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This is just a General question - looking for any advice
Well, I don't know if anyone will respond to this, but I have some free time at work for awhile here, and I figured I might as well make good use of my time. I am a massage therapist at Elements in Edina, Minnesota, I graduated from Aveda Minneapolis. I've been working for about 6 weeks now. The reason I am making this post is simply to get better at what I do in some way. Basically, here is a question. Is there any simple advice out there that you'd say that every massage therapist should know? I mean, I went to school for it, and I perform a good massage. We have something called the service path at Elements, its there to customize each massage to the clients wants and needs. So of course I follow that. I suppose since I have this time here, I could even tell you what a usual massage entails for me. Well actually it varies each client and it would take a long time to explain all the techniques I use for each area of the body. Maybe what I'm looking to learn are some techniques that I don't know yet so I could grow in my "depth" in massage instead of being somewhat limited in effectiveness with the techniques I know right now. Especially with the back, I feel as if there is something more I need to learn to prevent any repetitiveness, like with people who want to whole time on their back. I won't go over everything I do in an entire massage, but here is what I do on the back nearly every time. I'm trying to avoid giving a cookie cutter massage for every client.
For the back, I start by spreading the oil with a slow bi lateral tree stroke (learned at Aveda). It is a full effleurage stroke that touches almost all parts of the back. I repeat this several time, increasing in pressure with each stroke. Then I move on to forearm strokes on one side for I would say 6-10 strokes. then after that, its different every client. I use knuckles, stripping down each side of the spine. pulling petrissage with finger tips on each side. I also massage the Infraspinatis and teres minor. knuckles on traps and up neck on both sides, same time. - people seem to like this one. Of course I also do stripping with my fingertips (which seems to be hard on my wrist if done a lot) both going down from upper back, and up from lower back. And really, that's about all I know to do for the back right now. I feel as if I get through it ok, and that I'm providing an effective massage, but I know without a doubt that there are techniques I don't know that I could be adding so I don't need to repeat anything when I have extra time. Like for example an 80 minute massage I would have a full 30 mins on the back most clients. So I guess that is my main question for now if anyone could enlighten me to some other techniques that would improve my performance.
As far as taking care of myself to prevent long term injury, I suppose I should stretch everyday. I have not been getting a ton of clients recently, but I assume I will be getting more as time goes on, so I would love to know of anything you guys do to help keep yourselves ready to massage and not in pain or anything. I had a couple real busy days in a row and I got super sore. So I iced my hands. I couldn't take the cold for very long, and am not sure exactly the right way to ice my hands. I just dumped a bunch of ice in the sink and filled it up with some water.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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My best advice would be to get massages yourself. Pay attention to the things you like and don't like about the massage you recieved. Buy some DVDs.. Like a Lomi Lomi massage DVD set...For something on the injury side of things buy some DVDs on Soft Tissue Release or Trigger Point work. Youtube has tons of videos for free. Anyone typing about specific techniques in here will most likely be lost because of interpretation. Buying DVDs has helped me a lot.
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Cohen on
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Agree here with Gordon. Two more to collect are Myofascial Release and Craniaosacral Therapy. The main thing I think is to keep to the KISS principle. Definitely get massages from different people.
Gordon J. Wallis said:My best advice would be to get massages yourself. Pay attention to the things you like and don't like about the massage you recieved. Buy some DVDs.. Like a Lomi Lomi massage DVD set...For something on the injury side of things buy some DVDs on Soft Tissue Release or Trigger Point work. Youtube has tons of videos for free. Anyone typing about specific techniques in here will most likely be lost because of interpretation. Buying DVDs has helped me a lot.
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Permalink Reply by Joyce Young on
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One of my teachers at massage school said "Your best massage will be one that has all the moves you "stolen" from others". As Gordon said get more massages yourself. Even if the massage you get is 'eh' you'll know what not to do and maybe there will be that one move that you experience is a "steal". Get massage from someone that practices a different modality than you. They might have an approach/technique that you can use.
Seems like you have your traditional Swedish down, so you might want to take a manual technique class in something different to see if it can be brought back. My "Swedish" (the purist will surely shutter!) is far from the classical Swedish, I incorporate a lot of Thai (my clients love it!), NMT and stretching. I just try to use whatever works best for my client for their situation and that day. Now this is not to say trad Swedish should be ignored, there are plenty of high quality upper level Swedish courses you can take. I like an eclectic approach!
Go to MassageNerd, he has tons of technique videos to check out.
As for injury start looking into wrapping ice packs instead of dunking your hands in ice (tends to be easier to take). Also start looking for a manual tool to take off some pressure. I begrunding went back to the Thumbsavers (finally got the right size) and now I love them. I also have a Ltool, which I dont use a ton because it feels cold for the client. In the past I used the Knobber which was really good.
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Use your elbows to strip the back , up the paraspinals. Save your hands and wrists.
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Peace! Dvd's by Ben Benjamin, Art Driggs, Gilad Schaffman and several others has helped me out alot. And doing trades with other experienced and inexperienced (classmates and others that just entered massage school) are beneficial as well. Enjoy!
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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I love the Forearm Dance massage videos by Val Guin. They saved my practice!
I really like Daniel's idea of getting some continuing education in MFR and CST - those are my specialties! :)
I dunk my hands in ice water too - I do 30 seconds at a time. I don't do it unless I really need it because it's painful. You can freeze water in paper Dixie cups and then use those to rub around on your hands - the cup provides a way to hold the ice pretty effectively. But that's more time consuming than dunking in ice, and when I dunk I get all the way up past my elbows.
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I've had all those DVDs. What I like about DVDs over seminars is, the rewind button.
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Not to hijack this thread, but Therese, have you ever gotten a parafin dip for your hands? Feels amazing, leaves your skin feeling wonderful and can help alleviate any hand pain you might be having...
Therese Schwartz said:I dunk my hands in ice water too - I do 30 seconds at a time. I don't do it unless I really need it because it's painful.
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Hmmm....No I haven't! I know my hairdresser does that when it's the holiday season and she's doing hair and nails non-stop. Definitely worth thinking about! Thanks!
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Something we are all taught that is blatantly not true is that massage does not flush out toxins...
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You might ask co-workers at Elements if they would be willing to do a massage get together every once in a while to share what they do during massage. I've found it really helpful to have specific focus each time to see what other approaches they take. It's great because you'll get a little bodywork, learn from direct experience, and get to know your colleagues better. Just a suggestion!
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That's a great suggestion, we are supposed to receive and give massages once a month. So yeah we do that, :)
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