There is a time in every massage when the therapist begins to rub the posterior neck. For many of our computer-burdened clients, it presents an opportunity to relieve the congestion of technology. The head is supported by these many muscles, embedded with many layers, often adhesed, and near the source of many functions from sleep […]
Massage therapists like to think we help people deal with stress, injuries and fatigue. But how do we know we help? Massage is, after all one-on-one. We are stars or idiots one hour at a time, and we often don’t take much credit for our clients’ successes or failures. Is a massage therapist a facilitator […]
Clients seek massage therapy for many reasons, and one of the most challenging for a therapist is chronic pain following surgery. It’s a tough spot – here we are dealing with tissues that have had a direct surgical intervention – moved, touched, cut or compressed. We also are dealing with structures altered when the body’s […]
A new massage client had a request: eight months after an outbreak of shingles, she still had a strip of weird-feeling and painful skin. “I call it my shingles ghost,” she said. “It’s haunting me still.” What she described sounded like post-herpetic neuralgia, a sensation that an area afflicted by herpes “chickenpox” virus is still […]
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 massage therapy client has been working very hard to lose weight. She is going to the gym four times a week, training under the watch of two very good kiniesiology trainers, and eating a diabetic diet. She has lost more than 70 pounds in the past year. That is a little fast to lose […]
Massage therapists need enough information from our clients to understand where we are heading in a massage session. Working at spas, therapists get used to brief intakes and a question or two before starting a massage. In my practice, I get to take the time to do a longer intake and get more detail. […]
A friend shared an experience with me. His stiff back had become worse recently. After sitting for a while at his desk, if he turned the wrong way when getting up or reached too far, ZAP! A pain would shoot down his leg from the low back to the knee. “It just takes my […]
Some regular massage therapy is a good thing for most diabetics. Swedish strokes tend to help lower blood sugar, and structures suffering from loss of blood – from bones to the soft tissues, enjoy a boost of circulation. Most people think of diabetes as an imbalance of insulin hormones, but we massage therapists see […]