Numb fingertips, cramp-y necks and para-spinals that feel like abandoned rock quarries. We massage therapists treat the injuries that computer technology can produce. My smart phone just updated itself (can it reproduce?) revealing the phrase “Lifetime Companion” on the home screen. Really? This whole phone thing has gotten out of hand. People are ruining their […]
Recently I walked into a raging discussion among massage therapists over discount pricing. To discount or not to discount is a huge bugaboo for massage therapists. Prices are subjective, of course, and one can only wonder why people ask for a discount from a single massage therapist when they wouldn’t dream of asking at a […]
Massage therapists will often have clients ask about foot or finger pain, or a strip of tightness around the knees or hips, but when is this a symptom of something gone wrong? As we rub away with our talented hands, we may have an opportunity to assess if a nerve root or disc has been […]
In the early days of a massage therapist’s career, discovering which techniques work well in a treatment session can be baffling. Is it deep tissue? Soothing strokes? Is it short sessions? Long sessions? Is it movement? Breath? Is it the clients’ mindset? Perceived value? Desire? Somehow fumbling about in our dim-lit treatment rooms we establish […]
My education in massage did not stop with graduation from a massage school. If anything, it intensified. Now a practicing therapist, I was learning every day from the most prolific of authors, the best logisticians, the brightest of the best. It has been hard to keep up sometimes, but very rewarding. The classroom has been […]
So many people work on computers and in hunched positions that massage therapists are seeing more clients for acid reflux and heartburn problems. Recently I doctors have referred clients for massage to relieve reflux, and the results seem good. I wanted to offer some treatment tips. First, reflux symptoms – burning in the throat, burping […]
Sometimes massage therapists are faced with a whodunit – and it takes a good bit of detective work to unveil the unusual suspect. The fun of massage therapy, I find, is solving these puzzles and giving a client not only relief but also the confidence that they will get better. Recently a client came in […]
When will this get better? When will my pain be gone? When can I do what I want to do – when I want to? Tough questions for us massage therapists to handle. Truth, we don’t usually know. Massage does marvelous things for the mind, body and soul – but what it does is often […]
My massage clients are much smarter than I, and that is why they need my help. I am, of course, very smart myself, that is why my spouse likes to call me “hala kahiki po’o” (pineapple head) when I’ve done Einstein-ed myself into some predicament. Case in point: When I was learning to stretch, I […]
We massage therapists see a lot of people seeking relief. If it isn’t the upper back and neck, it is the lower back and legs. I’m a fan of giving people something they can do, on their own, to loosen up. Most people go from doing a lot of movement in their salad days to […]