Sometimes clients love their massage so much they bring me gifts. I love a nice card or a bottle of olive oil. A box of cupcakes? Oh please, don’t feed me! I have to admit it is wonderful for the ego. One long day – a Saturday – my clients brought me lunch. How did … Continue reading Aw Shucks, Twern’t Nuthin’…
Massage therapists take a big risk every time they do a house call – it is the time they are most likely to be injured on the job. Not by doing a massage but from lifting and carrying massage tables. Anyone who has negotiated the front steps and the doorway only to find … Continue reading Scooter-nomics
A full-body massage is the best in my book. You get your aches and pains rubbed away, your brain has the opportunity to tune into every part in the massage sequence, and the relaxation response is brought from background to foreground. This massage therapist has always been a fan of the full massage, … Continue reading Pick Your Part
I had a very good feeling about the practitioner I was learning about online – the picture, the story, the information fit what I was looking for in a massage therapist. So I went to my first appointment – and I couldn’t believe my eyes – the person I expected to meet had aged … Continue reading Get Online with It: Face the Facts
Sometimes in the course of massage therapy practice, we will meet clients who want to have some delicate and sensitive areas relieved of trigger points and adhesions. My most recent experience was with a client who had gone into a full-body clench during a car accident, braced with both feet on the brake … Continue reading Through the Sheets
Have you caught yourself talking too much during a session? We massage therapists can all lead with our chins on this one, can we not? One of my therapist friends believes every session should be hushed – no talk of any kind, music only, and if the client tries to talk only answer with … Continue reading Table Talk
Sometimes I visit people at home for massages instead of at my therapy office, usually for convenience but sometimes because they are not able to travel. Folks who cannot travel to the office tend to be in recovery from injuries or in a fragile state. Usually they are getting plenty of homecare from their relatives, … Continue reading New Tricks
This massage therapist loves a challenge, and I frequently get them. Yet sometimes I wonder if I am doing the “right” thing. You know, the right thing as in “Do the Right Thing.” Massage therapists are darned good at shaving a few points off a golf game. We excel at getting rid of the post-lunch … Continue reading Massage as Rehab
Recently a prospective client quizzed me on the phone about my massage therapy services. This is the type of call I used to be frustrated with – some people only ask about price and hang up. I’ve never found a great way to turn the price-callers into appointments – I try to get a … Continue reading Finding the Right Touch…
As an “old hand” at massage, I am not too impressed with tools sometimes used in massage therapy. I have stayed away from knobbles and thumb covers and even hot stones in my practice, largely because they tend to create elbow and shoulder problems for therapists who are tempted to use too tight a grip. … Continue reading Tools for Massage