“Facelift in a Bottle”  

by Rachael Dougherty,

Esthetician

 

Jan Marini has done it again. Always on the forefront of esthetics research, Jan Marini was the first to look at the benefits of vitamin c in a topical form. The results of her testing were astounding, and Center MedSpa clients can experience them with C-esta serum.

A Word about Aging Skin

Everyone’s skin changes at a different rate. Aging skin has more to do with external and environmental factors, such a sun exposure and lifestyle choices, than with an actual “age.”

 

When the skin is subjected to these outside influences, it loses its ability to effectively reproduce new healthy skin cells. Once this occurs, the skin starts to break down and free radical damage becomes apparent – thus the appearance of age spots, fine lines and wrinkles, and less taut skin.

 

Vitamin C and Your Skin

Vitamin C plays an essential role in every aspect of the skin’s function.

This nutrient:

• protects the skin from free radical damage
• helps in collagen synthesis
• repairs connective tissues
• prevents premature aging

 

C-esta: Your New Go-To Product

If preventing sings of aging is important to you, Jan Marini C-esta is vital to your skin care regime. The unique vitamin c serum:

• contains DMAE (which is partially responsible for muscle tone that causes a tightening and contouring of the facial muscles and skin)
• supports healthy skin to create a more even skin tone
• lessens redness due to inflammation caused by environmental irritations
• softens deeper lines
• tightens skin to give it a more “lifted” appearance

 

This month we are highlighting two C-esta products.

 

C-esta serum – can be used morning and night to help support skin rejuvenation, fight free radicals, and tighten and tone the skins appearance. Compatible with glycolic and retinol products.

 

C-esta eye repair concentrate – a formula created specifically to target fine lines in the eye area. A higher concentration of lipid-soluble vitamin C that promotes a tighter, firmer eye area and encourages collagen production.

 

Let us help you incorporate vitamin C into your skin care regime, and start seeing the difference. We’re offering special summer bundle pricing: Buy C-esta Serum or Cream & receive C-esta Eye Repair Concentrate for only $10. Call us! 423.643.1980

 

 

 

 

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Good Pain/Bad Pain

by Lisa Flores,

Massage Therapist

 

 

Hurts So Good

 

A massage therapy session can help you feel better by simply offering you an opportunity to take a break and be cared for by a competent therapist. This human interaction is not easily measured; however, it is always apparent on the face of someone who has just been massaged! Touch receptors in your skin carry messages to the brain, influencing chemical and hormonal responses that calm us down and allow our bodies to rest and recover.

 

Another physiological response to massage is that the fascial casing around muscles loosens in areas of strain. A more fluid fascia reduces pressure on the muscles and makes it easier for them to lengthen. Massage can also inhibit pain by interrupting the reflex arc and overriding the impulses transmitting pain signals (DeLany, NeuroMuscular Therapy: Care of Soft Tissue Pain and Dysfunction, 1994).

 

By far, some of the most exciting new research about massage comes to us from McMaster University in Canada, where a group of scientists have demonstrated that Massage Therapy helps relieve pain after exercise by reducing inflammation and promoting the repair of muscle fibers! You can read more about the 11 participants who were willing to get massaged (lucky) and biopsied (not so much) here.

 

So why does sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day “hurt so bad?”

 

You may have heard that tight hamstrings can lead to back pain. Davis’ Law explains that a muscle will rebuild itself with inflexible connective tissue; therefore whether the muscle is very contracted or very lengthened, it will be weakened and may harbor trigger points. In other words, prolonged sitting results in tight hamstrings.

 

The situation is exacerbated when you consider that those hypertonic muscles weaken the antagonist muscle group (quadriceps). This muscular imbalance is a factor in postural distortions that can lead to (you guessed it) back pain! The bottom line is that your body is as affected by how you move or don’t move as much as it is during those 1-2 hours at the gym.

 

Myofascial pain syndromes develop when the nervous system is irritated, according to DeLany; and within certain limits, our bodies can effectively and efficiently tolerate stimulation by the following factors: muscular spasm, trigger points, pressure on the nerves, postural distortion, nutrition, emotional wellbeing. If the natural limits are exceeded, the nervous system will respond by registering or intensifying pain and dysfunction.

 

Next month we’ll learn more about trigger points, their role in muscular pain and some common pain patterns.

 

Call Center MedSpa to book a massage and loosen up those hamstrings! 423.643.1980.