People who have dealt with Bell’s Palsy know it’s absolutely no fun. It shows up one day unexpectedly, might even hurt a little, and takes a while to resolve. The facial drooping associated with Bell’s Palsy is caused by weakness in the facial nerve. Most doctors say from 10 days to several months. Your MD will likely prescribe some type of oral steroid to resolve the symptoms. Some will also recommend massage as a supporting treatment. The good news is if it happens to you, there’s less than 10% chance it will occur again.

So where does Massage Alchemist come in? With Bell’s Palsy and any other diagnosed condition, ALWAYS follow the advice of your doctor. You know we aren’t doctors and we don’t play them on TV. We can definitely help support your recovery though. Recently, we had a client referred to us to help treat his Bell’s Palsy. After his diagnosis, he did some research on his own to find out other ways to speed along the recovery process. Nobody wants alligator tears and dry eyes after all. So, he asked around and heard about our location Clearwater/Largo. After some basic questions, we got right to work.

Bell’s Palsy is thought to be caused by inflammation of the facial nerve, but nobody knows conclusively. So, we focus our efforts to release the soft tissue around where the facial nerve branches out into the face. The goal here is to reduce any pressure on the nerve caused by soft tissue and to reduce inflammation in the general area. Many of these areas have never been released through massage before and can be uncomfortable, to which our client can attest.

To further support our goals, we usually combine these specifics with a general balancing of the shoulder girdle. We release the chest, front and sides of the neck musculature, trapezius, rhomboids, and the other 15 muscles which attach to both scapulae. Recommended treatment time for our friend was a 90-minute first session, with 60-minute follow ups until symptoms resolved. Sometimes longer sessions are needed if there are other aggravating factors present. Luckily, this one only took about three weeks in conjunction with the oral prescription given by our client’s doctor.

Do you have a question about Bell’s Palsy or another condition? Call us at our Clearwater office today!