• What is Hot Stone Therapy?

A hot stone massage involves flat basalt stones being immersed in hot water and then placed onto specific parts of the body.

During a hot stone massage, the techniques of a regular massage are applied. However, the therapist also works with hot stones that are placed on specific parts of the body.

The stones are smooth and flat and usually made of the volcanic rock type called basalt. These particular stones are chosen because they retain heat.

The stones used for a hot stone massage are placed in hot water to warm up before being applied. They are then placed onto specific areas of the body, such as:

• the back
• the stomach
• the face
• the hands
• the feet

Some massage therapists hold the stones in their hands and use them to massage with. This allows the therapist to get deeper into the muscles without more pressure, helping their client to relax yet further.

Occasionally, cold stones can be used on the face or after the hot stones have been applied. Cold temperature helps to calm swollen blood vessels and soothe hot skin.

This type of hot stone therapeutic treatment is thought to have originated in China almost 2,000 years ago. Since then, the technique of using stones for healing has been used in many different cultures, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt, and India.

Benefits: In addition to deep relaxation, there are many benefits to having a hot stone massage. They include:

• Pain relief: Hot stone massage has specifically been associated with symptom relief in people with a variety of conditions, such as fibromyalgia and other autoimmune disorders. Several studies, including on fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritisTrusted Source, have linked moderate massage techniques with lessening pain, and improving range of motion.
• Stress relief: Massage is an effective method for stress relief. Several studies have shown that massage reduces stress and anxiety and improves cardiovascular health.
• Increased joint flexibility: Muscle tension can make it difficult and more painful to move the joints. Massage helps to relax muscles, which makes it easier and more comfortable for someone to move.  People with certain joint disorders may benefit particularly from hot stone massage.
• Decreased muscle spasms and tension: Muscles that are tense and in spasm can cause a lot of pain and interfere with daily life. Reducing the inflammation and tension in the skeletal muscles eases both muscle spasms and pain.  As previously said, massage and the use of hot stones can promote relaxation of the muscles and joints in the body to ease both pain and spasms.
• Better sleep: Many people do not sleep well. Factors such as stress, insomnia, and busy schedules mean they get much less than the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

A reviewTrusted Source of some the literature on the effectiveness of massage shows that it is helpful in promoting relaxation and sleep in older people.

Risks

A hot stone massage may not be appropriate for everyone and any concerns should be raised with either the masseur or a healthcare professional.

Despite the many benefits associated with hot stone massage, it is not an appropriate therapy for everyone. There are some people who should not have a massage, and more specifically, a hot stone massage.  For hot stone massage, some of the contraindications, or factors that mean a person should not have a particular treatment, are listed below.

• Breaks in the skin: Anyone with injuries or breaks in the skin should avoid a hot stone massage until those injuries have healed. Recent or severe bruising, cuts or scrapes, sunburn or varicose veins increase the risk for further tissue damage or injury. They also raise the chance of infection being introduced via bacteria from the massage oils or stones.
• Infection or illness: This may sound like commonsense, but anyone with a fever, cold, or flu should avoid a massage until they feel better.  Someone with a fever may spread their germs, and they will have difficulty regulating their body temperature, as well. This will leave them feeling more uncomfortable when hot stones are put on their skin.
• Heart disease:  Heart disease can cause swelling or other problems in the veins or arteries of the legs, both of which can be negatively affected by a massage.  A person should always tell the massage therapist about any health issues they have, so that they can be aware of potential risks.
• Diabetes:  Diabetes influences how well the nerves and blood vessels function in the fingers and feet. People with diabetes can lose feeling in their hands and feet, making them unable to feel if an injury, such as a burn, occurs.  When it comes to massage, they may not be able to tell if the massage therapist is using too much pressure, or if the hot stones are burning their skin.
• Being under the influence of drugs or alcohol:  Drugs and alcohol do not mix well with massage. Both impair the ability to give feedback if necessary, and also affect judgment, and a person’s self-control over their impulses.  Furthermore, having a massage can leave someone feeling light-headed or wobbly. Drinking alcohol will compound and worsen these feeling.
• Pregnancy:  Prenatal massage can be very relaxing and beneficial for many women, during their pregnancy. However, some practitioners feel uncomfortable with using hot stones on a pregnant woman.

Getting the Most from Massage

Even though hot stone massage is safe and effective for relaxation, there are strategies that will make it a better experience. A trained, licensed, and respected practitioner according to local and state policies is recommended for the safest treatment.

• People should be sure to go to a respected spa where the practitioners are trained and licensed, according to local and state policies. The spa should practice good hygiene and clean the stones, appropriately.
• It is important for people to talk to the massage therapist. Clients need to let them know if the pressure is too hard, or too soft, or if the stones are too hot.
• The massage therapist wants to give a great massage, and they depend on their clients letting them know if there is something they can do to make that better. Therapists will not be insulted if they are told something is uncomfortable.
• If in doubt, a person should ask their doctor about any medical conditions that may interfere with having a massage, particularly a hot stone massage.

To get the best out of a hot stone massage, it is important for people to be open with their massage therapist.

The massage therapist should be aware of any health conditions a client has that could affect how they perform the massage

• Body Aches
• Dermatology
• Pain / Anesthetics
• Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine

 Hot towels in massage therapy and the benefits of doing so. 

• Ease sinus pressure: A hot towel on your face or chest can help reduce congestion associated with illness or allergies. You'll feel comfortable and soothed as the pressure fades.
• Reduce soreness: Back pain and stiff muscles can result from any number of activities, from work to exercise. Heat helps reduce that pain no matter its cause, making it ideal to use after workouts, a physically demanding job or simply waking up with a sore back.
• Soothe joint pain: Similar to providing relief from muscle soreness, heat can help reduce joint pain. If you or a client have arthritis or other issues that affect your joints, a hot towel treatment may ease pain associated with those problems.
• Speed healing processes: After an injury, many use heat to aid recovery. Be sure to determine the type and severity of the injury first, though. Some injuries, such as cuts, benefit from a cold compress first, and others are more severe and require medical attention first. After that, depending on the injury, you may be able to use heat to soothe the area and speed the recovery process.
• Promote circulation: Heat applications often promote blood flow, which leads to the above benefits. Your body can repair damaged tissues that cause soreness or are a result of injury if a heat source increases your circulation.
• Encourage relaxation: Even without physical benefits, a hot towel would still be soothing. A hot towel often enhances any spa or salon experience, so incorporate it into your massage treatments for the ultimate luxury.

Paraffin wax is a white or colorless soft, solid wax.  It’s made from saturated hydrocarbons.

It’s often used in skin-softening salon and spa treatments on the hands, cuticles, and feet because it’s colorless, tasteless, and odorless. It can also be used to provide pain relief to sore joints and muscles.

Paraffin wax has many other uses, too. It’s often used as lubrication, electrical insulation, and to make candles and crayons.

Read on to learn more about the uses, benefits, and side effects of paraffin wax.

Benefits: Paraffin has cosmetic and therapeutic benefits.

• Cosmetically, paraffin wax is often applied to the hands and feet. The wax is a natural emollient, helping make skin supple and soft. When applied to the skin, it adds moisture and continues to boost the moisture levels of the skin after the treatment is complete.
• It can also help open pores and remove dead skin cells. That may help make the skin look fresher and feel smoother.

Therapeutic: Paraffin wax may be used to help relieve pain in the hands of people with:

• osteoarthritisTrusted Source
• rheumatoid arthritis
• fibromyalgiaTrusted Source
• other joint mobility issuesTrusted Source

It acts like a form of heat therapy and can help increase blood flow, relax muscles, and decrease joint stiffness. Paraffin wax can also minimize muscle spasms and inflammation as well as treat sprains.

Side Affects

• Paraffin wax is tested in a lab to make sure it’s safe and hygienic to use on the body. It’s completely natural and has a low melting point, which means it can be easily applied to the skin at a temperature low enough not to cause burns or blisters.
• However, if you have very sensitive skin, paraffin wax may cause heat rash. Heat rash results in small red bumps on the skin that can be itchy and uncomfortable.

You should not use paraffin wax if you have:

• poor blood circulation
• numbness in your hands or feet
• diabetes
• any rashes or open sores

If you have a chemical sensitivity, you may develop minor swelling or breakouts from the wax treatment. That’s because paraffin comes from petroleum products.

Ultimate relaxation may be one of the most obvious health benefits of foot soaks, but research shows that soaking your feet in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes per day can do wonders for your mood, your energy level, your sleeping habits and any aches and pains that affect you — both in your feet and beyond. 

If you don't have time for a full body massage but need a little pampering, you can schedule a foot soak with a foot and leg massage for a 30 minute service that will leave you light on your feet and feeling rejuvenated. This service includes the Foot Soak Only service along with a therapeutic massage on your feet and lower legs. 

What is reflexology?​

Reflexology is the application of pressure to areas on the feet (or the hands). Reflexology is generally relaxing and may help alleviate stress.

The theory behind reflexology is that areas of the foot correspond to organs and systems of the body. Pressure applied to the foot is believed to bring relaxation and healing to the corresponding area of the body.

Reflexologists use foot charts to guide them as they apply pressure to specific areas. 

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In the 1890s, British scientists found that nerves connect the skin and internal organs. They also found that the body’s entire nervous system tends to adjust to outside factors, including touch.

A reflexologist’s touch may help to calm the central nervous system, promoting relaxation and other benefits just like any form of massage.

Others believe that the brain creates pain as a subjective experience. Sometimes, the brain reacts to physical pain. But in other cases, it may create pain in response to emotional or mental distress.

Some believe that reflexology can reduce pain through calming touch, which may help to improve someone’s mood and reduce stress.

Zone theory is another belief that some use to explain how reflexology works. This theory holds that the body contains 10 vertical zones. Each zone contains different body parts and corresponds to specific fingers and toes.

Practitioners of the zone theory believe that touching these fingers and toes allows them to access every body part in a particular zone.

A Foot Soak Increases Circulation

Soaking and cleansing your feet in hot water reduces inflammation and stimulates circulation, bringing congested blood to the dilated vessels in the feet and lower legs.

Bathing Your Feet Fights Fatigue

It may sound counterintuitive that footbaths could be both calming and energizing at the same time, but they do have the magic to simultaneously soothe and awaken the body. For added strength, try including Epsom salt in your foot soak. Epsom salt is easily absorbed by the skin and replenishes your body’s level of magnesium ions, which do several things to your body. These include boosting serotonin (a mood-elevating chemical in the brain), increasing energy and stamina, decreasing irritability and adrenaline, lowering blood pressure, increasing concentration and improving sleeping habits. In addition, Epsom salt has the ability to eliminate foot odors and foot fungus, as well as help heal ingrown toenails.​

Reduces Depression and Anxiety

Footbaths have been thought to help with depression as they can decrease and/or completely eliminate tension, anger, confusion, hostility and anxiety.

Softens and Beautifies The Feet

Anyone who’s had a pedicure knows that an essential step in the cosmetic process is soaking the feet in warm water. This helps reduce the presence and appearance of typical foot problems like calluses, corns and dry, flaky skin.

Stamps Out Stress

Footbaths are naturally soothing, and just one foot soak has the power to calm the mind and the body into a state of relaxed bliss. This improves cognitive function, helps boost creativity and work habits, leads to better sleep and improves your overall mood. Adding aromatherapy or essential oils to your foot bath can increase these health benefits, leading to ultimate tranquility and a wholly satisfying way to unwind after a stressful day.​

Some of the most immediate benefits are:

• Improved blood circulation.
• Helps in relaxation.
• Promotes better sleep.
• Relieves body pain.
• Improves mood & fights depression.
• Alleviates swelling.
• Makes feet healthier.

Remove Toxins with a Relaxing Foot Bath

The Ion Foot Detox cleanse is a professional detoxification treatment that helps with total body purification and enables the body to heal itself. This foot bath relaxes, cleanses, balances and enhances the bio energy of the body.

This cleansing is widely used to increase both physical and mental energy, vitality, and stamina. At the same time, it also purges the body of toxins, chemicals, radiation, pollution, synthetics, and other foreign material.

Your body will detoxify while comfortably seated with your feet in a tub of warm water. The process uses positive and negative ions to gently draw out toxins from the body. You’ll notice the water quickly changing color depending on the type of impurities that are being released.

Benefits of Ionic Foot Detox Baths:

• Clears up acne and rashes
• Assists in weight loss
• Aids in headache relief
• Slows down aging and improves body flexibility
• Rejuvenates and energizes your whole body
• Enhances nutrient absorption
• Removes heavy metals
• Increases energy
• Increases recovery time of disease and Injury
• Increases oxygen in to your body
• Helps relieve pain and tension
• Improves sleep
• Reduces inflammation and unwanted fluid retention
• Balances and boosts immune system

A full body scrub involves getting your body professionally cleaned from the neck down with special exfoliants, oils, and moisturizers. This is an intensely rejuvenating and relaxing experience that polishes your dull and tired skin and reveals the soft new skin that waits underneath.

A body scrub will exfoliate your skin, sloughing off dead skin cells and rubbing away hard and flaky skin, leaving it feeling soft and smooth. Scrub or polishing products usually include an oily base which moisturize and soothes your skin as it is scrubbed.

Is a full body scrub good for you?

Body scrubs remove dead skin cells, and so provide several benefits: They allow your skin to absorb moisturizer better. By doing dead skin cell buildup, any moisturizer applied afterward will soak into the skin more thoroughly. They unclog pores and prevent ingrown hairs.

When should you not use a body scrub?  

For dry and sensitive skin, body scrubs should be used no more than once a week for optimal results. The reason for this is that scrubs can make your skin very dry and often irritated. Using them more than once a week can cause discomfort and damage your skin in the long run.

Apply Moisturizers after?

If you just finished exfoliating your face, or any other body part, the most important thing to remember is to stay moisturized. While one exfoliation won't completely strip your skin of all of its oil, it will remove most of it, leaving the surface dry

Should you do a body scrub before or after a massage? Getting scrubbed before a massage will truly leave your skin in the softest and most supple state imaginable and will further help boost lymphatic draining and increase blood circulation.

It's best to exfoliate before shaving. "Gentle exfoliation can help [loosen] the free edge of hairs that may be trapped under the skin," says board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, M.D. "This can give you a smoother shave and lower the likelihood of razor bumps or irritation."

A foot scrub is a treatment in which the feet and hands are exfoliated with soap and rocks. The purpose of this process is to remove dead skin cells, reduce calluses, improve circulation, relieve muscle tension from standing or walking all day long, and soothe tired muscles.

Some of the most immediate benefits are:

• Improved blood circulation.
• Helps in relaxation.
• Promotes better sleep.
• Relieves body pain.
• Improves mood & fights depression.
• Alleviates swelling.
• Makes feet healthier.

Cryotherapy, which literally means “cold therapy,” is a technique where the body is exposed to extremely cold temperatures for several minutes.

Cryotherapy can be delivered to just one area, or you can opt for whole-body cryotherapy. Localized cryotherapy can be administered in a number of ways, including through ice packs, ice massage, coolant sprays, ice baths, and even through probes administered into tissue.