One of the things I do every few months is look at my practice goals. Am I working enough? Too much? Am I happy with the clientele? How do I feel about my own massage health and abilities? Enough clients? Doing the work I want to do? Does my practice meet the clients’ needs? Am … Continue reading Goals in Practice →

This client was as regular as clockwork. Once a week, during the day, she would come in for a massage to help with an achy hip and stiff neck. Over the course of several sessions, we identified some contributing factors, such as a high truck step-in that aggravated her hip. We also changed sleeping pillows … Continue reading Stress and the Disappearing Client →

Most massage therapists take continuing education classes, our beloved CEU’s. They usually start with a bit of lecture, some demonstration, a bit of practice. Then break for lunch. Back for a bit of talk, a bit more practice, and it is a wrap. I am thinking I learned a lot in those classes, I usually … Continue reading How Well Do We Remember Our CEU’s? →

So, going on my 16th year in massage therapy, I have to ask: Has anyone out there in practice-land ever seen a real case of carpal tunnel syndrome? Please, I wish to be enlightened. I’ve been beating the flexors for years, and this condition seems as elusive as Sasquatch. Every time I think I see … Continue reading Where is all the Carpal? →

Everyone has her Achilles heel: mine is actually an Achilles vein. Or veins. Even as a small child, you could track these fine blue veins under this nearly translucent skin. By my early teens, I was getting spider veins around my knees, and the children I babysat made up games involving my legs: “Here’s a … Continue reading Support Hose: Stodginess Never Felt So Good →

Massaging folks who like to exercise and play hard, I have to say that some people amaze me. Well, actually, specifically men who do some of the strangest, most dangerous things in the name of fun and fitness. Here, direct from the secret hidden files of my massage practice, is a list of the worst, … Continue reading Why Do Men Do What They Do? →

Ok, it is my turn to whine about weather and keeping the office dry. This time we had an inch of rain – nothing to most folks outside of my little slice of heaven, but it was a positive drenching in parched Southern California. And I thought all was well. I popped into the office … Continue reading It Never Rains in Southern California – That’s Why Everything Leaks →

Ok, I admit it. Like a lot of massage therapists, I have a vast collection of self-massaging tools. There are vibrators that can twist around to the upper back, magnetic chi vibrators, full back shiatsu rollers, tennis balls in hosiery, and of course heat pads, ice packs, moist heat packs, liniments and therapeutic salts. Hey, … Continue reading Cane and Able →

Lots of massage therapists enjoy working with athletes so much they make a specialty of it, which is to say they look for people whose routine is extreme. I’m not one of those people, though I have to admit when I get one pro hockey player on my schedule, it naturally tends to fill up … Continue reading Who Is Tougher? Big Bruisers or Delicate Dynamos →

Working with clients who have had early interventions for muscle-skeletal problems has proven quite interesting. Along with all the reasons to have a massage, these clients have an extra agenda: They want to feel good about areas of their bodies that have been identified early on as not being quite right. For some people the … Continue reading Good Intentions and Messy Manifestations →