Morning all,
I do therapeutic/deep tissue/sports massage and as I am now solely doing therapy work I am a bit disgruntled coz my lead arm (left) is... well it's bloomin' painful at times!
It's the deep tissue/sports massage work that gets and keeps my clients and so if I want them to stay then I need to work out how I can practise differently to save me arm! The pain comes intermittently when I apply pressure using my thumb.
I can't afford to any more courses yet - I will hopefully be able to get enough money to do a Jing course which can help me with some different techniques to achieve the same (if not better) results that I currently get.
I am presuming some of you massage practitioners must also have at some point had pain in your elbows/wrists etc, so can I ask what you have done or are doing to help you continue working?
Ta muchley!:D
Cold packs. Fomentek bags are a great way of applying cold or heat. Get the largest size, and you can foldit in on itself and irt becomes a pouch you can put your hands and wrist in (the mediumsize would get your thumb fingers in). get 2, and you could have one hot and one cold and alternate the temperatures.
🙂 Thanks Cola, shall try that!
Do you not use your fists, knuckles, elbows and forearms ?
Do you have a colleague that does Bowen? I see my Bowen buddy at least every 6 weeks and he keeps me ticking (a nagging CTS problem has disappeared after I had 3 treatments with him).
Hi Jabba,
No I don't - I shall look into it. Thanks for the tip!
Do you not use your fists, knuckles, elbows and forearms ?
Hmmmm... feet? I could stand on my clients and do a jig! 😀
You may laugh, but I remember not so long ago, after a really long and tiring day, I'd just laid up my couch with new towels, had a shower and changed and was ready for home, when one of my clients, a massive guy in the gym where I worked, came and asked if I could help him out as his back was really painful and tight.
I didn't want to say no as I could see he was in trouble, but I was really tired and ready for home - and he was hot and sweaty and I didn't want another load of towels!
Anyway, a bit of quick thinking and I got him on a mat on the floor in the express gym where there was a handy bit of equipment for me to hold on to and used my feet and a considerable amount of body weight. Never fixed anyone so quickly or completely! And all I had to do was wipe the mat and wash my hands and feet! Have just remembered I did mean to try this out again and see how I could develop it!
Hi Delighted
As an oriental bodyworker I have been trained in the use of feet, and often use them instead of hands if I have inflexable clients of over 16 stone in weight.
In different parts of Asia, using the feet is a normal way of massaging!
Best wishes and hope you solve your problem soon 🙂
RP
Hmmmm... feet? I could stand on my clients and do a jig! 😀
It wasn't an unreasonable thing to say, you say you do deep tissue and when I learnt this I was taught to use my fists, knuckles, elbows and forearms, sorry for asking the question, only to get a silly answer in return !
It wasn't an unreasonable thing to say, you say you do deep tissue and when I learnt this I was taught to use my fists, knuckles, elbows and forearms, sorry for asking the question, only to get a silly answer in return !
JoJo, you would be surprised (and possibly horrified) at the number of massage therapists out there who think they can adequately perform a deep tissue massage using only palms, fingers and very very veryyyyy occasional thumbs!! LOL!
I've been for alleged 'deep tissue massages' where the majority of the session was spent on very light effluerage! I could have cried! (Some casual questioning after the massage revealed that she hadn't really trained in deep tissue - and indeed, didn't even have an anatomy & physiology qualification!! - but some of her clients and/or friends & family had obviously told her that she gave a "really good deep massage" (which she REALLY didn't) - and she decided for herself to advertise as a Deep Tissue therapist!
So yes Jojo (and no offence to the OP here) to some therapists the idea of using elbows, fists, forearms and knuckles is like suggesting voodoo or witchcraft to them. LOL!
x
You may laugh, but I remember not so long ago, after a really long and tiring day, I'd just laid up my couch with new towels, had a shower and changed and was ready for home, when one of my clients, a massive guy in the gym where I worked, came and asked if I could help him out as his back was really painful and tight.
I didn't want to say no as I could see he was in trouble, but I was really tired and ready for home - and he was hot and sweaty and I didn't want another load of towels!
Anyway, a bit of quick thinking and I got him on a mat on the floor in the express gym where there was a handy bit of equipment for me to hold on to and used my feet and a considerable amount of body weight. Never fixed anyone so quickly or completely! And all I had to do was wipe the mat and wash my hands and feet! Have just remembered I did mean to try this out again and see how I could develop it!
You've got me thinking now - how fantastic would a deep tissue routine with myofascial release performed (without oil) using feet at the start to loosen everything up? Bliss! Much less tiring for the therapist I would think. I practice myofascial release, but do find it harder than other techniques.
I suffer from verrrrrry tight shoulders, neck and upper back and usually only respond to really deep, slow work. On the occasions that I manage to do a little bit of myofascial release around my own shoulders and neck I feel immense relief! I would love to find a therapist nearby who combines myofascial work with a DEEP deep tissue massage.
If anyone knows of anyone???
x
Using the feet, there is Chavutti Thirumal, Indian rope massage, where the therapist uses the rope for support not massaging with the rope, Fijian Barefoot Massage, http://www.fijianmassage.com/ , some forms of Thai massage use the feet quite a bit, it's not uncommon in traditional styles.
On a massage table, in America, Ashiatsu http://www.deepfeet.com/ is quite popular!
Temple Style Lomi Lomi doesn't use the hands much, and Forearm Dance http://www.valguin.com has a lot in common with it.
Then there are No Hands, and Injury Prevention Massage, they get discussed on here quite often.
It wasn't an unreasonable thing to say, you say you do deep tissue and when I learnt this I was taught to use my fists, knuckles, elbows and forearms, sorry for asking the question, only to get a silly answer in return !
Sorry Jo, I read 'do not use' rather than 'do you not'..! Wasn't meant with any malice anyway.. just my sense of humour I am afraid..
JoJo, you would be surprised (and possibly horrified) at the number of massage therapists out there who think they can adequately perform a deep tissue massage using only palms, fingers and very very veryyyyy occasional thumbs!! LOL!
I've been for alleged 'deep tissue massages' where the majority of the session was spent on very light effluerage! I could have cried! (Some casual questioning after the massage revealed that she hadn't really trained in deep tissue - and indeed, didn't even have an anatomy & physiology qualification!! - but some of her clients and/or friends & family had obviously told her that she gave a "really good deep massage" (which she REALLY didn't) - and she decided for herself to advertise as a Deep Tissue therapist!
So yes Jojo (and no offence to the OP here) to some therapists the idea of using elbows, fists, forearms and knuckles is like suggesting voodoo or witchcraft to them. LOL!
x
It was misread!! It was misread!!
I do use elbows, knuckles, fists etc - the problem is that a) I prefer using the thumbs simply for dexterity, much easier to feel those muscle fibres with your thumbs than with your elbow. Even just identifying them and then going in deeper with another part of the arm or hand can cause discomfort (to me), b) I find that for specific points it is more difficult to feel the resistance of the muscle - I was taught that using your elbows etc should be minimal exactly for the above reasons.
I love using the forearms though.. and so do the clients 🙂