Tag Archives: learning massage

My hands hurt after I give a massage

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How to give a massage without having to need one by the time you finish.

Over the years my clients often tell me….”You must have very strong hands how can you give so many massages and not get tired or injured.” When I give my ………………..a massage my hands always hurt!”If you can relate, don’t feel bad. Even professional therapists have this problem.

In my line of work, now days, therapists last about 1 1/2 years. Not good news. One big reason why is injury. So my advice applies to both the beginner, novice, and to those providing massage for a living.

Lets use a typical massage situation. “Honey, can you rub my shoulders?”

Okay, 1) Before you start massaging lets get warmed up up. Relax your arms, let them dangle comfortably at your side, making sure that your shoulders are not elevated( drawn up by your ears). Now shake your hands vigorously. This loosens your shoulders, arms, all the way down to your fingers. Repeat a few times. Take a deep breath and now stretch your fingers apart wide. Give another shake or two and we are ready to begin the massage

2) align hands with your forearms. In other words keep your wrists straight. If you massage with wrists bent your asking for trouble. It’s kinda of like watering your lawn with a hose that is kinked, the water just can’t get through. To accomplish this you may have to bring your body higher or lower in relation to the shoulders (person) you are massaging.

3) Now place your hands along that muscle on the top part of the shoulder. That muscle is called the Trap muscle. Many people make the mistake of trying to pinch that muscle between the tips of their thumbs and fingers. Instead, allow your hand/fingers to conform to the shape of the muscle, with as much surface to surface contact as possible. Instead of pinching, try rolling the muscle between the fingers and thumb, even lifting the muscle up a bit away from the shoulder.

4) Don’t go at it to long. Build up slowly over time. Just a few minutes. Stop before you feel fatigue.

5) Learn different techniques, learn to use other parts of your anatomy to deliver that massage.

 

Massage Touch a luxury?

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In many circles,  Massage is viewed as a luxury. Being touched feels good, for most of us, but we could live without it, right? Well, as it turns out, no.

Even as late as 1915, in hospitals and orphanages, a mysterious illness was running rampant. Infants were dying at rates between 90%-99% within the first year of  being admitted. Those who managed to survive were left permanently damaged.  Their bones did not grow properly, they were underweight, uncoordinated, and had compromised immune systems.. All these symptoms, and more, were associated with physical starvation.  Oddly, these infants were not starved at all, At least, not for food.

As it turned out, the Hospitals, in their ultimate wisdom,  reflecting on the best science of the time, decided that, because of the importance of  maintaining a germ- free environment, the babies would be handled only as much as necessary. As a consequence of this forward thinking, babies  died, with great frequency.  The disease was properly named “Merasmus” which meant a “wasting away”.  This touch deprivation looked exactly like physical starvation. There was an immediate, drastic improvement, once nurses and other caregivers handled and played with the infants.

So, maybe you believe we have advanced past that primitive stage of understanding the importance of touch. I have my doubts. Take, for example, our children. Teachers are no longer allowed to hug the children in some schools. So, do you think this practice “protects” our children? Read what Lenore Iskenazy has to say on Free-Range-Kids in an article entitled “school devises drastic solution”.

The need for touch does not just disappear as we age.There exists another hidden killer………..Stress, literally, will shorten your life.  Unlike animals who can experience stress and move on, humans have trouble turning the stress switch off. The longer the stress button remains on, the shorter your life.  Massage can turn that switch off. More on stress later. Touch a luxury? You bet your life! Here is some independent research.

Does Massage Hurt?

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Does Massage hurt? What would seem like a simple question, requires more reflection then many Massage Therapists are likely to give before they answer. Maybe a better question is what do you hope to achieve during your session and beyond?

The biggest factor to consider your goal or your expectation for the massage. Do you want a relaxing massage or a therapeutic session? Just remember when you ask for  relaxation work, what you receive will be superficial (at least on the physical plane),  so if you have deep seated muscular/ tension issues, you won’t benefit much in the long run and won’t be getting your monies worth. On the other hand, if you only rarely receive massage but you expect that it will solve all you health challenges, in just one session, then your putting way to much stress on your therapist.

Many Therapist’s tell their potential clients that massage absolutely should not hurt,  going on to suggest that if it does hurt the Therapist is doing something wrong. While there is  truth to that notion, sometimes that answer is more about pandering to a potential client, to get the “business”, then to really inform. For example,  Though something may not be entirely appealing to you, it may well be in your interest. By analogy, you might not like Spinach, but It serves your body well. A fast food burger and fries may taste good going down (not hurt), but will hurt you in the long run.

Let me be clear. During a Massage Session,  the client or patient should tell the Therapist if they are feeling pain. Some Therapists use a scale of 1-10 pain level,  ask  the massage recipient what  number they are feeling?  1 being the least , 10 being the  highest level of pain.The Therapist adjusts his Massage to fit the 7-8 pain range.  The problem is that this is all a bit subjective.To one person 7 can’t be felt, to another, 7 feels like a ton of bricks.  But getting feedback puts you in the ball park, at least. There is what the client describes as a “good” hurt, experience suggests, you have found the appropriate level of pressure.

Often a clients ongoing issues are deep set, and to resolve , you have to drop to the level, where the problem exists, to be effective. This does not mean you plow through, full speed ahead..Rome was not built in a day, and your body’s challenge to be healthy will not be resolved in a single day. If, for example, your neck suddenly is stiff as a board,  you get a quality Massage, and It feels a whole lot better, you return in a week for a follow-up, the Therapist has already  identified the source of this acute problem, a spasm in the upper Trapezius  muscle. The good therapist is going to understand  the “problem” is new (acute),  the muscle involved is superficial (near the surface) and that it can be resolved fairly quick and with appropriately lighter pressure. The neck has 7 layers of muscle, the Trapezius muscle being near the surface.

Lets say, another person comes in for help. She is also having neck problems. Her health challenge has been ongoing  chronic , the results of “whiplash” sustained in a car accident years before. By now she has many neck muscles involved, including some of the deepest, like the Multifidus. This person needs a different approach then our first example.  You just can’t go in there and “rip” it out. More visits and more work at progressively deeper levels is what is called for, which may not hurt, but may not be as pleasant experience.

Most often, the real discomfort  a person feels has to do with the aftermath of the Massage. I will cover this issue very soon.

Can’t I just learn Massage from a book or video?

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What’s wrong with learning Massage from a book or video?  Not a thing, yet  there are advantages to getting home mentoring in the art of Massage. After all, Massage is a “hands on ” profession. You will learn faster and get better results. Why? Feedback!  A teacher can immediately identify a technique executed correctly right from the start. This is important because you develop  good massage work habits, bad habits are hard to correct, don’t get the job done, and you may end up physically  hurting  yourself, or your loved one. How good then is your Massage really? The techniques you learn from the “book” may not be appropriate  for the person receiving the Massage or the person giving. For example,  your  wanting to use  a technique involving direct finger tip pressure to your partners back.  Perhaps you are a smaller petite woman with small hands  and not a lot of hand strength. Your partner, on the other hand weighs in at 250 with muscles tight as a drum. Try as you may, pressing as hard as you can, he can barely feel you, and your wrist and fingers are beginning to throb. You barely have enough strength to throw that massage book away. Being out the $20 and whatever you spent on that wonderful table pales to the feeling of not being able to share this wonderful experience that Massage can add to your relationship.

With Massage, it is about the quality of the interaction. While all touch is good and nurturing, focused, educated touch yields even better experiences.

Physical Benefits of Massage

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The benefits include:

  • Massage relaxes muscle contractions, spasms, and relieves general body tensions.
  • Massage dilates the blood vessels, thus improving the circulation.
  • Massage acts as a “mechanical cleanser” pushing along  lymphatic fluids and hastening the elimination of wastes and toxic debris.
  • Massage increases the blood supply and nutrition to muscles without adding to their load of toxic lactic acid, produced through voluntary muscle contraction. Massage thus helps to overcome harmful “fatigue” products resulting from strenuous exercise or injury.
  • Massage improves muscle tone and helps prevent or delay muscular atrophy resulting from forced inactivity
  • Massage can compensate, in part, for lack of exercise and muscular contraction in persons who because of injury, illness or age are forced to remain inactive. In these cases, massage helps return venous blood to the heart and so eases the strain on this vital organ.
  • Massage may sedate or stimulate  the nervous system depending on the type of massage administered.
  • Massage can prevent or remove adhesion’s in body tissues.
  • Massage  improves the general circulation and nutrition of tissues. It is accompanied or followed by an increased interchange of substances between the blood and tissue cells increasing tissue metabolism.
  • Massage increases the excretion of  fluids and nitrogen, inorganic phosphorous and salt in normal healthy individuals.
  • Massage helps the body retain needed minerals like nitrogen, phosphorous and sulphur, need for body repairs of tissues and bones. ( hip fractures).
  • Massage improves nutrition to the joints. This lessens inflammation and swelling in those joints, which in turn alleviates pain.
  • Massage reduces edema (swellings)  and in turn facilitates better movement.
  • Massage will improve flexibility in body and body limbs.
  • Massage instills a sense of well being.
  • Massage benefits are not limited to this list.