Vital Body is well established as a leading massage provider in New Zealand and we're excited to add Osteopathy to enhance your care.

This is an oldie, but a goodie, and soo easy!  An awesome ‘sometime’ breakfast.   This usually makes enough for two breakfasts for me.  All you need is:

• 1 free range egg
• 1 tbsp of almond butter
• 1 banana

Blitz it together and fry in coconut oil...and that’s it!  While my pikelets are cooking I put about a cup of frozen berries in a pot with a blob of coconut cream, and let it reduce to my version of a coulis.  They magically seem to be ready at the same time.   

Serve pikelets with berry coulis, a sprinkle of LSA if you like it, and a dollop of coconut cream.  Yum!!  ​

Many of you have experienced the power of this specialised style of massage before from one of our therapists, but with coughs and colds doing the rounds I thought it was a great time to talk about what lymphatic massage is and how it can help you.
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​Around this time of year it’s common for me to incorporate some gentle manual lymphatic drainage into treatments. Think of your lymphatic system as the maid you wish you had ;-)  It contains infection fighting white blood cells that aid in cleaning your body of toxins, waste and inflammation.
Research shows us that it stimulates the immune response, helping reduce the likelihood of catching a cold and driving out residual symptoms post colds and flu. But it does so much more than that! We know it’s effective at reducing swelling post-surgery and injuries, decreasing stress, regeneration of tissues, and an awesome detoxifier that helps minimise headaches, digestive problems, allergies and fatigue.

If this sounds like something your body needs, pop in to see us and let’s get your better faster!

My recent baking efforts are these little muffins.  Another great breakfast on the go idea - I heat them up and have them with a sprinkle of home made granola and blob of greek yoghurt...yum!  but they would be a great little snack to.  Enjoy ;-)

Click on this link to find the recipe.​

​I'm not saying don't do it, but it's just not as effective as we are lead to believe and there are way more effective ways to release it (and less painful!)
Here's what we know about the ITB

• It's connective tissue so has very little contractile properties (hence painfully rolling on it is not going to make much difference in it's length anyway)
• It's designed to have some tension to support your lateral quads and hamstrings, so stop trying to make it loose!

How do you stretch it?
I like to think of the ITB as guitar string which is controlled by the tuning pegs at the top. ITB tension is controlled by the glute max and TFL (shown below). So if you want to stretch it, grab a rubber ball and start rolling in those muscles. Way more effective and kinder!

Most of us have experienced lower back pain at some stage in our lives.  In the clinic, we see a lot of extended lower backs (commonly called a sway back - though this is technically not the case), which is painful with long periods of standing or lying on your tummy.
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