Category Archives: Massage Issues

Body shaking during massage?

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On occasion, a few of my clients have experienced body shaking. There are several reasons for body shaking.The article, “What causes shaking in the body”on the live strong website describes several explanations.

When it happens solely during a massage I believe it is caused by a re-balancing of muscles.

It works something like this: Muscles in the body work in pairs. While one muscle contracts (tightens) It’s paired muscle relaxes or lengthens, this allows the two muscles to work together in harmony. Often, because on injury, anxiety, or chronic overuse the relationship become skewed. That is to say one of the two involved muscles becomes to strong or weak, causing the other muscle to win or lose out in a short of tug of wars.

It can become a struggle, much like a tug of wars game, one side moves the other closer to the mud but not all the way in. A standoff occurs. A new balance results, but not in the middle.

In massage, when you happen upon such a paired muscle, the therapist’s work on the tight muscle prompts it to relax changing the balance between the two. The struggle is on…..both sides trying to win. The shaking is simply the manifestation of that tussle. When larger areas are involved in the shaking process this is simply paired muscle groups doing the same thing, albeit on a larger scale.

 

 

 

Choosing a massage therapist…Male or Female?

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Thought I would throw in my two bits after I visited this issue on another site, About.com Spas, the article titled “Choosing a Massage therapist:Male or Female” This site went on to solicit comments on the subject.Which I encourage you to view.

Sorry to say, but as human beings we have a long way to go in terms of evolution. I have practiced massage for over 20 years. In that time I have experienced so much prejudice as a male therapist. It’s kinda funny, the views some, if not many have, who project their own problems and fears on to the therapist. That’s not to say that some abuses have not taken place. No doubt.

In our society abuse is ever present, in many forms, much of it inflicted by men unto women. As such, men are not trusted with touch and many people cannot accept a man as being nurturing. In my case I avoided much of this perceptual problem by highlighting my service offerings as medical, working on injury, keeping it scientific. Indeed to survive as a Massage therapist, my skills developed along those lines.

For massage to really work well both parties have to feel comfortable. For that to happen there must exist some degree of trust. The bottom line is, be it male of female therapist, the massage can be no better than what both parties bring to the table, so to speak.

Massage for Cancer Patients?

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The prospect of having cancer is not a pleasant one. Our standard treatments while offering some hope for recovery  seemingly have a long way to go. The war on cancer started back in the 60′s when Richard Nixon was our president. Progress has been slow.

While we wait for the cure to work many cancer patients seek relief from all the stresses associated with being sick. Many have turned to massage for some help.

Some are concerned still that perhaps getting a massage will spread their cancer.  If you do a extensive web search, as I have, you will find not much reason for concern. It’s okay to get massage.

However, there are good guidelines to follow. One thing, deep tissue massage, indeed all heavy techniques should be avoided, not so much because it would spread the cancer, but that the person is already quite ill, debilitated, and just handle that much pressure. It what cause distress and more tissue damage. Like throwing gasoline over a fire,  It could be dangerous.  As such, all techniques must be gentle and encourage proper lymph flow. Also, areas receiving radiation must not be massaged, same applies to surgical incisions. 

Finally, It’s always a good idea to ask your doctor.

 

It’s better to receive than to give….Massage hurts

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It just seems ironic to me that in a profession like massage therapy, one that brings clients so much relief from pain, even bliss, that so few consider what happens to it’s practitioners.

 Contrary to the old adage “It’s better to give….”, for massage, the opposite may be true. While most folks enjoy the effects of a great massage, how they feel afterwords and all the health benefits, not everyone comes out ahead.

Massage therapy as a profession has it’s limitations. For one, the therapists just don’t last all that long. Why? In part, injury. Something they don’t tell you about when your trying to decide if you want to become a massage therapist, before your shell out a ton of money to go to massage school. I’m trying to run down the numbers, but I’m hearing, the average length of “career” is about 18 months. 

To be sure some therapists have lasted longer. Case in point, myself. Maybe I was lucky. More likely, I was good at my work. By good, I mean, I had a passion for the work. So I learned and applied myself. Most importantly l used good body mechanics which allowed me to practice my trade longer.

 

How to find a good massage therapist

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Don’t be lazy. The effort you put into finding a good massage therapist will well be worth your time. Now think do I want to go to the big chain or find an independent?

For example, when you do a web search, to locate a therapist, don’t just read the first page or so listings. Dig deeper. Find a therapist who has his own web site, maybe he or she has a blog. This person is really interested in their profession, so much so they take time to explain it to the lay public. If they are a independent therapist with years of experience they can provide you with the kind of massage that rises above the mediocrity of the big massage chains. This is especially true if you want therapy vs just relaxation work.The skill level is different.

The experienced independent, just by virtue of there longevity, you can infer, has survived in a highly competitive market without the advantages of big advertising dollars. That means there work speaks for itself.

When I graduated the average therapist lasted 3 years. Now days it’s less. We do it largely by referrals, so ask your friends who they see. But don’t stop there your work has just begun.

Do your want a male or female therapist? Let me answer for you, because the answer to that question is well known in the massage community. You feel more comfortable with a female. Over 85% of the Masseurs are that gender. So the men who survive in this profession are among the best. They have to be. Interestingly, when you poll massage recipients who receive massage regularly they express no preference in the therapists gender. They just want the best massage. 

Do you really want to get better?

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Often what we express verbally is in contradiction with our behavior. Don’t mean to be hard on Ron Artest. I love basketball, the lakers and i understand Ron is a really good guy who has done much for the community. But a pic is worth a thousand words.

Anyway, a few years ago, an elderly woman approached me, asking for my help. She seemed so earnest, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I just can’t take the pain anymore”, “please you have got to help me”. I was so moved by her plea, I responded.” Well, let’s see what we can do to take that pain away?” She recoiled as if I was about to steal her purse. She was so unaware of her attachment to her pain. She walked off without making an appointment, her tears all dried up, and a look of real apprehension across her face.

A well- respected Massage Therapist, Art Riggs,  wrote  about deep tissue massage, near the end of the book, he suggested asking the client some questions before beginning the session. One question was, do you have some secondary gain from not getting better? He said that, of course, you can’t ask the client that directly, as the client would not want to hear such a question.

Well too bad, maybe we ought to think about it? I mean, how many times do you promise yourself that you are going to make changes? Somehow, those changes never really happen, and you never really get better. Wouldn’t it be great to have a good friend call you on it? That would be truly useful to help you change.

Let’s face facts, it is a whole lot easier giving up when you can tell yourself, “What can I do anyway?” So have a twinkie since everything  else is bad for you, right? Wrong

Perhaps you console yourself with some claptrap about it being all in the genes, and therefore, out of your control, or my favorite, I’m just getting older. As per the genes excuse, you might want to watch this Bruce Lipton video . As far as getting older, you will age much faster if you don’t take care of yourself.

Now, if you’re getting depressed, you are getting the wrong message, really, see the video. You are not destined to be sickly and can even reverse the aging process. So, do you really want to get better? Massage can, among other things, change your outlook on life, which makes it possible to make and sustain other healthy choices.