Congested sinuses? We can help!

It’s 7am, you can feel the swelling around your eyes, pressure in your cheeks, and as you inhale through your mouth and attempt to swallow, you feel the sticky dryness all the way into your throat.  You close your eyes and realize how much you need to go brush the funk off your teeth because YOUR BREATH, well it’s rather distinctive.      

*  BAD BREATH * SNORING* EARACHES * SNEEZING * TOOTHACHES *EYE PAIN * DIZZINESS* HEADACHES * FATIGUE *  

All the lovely symptoms of congested sinuses. Our skull is remarkably strong yet lightweight, and if we didn’t have sinus cavities within our skull, we wouldn’t be able to lift our head off our pillow.   

Our skull has eight major sinus cavities, these cavities give us the ability to turn, roll, look up and down. Our sinuses are open cavities in our head, but they are not bare bones.   

Each sinus cavity has a lining that allows very slow ventilation in and out of the sinus. The slow ventilation allows the space in the sinus cavity to be filled with air, as its function is to trap the germs and moisturize the air before it moves into our throat and lungs. When our sinuses are congested, they lack their ability to perform their job protecting our airway, aka respiratory tract from germs.  

FUN FACTS : 

Even though our mouth provides us with a larger cavity to inhale, once we plug our nose, we feel remarkably uncomfortable when trying to breathe. (it’s because our nose is our # 1 passageway to our sinuses) 

Did you know that nasal breathing is critical in newborns since they breathe through their nose almost all the time! It’s a unique feature related to the design of their throats.   Nose breathing allows babies to breath and suckle at the same time without choking. 

 Did you know children & adults must stop breathing to swallow!  

It’s important to understand that sinus congestion is usually caused by something. That is, there’s an underlying cause resulting in the congestion … common cold, flu, allergies etc….   

Based on personal experience, no standalone massage treatment will ever provide permanent relief.  BUT a proper massage regiment from a massage therapist will be able to provide you with temporary relief!   

Did you know you cannot breathe through your nose when you’re smiling?Ahhhh made you smile! 

Christina Randell RMT

Christina is a Registered Massage Therapist at the Human Performance Centre. You can contact her at 738-8299.