Massage therapist Jacy Cramer uses full-body stretching in her ... - Kearney Hub

[massage]

KEARNEY — For Jacy Cramer, fitness is a stretch. A beneficial, therapeutic stretch.


Cramer, a new licensed massage therapist at New West Orthopaedic and Sports Rehabilitation at 2810 W. 35th St., uses stretching to help people keep their bodies supple and flexible. She came to Kearney a few months ago and is the first in the city to incorporate a stretching program into her work.


“Full-body stretching has gotten popular in other areas but it’s just now reaching the Kearney area,” she said. “There is so much importance in stretching, but many of us don’t do it. Stretching can really help with injury prevention. It can keep the body healthy and give better range of motion.”


In this season of raking leaves and carrying heavy holiday packages home from the mall, it’s especially important to keep the body flexible.


As clients lie flat on a soft table in her office, Cramer uses movements called active isolated stretching to move their arms, legs and torsos. She stretches and holds an arm or a leg for two seconds, then lets it go. Two


seconds more, then lets go again. She does this eight to 10 times.


“If it’s just two seconds, they don’t tense up,” she said. “They stretch, relax. Stretch, relax. This is slow, fluid movement,” she said.


Stretching is especially valuable for people who sit a lot, she said. That includes many people in this technological age who sit at computers at their jobs all day, then sit down to eat and to watch television or surf the Internet when they get home.


“Most people aren’t stretching much, especially older people. This will improve balance, range of motion and flexibility,” she said.


The sessions, which run for 30 or 60 minutes, also help athletes. It allows them to keep their ligaments fluid and movable. “Their ligaments aren’t going to tense up,” she said. Sessions run for 30 or 60 minutes.


Cramer also offers a popular treatment called cupping therapy. She places small, tight, warmed glass cups on the skin that suction tissue upward. “This brings tissue up, not down,” she said. The warm glass assists in drawing the tissue up into the cup. The cups are left in place for a short time to bring fresh, revitalized blood to stagnant areas.


“It helps circulation. It brings blood to the surface. This flushes old blood out and brings new blood,” she said.


It’s not painful, she added. Clients may experience some soreness the next day, but not extraordinarily so. Cupping therapy is used as a form of deep tissue massage, myofascial release, sports/orthopedic massage and simple relaxation.


Massage therapy has been scientifically proven to improve circulation, reduce muscular tension, relieve muscle fatigue, relieve pain, reduce swelling, help in recovery from injuries, improve muscular performance, and restore the normal function of muscles and joints. It can especially help people who suffer from fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis, headaches, TMJ, shin splints, whiplash and more conditions.


Cramer has been doing massage therapy for 20 years.


“I’ve always enjoyed studying the human body,” she said. “I just wanted to help people.”


She graduated from Omaha School of Massage Therapy with 1,000 hours of training in 1997. She is trained in many types of massage, but she specializes in sports massage, neuromuscular massage and orthopedic massage.


“My main goal is to help heal the body of pain,” Cramer said.


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