circulation) and stretch out your muscles, allowing them to get to a resting state faster.   When you are more relaxed, you can sleep better and longer. 

 Here is a quick routine: 

• Rollout your feet
• Rollout your calves
• Rollout the muscle on the front of your shin (Tibialis Anterior)
• Rollout your hamstrings
• Rollout your quads and IT Band
• Rollout your lower back
• Rollout your upper back and shoulders
• Rollout you Neck
• Rollout your arms

For specific techniques of rolling out each body part, visit my website that has FREE DOWNLOADS of real pictures and real people rolling out their bodies.

 Have a Good Night!

The Stick As a Recovery Tool Part 2

To fully understand muscle recovery whether it is work related, induced by training and/or exercise or even from a medical condition, we first need to discuss muscles as compliant and non-compliant.

We will first start with a discussion of compliant muscle. Muscles that are compliant can be shortened, stretched, compressed and twisted without symptoms of soreness or pain. They will exhibit flexibility, strength, good circulation, and the qualities of endurance.

Let’s switch our focus to the qualities of a non-compliant muscle.  Non-compliant tissue is tight, stiff and tender.  People often refer to this type of sensation as having painful “knots” in their muscles. Their muscles actually feels fibrous instead of long, lean and smooth.  Non-compliant muscles exhibit reduced flexibility, weakness, poor blood circulation and they easily fatigue.  A non-compliant muscle or group of muscles create barriers which restrict peak performance and blood flow.  These, non-compliant muscles are susceptible to injury because they are not functioning properly. In order for the body to perform at optimum levels, muscles must me allowed to expand and contract freely.

The human body contains approximately 690 muscle bellies and tendons. Each muscle has an origin and an insertion.  The rule of thumb is the origin is where the muscle attaches to bone and the least amount of movement takes place.  Whereas the insertion of a muscle is the opposite end of the muscle that attaches to bone where the most movement takes place.  Here is a great website for muscle origins and insertions. 

Now that we have some basic understanding of compliant and non-compliant muscles, there are some tough questions to answer:

• Why are some muscles compliant and others are not?
• Why do specific muscle get stiff during weather changes, yet others appear to be  unaffected?
• Why do we continually wake up with the same sore, stiff muscle pain in the same place every morning?
• Why does our back hurt in some positions and not others?
• Why do our episodes of muscular pain plague us in the same spot?
• Why does the pain return . . . even after treatment?

The above hypothetical questions all have one common answer. That is… myofascial lesions in the form of barrier trigger points.  Myofascia is the tissue that surrounds all muscles.  I like to describe it like the substance that holds sausages together.  Barrier trigger points are inflexible bands of muscle, usually containing knots. These trigger points (knots) set an artificial ceiling on optimal muscle performance by restricting blood flow to the muscle(s). Muscles need unrestricted blood flow for both high performance and full recovery from muscle activity regardless of the type (athletic, work related or a muscular condition). Simply put, barrier trigger points are usually the primary cause of non-compliant muscles.

Here is where The Stick comes in…

The STICK allows a person to self-administer general as well as segmental therapeutic practices with a great deal of accuracy. By rolling over the muscles with The Stick, muscles become compliant and ready for activity. Due to the bio-mechanical rolling, stretching and compressing of muscle tissue, barrier trigger points become diffused and rehabilitation of non-compliant muscles takes place. Remember that a compliant muscle will perform much better than a non-compliant muscle.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of The Stick as a Recovery Tool.

Nutritional Biomechanics and The Stick

Have you ever heard of this term “Nutritional Biomechanics”.  I know I didn’t until I got involved in researching about The Stick.  I have posted a description of this interesting subject below.

By the way, I am a firm believer that nutrition and sleep are the top variables that a person can monitor and directly control.  Most of us a born with some combination of  speed, endurance, flexibility and power.  Some people can increase their abilities in one area, but not others, no matter how hard they try.  Some level of improvement will be seen with training.  However, advanced levels of achievement come with years of training and hard work.  Sleep and nutrition are directly controlled on how we take care of our bodies.   Imagine how much harder or how fast a person can recover with proper rest and nutrition?  

Nutritional Biomechanics:

The Stick helps to strengthen your muscles by employing Nutritional Biomechanics.

Here’s a short definition:
“In principle, Nutritional Biomechanics exploits the unique biomechanical relationship between muscle and its nutrient delivery system. Patient care for fibromyalgia syndrome, trigger point pain, muscle strain and delayed muscle soreness is especially magnified by supplementing the patient with a balanced nutritional drink 20-30 minutes prior to therapeutic stretching and massage. Such a protocol will insure that the blood entering the newly relaxed muscle is nutrient-dense. A full complement of nutrients will provide the raw materials needed for healing.”
- Dr. Andrew S. Bonci
Copyright 1992, All Rights Reserved Dr. Andrew S. Bonci Sport Biomechanics Laboratory

As you can see, The Stick can really make a difference in how nutrition is used in the body.  Basically, ingest some nutrient rich substance 20-30 minutes before you use The Stick, then roll out your muscles to increase circulation and blood flow.

 

Using The Stick in Cold Weather

Since I live in an area in Alberta, Canada where there has been a substantial amount of snowfall and cold weather this year, I decided to experiment a little with The Stick as a warm-up and cool-down tool in cold weather.  Here are some relevant Stick tips.

Here is what we know already about The Stick as a warm-up/cool-down tool:

• A typical warm-up for healthy muscle tissue is about 20 progressively deeper passes over each muscle group (about 30 seconds per area).
• By warming up muscles for exercise, the muscles are becoming stimulated and ready to perform by increasing the blood flow to that muscle group.
• A typical cool-down for healthy muscle tissue is about 20 progressively deeper passes over each muscle group (about 30 seconds per area).
• By cooling down muscles after exercise, muscles are permitted to slowly return to their resting state and blood pooling will be reduced.  Soreness and stiffness can be diminished with a proper cool-down, leading to  increased recovery for the next time training takes place.  Never mind allowing your heart to recover.

Here is what I have been doing:

1. Rolling over my legs (one leg @ a time) in my house, starting with quads, then hamstrings, then calves.
2. Switching legs
3. Lower back/Upper Back
4. A little on the arms.
5. Going out for a run in the cold/snow.
6. Light stretching on thet front step of my house.
7. Repeating steps 1-4 in my house.
8. Stretching my lower back with the Posture Curve!

My findings have been very impressive.  I feel fantastic!  Due to the fact that I warm-up with The Stick, my muscles are prepared for exercise without expending energy.  This is a real benefit since the cold and snow already zap a lot of energy to begin with.  I can start my run right away without spending extra time outside “warming-up”.  My muscles are primed and ready to go.

You may notice that when you do exercise outside that your muscles due become stiff and cold even though you are exercising.  This is really apparent when your done your workout.  Typically your legs are a little cold and stiff.  This is where The Stick is even more impressive.  By rolling over your muscles, you actually are speeding up circulation by bringing blood flow to the area you are rolling.  Your legs actually warm-up a little at the same time you are flushing out the lactic acid that has built up from your training session.

Needless to say, The Stick is amazing!!

P.S.- My wife, who is the real runner, loves using The Stick too!!

P.S.S – These same results will work for your pets and horses!!

The Stick and Horses

Yes, you read it correctly!  The Stick is awesome for our equine friends. 

Just like humans, horses react to exercise and develop soreness and trigger points like we do.  The only difference is they don’t complain about it as much as we do.   In fact, equine massage is big business!  Around where I live (Alberta, Canada), there are ranchers, rodeo enthusiasts, dressage participants and the like.  If they care about their horses, then they are having their horses being treated by chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopathics and even acupuncturists.

I still say that nothing will replace the human touch, but The Stick is the next best thing.  The best part, is you can work on your horse anytime, anywhere!  Because this amazing tool is non-motorized, you do not need a plug in, it can get wet and dirty and it is very easy to transport.

Due to the fact that horses are like athletes, we treat them the same way.  You simply roll The Stick over the horses muscles!!  I recommend using the Stiff Stick.

We recommend this Stick because it is stiff and longer for more leverage.  A horses muscles are quite dense!

 

What Can “The Stick” Do for Horses?  

By increasing circulation and breaking down Trigger Points (muscle knots), “The Stick” can: 

Improve Strength

Increase Flexibility 

Extend Endurance

Accelerate Recovery Time

Reduce Muscle Soreness, Stiffness & Pain

Prepare Muscles for Rigors of Activity

Flushes Muscles from the Rigors of Activity

 

 

Please visit here for more details!!

Taking care of yourself or others.

What does health mean to you?  Is it the way you feel?  Is it the way others see you?  Is health a state of being or is it just a measure of you life expectancy?  I heard one funny saying that explains health “as the speed in which one can age or how long they will live or the rate of when they would die.”  However you view your health, I am sure you think of many factors that influence your own personal health or the health of your loved ones and friends.

What do you do to maintain a level of health that allows you to perform daily activities efficiently and effectively?  Do you eat well?  Do you get enough sleep?  Do you exercise on a daily basis?  How is your oral health?  One of the most important question in today’s society is how is your mental health?  What do you do to relieve stress?  Your answers to these questions are personal, but you should do a  self-check every once and awhile!!

I would like you to think about massage for a moment.  Mostly everyone knows you can go for a massage.  What if you could save a load of time and money and massage yourself?  This is known as Self-Massage.  You would feel better, be less stressed, stimulate your circulatory system, and relax more.  These are only a few fringe benefits of performing self-massage.  What about the time and effort that you put into yourself?  That is a true investment!

The Stick can do all this and more for yourself.  I encourage you to read more articles I have posted on this blog.

The Stick is Amazing!!!

If you are looking for an inexpensive, easy to use tool that will change your physical well being, then look no further! “The Stick“ is a  self- massage device designed to give your muscles all the benefits that you would get from visiting a massage therapist or physiotherapist.  The Stick can be used like a “Toothbrush” for your muscles.  Why wait until you are sick or injured to do something about your physical health?  By using The Stick on a daily basis (like brushing your teeth), you will achieve a higher level of fitness and overall well-being.  It is much more accurate and easier to use than the foam roller!! By rolling over your muscles, your circulation will increase and breakdown trigger points (muscle knots).  As a result The Stick:

• Improves Strength
• Increases Flexibility
• Extends Endurance
• Accelerates Recovery Time
• Reduces Muscle Soreness, Stiffness & Pain
• Prepares Muscle for Rigors of Activity
• Flushes Muscle from Rigors of Activity
     

Original Body Stick

 

 

The Stick Features and Benefits:

• Increases the Circulation of Oxygen Rich Blood to Muscles
• Increases Strenght, Flexibility and Endurance
• Used as a Rehabilitation Tool
• Helps to Prevent and Predict Injuries
• Can be Used as an Efficient Warm-Up and Cool-Down Tool
• Helps to Release Myofascial Tissue
• Used as a Device for Trigger Point Therapy 

Visit: www.ZealousVitality.ca

 

Hello Stick Users!

I have created this blog to help users of The Stick gain more information about the type of Stick they are using or want to use.  Here are some basic tips abou using this great device.  Basically, the model of Stick is based on it’s length and flexibility.  Long Sticks like the Original Body Stick or Stiff Stick allow more maneuverability and can reach more places.  Shorter Sticks like the Travel Stick or Marathon Stick are easily portable.

As for stiffness, the Stiff Stick is super rigid and offers a deep massage.  The Marathon Stick is very flexible and can contour to the body part you are rolling.  The Sprinter Stickmeets the requirements of travel-ability and stiffness all in one.  It is quite rigid and short for portability.

The stiffer models are very popular with people who want a deep massage.  Particularly people with IT Band problems love The Sprinter Stick.

All The Sticks can get wet and are easily cleaned.

PLEASE VISIT MY WEBSITE @ www.ZealousVitality.ca

I am in Alberta, Canada

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