Vicars School Blog

How to survive cold and flu season as an RMT

Ah, cold and flu season. All across the country, people are stocking up on hand sanitizer, tissues, and chicken soup in anticipation of that first traitorous sneeze. Most of us are extra careful about germs this time of year, but it’s especially…

Alumni, Education, Videos

Blast from the past: alumni profiles

One of my favourite things about working here is getting to know our students so well. Even as the school has grown, we've been able to maintain a really warm, open relationship between students and staff and instructors. I think it comes from…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Side Bridge

Side bridges are an isometric multi-hitter, and a great addition to your regular mat routine. What muscle groups don't these help?! Side bridges strengthen your core, work your arms, and help with shoulder stabilization. If you find the…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Seated Scapular Retraction

Scapular Retraction Exercise Though official Shoulder Week is over, we're not moving too far away from it yet. Today's exercise works your rhomboids, levator scapulae, and the middle fibres of your trapezius. Sit on the floor with your legs…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Shoulder Range of Motion Week Day 5

Happy Halloween! We have a very spoooooky stretch today for the horizontal adductors in your shoulders... Stand in the doorframe of a haunted cabin (in the woods if possible) with your arm abducted to 90° and your elbow slightly flexed. Keeping…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Shoulder Range of Motion Week Day 4

This posterior shoulder stretch is one of my personal favourites. It's easy to fit into your day—I'll often do it along with a few neck rolls (or lateral flexor and rotator stretches) when I'm sitting at my desk or waiting for the kettle to…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Shoulder Range of Motion Week Day 3

Well, we're halfway through Shoulder Week (the phenomenon undoubtedly sweeping the nation), so I figure that this is probably a good time to talk about good stretch technique. When you stretch a muscle, mechanoreceptors called muscle spindles…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Shoulder Range of Motion Week Day 2

How are your shoulders feeling after yesterday? Great, I hope! For our second installment of Shoulder Week 2014 (we're going to make it a thing, just you watch), we have a stretch for your shoulder and elbow flexors. Standing or sitting upright,…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Shoulder Range of Motion Week Day 1

Who's up for a theme week?! [Pause for wild cheers] Massage therapists work their whole bodies, but shoulder health is particularly important for this profession. So we decided to devote this entire week on the blog to stretches that will…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Cobra

Cobra Exercise Tutorial Like yesterday's child's poses, the cobra exercise is a yoga pose. Cobra is part of the famous Sun Salutation sequence, but even practiced on its own it's a very valuable postural exercise. Lying prone, point your…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Child’s pose variations

Today's stretches are borrowed from yoga, but they're a great addition to any routine. We refer to them as Child's Pose #1 and #2, and both will create a gentle stretch in your lower back and shoulder extenders. For child's pose #1, kneel…

A woman demonstrating an external shoulder rotation

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Resisted Shoulder External Rotation

As I promised yesterday, here's another great shoulder exercise for RMTs (and others, of course) that uses the dynaband for resistance. Today, it's an external rotation exercise. Grab the dynaband with both hands. With your wrists facing up,…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Resisted Shoulder Abduction

Shoulder Horizontal Abduction Exercise Today and tomorrow, we're presenting two very important exercises for massage therapists. The first installment is a resisted shoulder horizontal abduction (or A-B-duction, as our students often carefully…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Hand warm-up for massage (video)

In today's video, Denise demonstrates another useful warm-up for RMTs and massage students: By rapidly opening and closing your hands in this way, you'll be 'waking up' the joints and tissues of the wrist and hand. Try this one in…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Wrist shaking warmup (video)

No, it's not jazz hands! Today's exercise is a wrist and hand warmup for massage therapists: Try this one before you perform a massage. The loose shaking action lubricates the joint surfaces of the wrist and carpals. Massage is a…

A woman demonstrates her palm being stretched

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: 3 hand stretches

Sorry we've been derelict on the blog this week. To make it up to you, here's three stretches at once! This trio is very useful for massage therapists. Your hands are your tools, and it's important to take care of them! This first one stretches…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Yoga Squat variation

Today's exercise is a comfortable yoga squat with lots of benefits: Want to multitask while you're texting? Not only is this squat a stable position for resting or getting some work done, it helps maintain full range of motion in the knees,…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Uttanasana

Today's exercise is a yoga pose called Uttanasana, or Standing Forward Bend: Like yesterday's Seated Forward Bend, Uttanasana will open up your entire back line. But because it's performed standing, it will also strengthen your legs and apply…

Exercise of the day

Exercise of the Day: Paschimottanasana

Today's exercise is a yoga pose called paschimottanasana, otherwise known as Seated Forward Bend: This is a challenging but incredibly beneficial pose. It stretches your whole posterior chain—the back line of your body. Yogis believe…