When I first started doing pregnancy massage, I went for the old “grab a big pillow in side-lying and slide another between the knees” method. I really hated the “pregnancy cushion system” that we had: it seemed to have about a million mysterious parts, none of which wanted to hold together in position. However comfortable … Continue reading The Sophie Pregancy Pillow: Pregnancy Prone
Clients often ask me how many times they should be doing an exercise to build strength. Often they are coming from a more-is-better place – the gym – and they are confused. I don’t always feel comfortable answering that question, either. How many repetitions of an exercise are fine may well depend on what the … Continue reading How Many Repetitions Are Enough?
Massage is the best therapy for tension headaches and migraines, and more people should be hitting our tables instead of reaching for drugs or other remedies, says Boris Prilutsky, a massage instructor and researcher in Los Angeles. This article is the third in a series of articles about headaches and therapies. The first article is … Continue reading Good Hands Are Good News for Headaches
Acupuncture is often used to treat headaches, but how many massage therapists understand how these treatments can help their clients in a course of therapy? This article is the second in a series of articles about headaches and therapies. The first article is here. Dr. Ron Bieler (website), a licensed acupuncturist practicing in Costa Mesa, … Continue reading Headaches and the Experienced Acupuncturist
At my place of business, we use a level system of 1-4 to describe the depth and intensity of a given therapist’s typical massage style. Recently, I interviewed a job candidate who had never heard of this system and wanted me to explain it. “Well,” I said, musing, “Think of Level 1 like someone sweeping … Continue reading Mix and Match: Light to Deep
At home, I like to say, “If you can’t do it with duct tape, WD-40, or Tiger Balm, you probably can’t do it at all.” But in the massage room, my favorite choices are Tiger Balm and tennis balls. Every massage practitioner seems to have at least a couple of favorite tools, and these are … Continue reading Tools of the Trade: Tiger Balm and Tennis Balls
The Fragrant Mind: Aromatherapy for Personality, Mind, Mood, and Emotion by Valerie Ann Worwood is one of the most well-written and well-rounded texts on the subject that I have ever seen. Worwood has been an aromatherapist for over twenty years and is quite a figure in her field: this is the sort of lady presidents … Continue reading The Fragrant Mind
My nominee for the most forgotten muscle is the tricep. Sight unseen on the back of the arm, it can create finger and arm tingles so gnarly even experienced therapists are convinced it is C6 compression in action. How do we take it for granted? Many times the first basic Swedish massage we learn skips … Continue reading The Forgotten Muscle
Hello out there, and Happy Memorial Day weekend to all of you in the Find Touch community! Since I’m brand-new to the Find Touch blog, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Lynna Dunn, and although I’m a Washington state-certified massage practitioner and graduate of Seattle’s Brenneke School of Massage, I originally hail from … Continue reading What Gift Do You Bring?
Awhile back I had asked the Find Touch community what they would be interested in reading about. I received several wonderful ideas, and one of them included reading about a different modality each month along with why you would want to take it upon yourself to learn this skill and incorporate it into your practice. … Continue reading Modality of the month…”Visceral Manipulation”