(Source: beejayway, via mysticmementos)
a licensed massage therapist blogging about therapeutic touch for the mind, body, and soul.
my main blog:
red moon child
• Ask me anything about therapeutic touch or massage
all about touch
my main blog:
red moon child
• Ask me anything about therapeutic touch or massage
all about touch
“
Conscious means ‘having an awareness of one’s inner and outer worlds; mentally perceptive, awake, mindful.’
So ‘conscious business’ might mean, engaging in an occupation, work, or trade in a mindful, awake fashion. This implies, of course, that many people do not do so. In my experience, that is often the case. So I would definitely be in favor of conscious business; or conscious anything, for that matter.
”— Ken Wilber
“To lose our connection with the body is to become spiritually homeless. Without an anchor we float aimlessly, battered by the winds and waves of life.”
— Anodea Judith
“Our tendency to live in the world of reality leads us to neglect what is going on in the field of sensations.”
— Paul Schilder (via creativedreadhead)
Five Tips for When Clients Don’t Improve
By Nicole Cutler, L.Ac.
One of the best parts of being a therapeutic massage therapist is helping a suffering client - and then witnessing his or her subsequent improvement. On the other hand, one of the most frustrating parts of this profession is working diligently with a client who does not seem to improve.
After intensive campaigning by a wide range of holistic health advocates, massage therapy is finally respected as a valid approach for an array of medical complaints. As such, clients may come in for regular bodywork to relieve a particular pain or improve an internal health issue. Because of bodywork’s therapeutic nature, massage therapists often find great success in helping clients meet their wellness goals. Unfortunately, monthly or weekly massage therapy visits may not always seem to make the impact the practitioner (or client) hopes for. Frustrating as it may be, any type of healthcare provider - be it a massage therapist, oncologist or neurosurgeon - must learn how to deal with disappointing results in a professional manner.
While they interplay with one another, considering the following five topics can guide therapists in dealing with clients who don’t seem to improve:
1. Expand Your Repertoire - The human body harbors many complexities at a variety of different functional levels. As such, a collection of therapeutic approaches are often necessary to make a lasting systematic impact. For example, a chronic pain syndrome could involve scar tissue from an old injury, hypertonic musculature, a nutritional deficiency, improper ergonomics, continuance of aggravating activities and emotional depression. Employing strategies to address all of these impediments to wellness may be required to resolve the pain.
2. Recognize Your Limitations - Helping clients in need can be a practice in humility; having reasonable expectations from your sessions and referring out when necessary. Besides giving therapists a way to measure improvement, identifying clear, reasonable goals prevents against unrealistic expectations. For example, a bodyworker may strive to ease a client’s tension to improve sleep, which is a more reasonable goal than planning to eliminate sleep apnea. Remembering that a problem is best addressed by approaching it from all angles, referring clients out to a specialist equipped to tackle their specific health issue may be necessary.
3. Be Patient - Most people do not seek therapeutic massage therapy for a newly discovered problem. Instead, it is more likely that they have lived with an ailment for a considerable amount of time before taking action. Of course, the longer a problem persists, the more chronic it becomes. Likewise, the more chronic a problem is, the more strategies are needed, the more frequent sessions are advised and the longer it takes to see a lasting improvement.
The five basic Swedish massage strokes
There are five basic stroke techniques used during Swedish massage:
- Effleurage
- Tapotement
- Friction
- Vibration
- Petrissage
Effleurage is a long, smooth stroke that slides over the skin and is usually very fluid feeling. The gliding stroke is often used to warm-up the tissue, apply the lotion and connect with the body. Effleurage massage strokes can be light or deep and are able to be performed on any part of the body. The massage therapist can use full palm, fingers, elbows or forearms to perform effleurage strokes.
Tapotement is a quick percussion stroke where the body is struck in a quick, repetitive way. This is probably the Swedish massage stroke most people recognize from what they see in the movies. Percussion strokes are light, fast-paced and stimulating. Depending on how the massage therapist uses their hands, the stroke can be called cupping, hacking, tapping, pincement or others.
Friction strokes are used in Swedish Massage to create heat in the soft tissues of the body. Rubbing one surface over another in a quick motion creates the friction effect during the massage. Superficial friction can be applied to the skin and is a warming stroke for Swedish massage therapists to use when warming up the muscles for deeper work. Deep friction stokes work more specifically into tight and resistive muscle tissues.
Vibrationis a Swedish massage stroke that create a similar oscillating effect to mechanical massage devices but the effect is created by the massage therapists hands instead of an electronic gadget. Fine vibration is created using the fingertips and is usually applied to a small, specific portion of the body. Coarse vibration can be created by jostling an entire joint or muscle body during a Swedish massage.
Petrissage is a kneading stroke that squeezes the muscle body. Massage therapists can perform petrissage with two hands, one hand, or between the fingers in a rolling type motion. The wringing motion helps increase circulation to that specific area, break up adhesions or myofascial restrictions s muscle fibers are separated and increase overall relaxation in that muscle group.
The five Swedish massage strokes have so many variations and can be put together in such a variety of ways, that no two massages are exactly the same. Each massage therapists has a unique interpretation of using these basic strokes and can tailor the massage to suit the needs of each individual client.
(Source: examiner.com)
