Articles tagged with 'massage'

Nerve gliding positions the body to isolate nerve branches and then encourages the nerves to slide/stretch.

Massaging the masseter—the main player in biting, chewing, and teeth grinding—can contribute to alleviating headaches.

ABMP works to celebrate massage all year long through guiding principles that demonstrate the nature of this healing, inclusive work.

Multiple exercises and techniques can help improve thumb pain. Using various products designed to protect the thumbs can help limit or prevent injuries.

Make an effort to notice the days and weeks that feel good to you and when your schedule doesn't feel so great so you can make adjustments to suit your needs

No matter where you are in your career, it's of utmost importance to go through the process of identifying what your values are and how those will translate to your business.

Deep tissue massage changed the course of massage therapist Kei Yumoto's career.

Legislatures across the country are returning to work in January—here's updated info about legislature focus to stop human trafficking as it's related to massage.

Massage & Bodywork magazine is a long-trusted resource in the profession. But did you know it's also a pathway to earn up to three free CE hours?

Heather Topoly has worked in a wide range of massage businesses, including chiropractic, PT clinics, corporate, and hospice.

Whether it's pressure-filled moments during our first years as practicing bodyworkers or the question of how much pressure a client wants during a session, gaining perspective is a handy tool.

The benefits massage therapy has to offer this population are substantial: Our work may help with pain, fatigue, muscle cramping, sleep quality, and much more.

While our work often revolves around deeper tissues, special attention should be paid to the skin, the first responder to our touch.

Palliative care is an added layer of support for people living with chronic or serious illness. It enhances people's care by offering quality of life for them and their family. And your touch can make a difference in all their lives.

Consider employing new techniques and strategies with clients in order to remain fresh and mentally invigorated.

Carelessness can negatively impact your business and your reputation.

Tension overload can limit blood flow and nerve flow. Working this area can lead to much-needed relief.

There are seven conditions that can cause or contribute to shoulder impingement syndrome. Understanding the underlying biomechanical pathophysiology and function helps us creatively apply our hands-on assessment and treatment skills.

A recent study is a step in the right direction toward quantifying the efficacy of massage therapy.

Don't complain about your obligations. Instead, own your career and show it through your professionalism.

Like it or not, friction is necessary to help connective tissue move, which can help muscles breathe a little easier.

Embrace the repetition that's at the heart of bodywork; then, reinvent each session depending on your client's needs.

Make a mobile massage session feel more tranquil by observing and adjusting sensory elements such as lighting, sound, and temperature.

The proximity and interaction between client and MT can lead to a different interpretation by each.

The care practitioners extend to clients, combined with dedication to their craft and skills, creates a powerful healing force.

Oscillation can be a perfect beginning to a session with clients who struggle to let their guard down.

Massage therapists have stress like everyone else; self-care is not selfish.

Scarring can hide the depth of an injury. Start with assessment to better understand that depth.

Working in a bioaquatic class brings a completely different somatic experience to clients and practitioners. And skills learned can translate to table work on land.

Returning to proper body positioning during your client's massage sessions can relieve your pain.

Networking with providers outside your field can benefit your client treatment process and add to your repertoire of valuable resources and referrals.

While we in the profession often refer to the therapist-client relationship, we need to remember that the connection is primarily human to human.

Avoid giving advice on personal problems and issues that may be out of your scope.

Describing a trigger point is impossible without attempting to interpret what it feels like. It's a bit like trying to explain laughter.

Rolf Movement Integration practitioners are trained to work with a person's gravity response as the basis to evoke movement that is more effective and authentically expressive, uses less effort, minimizes counterproductive muscular contraction, and more.

Whatever your technique, there is a delicate dance to creating space without destabilization, in going deep without feeling invasive.

What we know about the body and how we affect it with our work is constantly changing. We must do the same.

Great work necessitates mastering certain fundamentals, yet the result of all that work is something far greater.

When done thoughtfully, a rebrand can be beneficial to your business and your future potential.

Instead of giving advice to clients about their personal lives, have them actively participate in the session to keep their focus on the work.

Despite the impact COVID-19 had on massage school enrollment, a survey from Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP) found that massage graduate numbers are on the rise.

When a stress response keeps firing day after day, it can affect vision in a way that leads to struggling to see and the typical response of eyestrain, eye tension, headaches, stiff neck, body aches, and more.

We do a disservice to our clients, ourselves, and the profession when we downplay and/or deny the value of relaxation.

Having a user-friendly business—from your website organization to your treatment room instructions—will keep clients coming back.

The power of thought is often overlooked in nervous system communication. Change comes when awareness is present within.

After experiencing trauma, a deeper understanding of massage's healing power emerged, with advice for new practitioners to stay persistent and embrace their unique style despite challenges.

The skills of listening, noticing, and wondering help build the foundation of real, flexible, and ethical boundaries that allow us to connect meaningfully with our clients.

Encouraging the client to be part of the discovery process can help build the connection with the practitioner.

Ankles often get overlooked during a bodywork session in favor of the feet or calves, but giving attention to this complex area can provide more balance to the greater whole.

While treatment planning still involves asking your client about their needs, it calls for establishing long-term goals that can potentially create a dramatic change in their quality of life.

The beauty of applying the hill and valley approach to palpation of the hip flexor musculature is that the hip flexor muscles form an alternating contour of hill, valley, hill, valley, etc.

Shawn Shimkets was one of the winners of the 2022 Massage is for EveryBody awards.

Finding new ways to press, squeeze, and glide can help reduce the repetitive-use injuries common for massage and bodywork practitioners. Consider experimenting with different combinations.

Validation is the first step in the healing process. As practitioners, we need to affirm that what people experience is real, even if we don't understand the origins of the pain.

It's important for MTs to remain in scope of practice and not diagnose.

By practicing using your whole body in every movement you make, your sessions will start to feel flowing and full of ease, rather than heavy and full of effort.

The ever-present neural background noise most of us experience but are unaware of can contribute to a continual "threat-like" effect; massage can create a relaxing experience that dials down this noise.

What we do and who we are as massage therapists needs to be more accurately reflected in massage therapy research.

While the term placebo effect can carry negative connotations, it can also be a positive in working with clients when we use placebo pathways to help clients feel better and help manager their pain.

"I enjoy my connection with people."—Lee Hodges

Be consistent in funding yourself through savings accounts and the future you will thank you.

Practicing active listening fosters compassionate client relationships and equips you to more accurately respond to client needs.

To protect the head when falling forward, one massively contracts the posterior muscles of the neck, which could lead to strain or injury in other areas.

Massage is unlikely to fix or cure mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), but with care, knowledge, and sensitivity, MTs can create an experience for clients that feels safe and supportive of their wellness goals.

When we engage with each other, we have an incredible opportunity to teach and learn. Use language kindly, mindfully, and with a spirit of connection.

"Each of us has one body that presents us with all the experiences we will ever have in this form; your body is precious and should be cared for with respect and reverence."

What would you think if I told you the potential effects from bodywork can impact each individual cell in your body?

It's important to understand the components and criteria that define what it means to demonstrate professionalism.

When we angle the palm by supinating or pronating the forearm, we can diminish the size of the palm contact, making it much more specific without being pokey the way thumb and finger pads can be.

4 Nineteen Education & Training was founded to support professional growth in massage therapy, while the Black Massage Therapists Facebook group and Conference were created to build community and address challenges faced by Black therapists.

If you start to think of your business as an asset you manage, and not an inseparable part of your identity, you will focus on ways to make it more valuable.

Using a variety of tools can create complexity in your work and can help prevent injury.

Volunteering and other civic involvement within the community you live and work not only brings personal satisfaction, but can also help build your massage business.

Lymph relies on muscular contractions to circulate throughout the body, leading one to hypothesize that chronic conditions leading to stiffness and less movement will thereby greatly slow down and inhibit the circulation of lymph in the body.

Fascia is continuous throughout the body. When you engage it superficially by pushing on it, lifting it, lengthening it, etc., it affects the areas to which it extends without having to engage deeper tissues.

Author David M. Lobenstein believes MTs can effect the most positive change for their clients when they feel good during the session.

Part two in this series from Ben Benjamin explores ways to communicate with clients and how to avoid violating client boundaries.

Have you ever noticed your fingers cramping or forearms slipping along the client's skin when attempting to apply deep-tissue techniques? Here we'll deconstruct a few hand and forearm maneuvers.

One of the beautiful aspects of being a massage therapist is having the freedom to find your personal style in the delivery of your hands-on work.

One of the more debilitating hand conditions is trigger finger or thumb. Trigger finger can be incapacitating and painful. It can also be the result of another systemic problem.

Some muscles tend to fire way more than we ask them to. And getting those spotlight hogs to step aside is a good chunk of what we do as bodyworkers.

A tilted pelvis that causes a tilted spine can result in a head that is not level; however, the body's righting reflex, which keeps the head level, will compensate for the tilted pelvis by curving the spine. If we do not address the tilted pelvis, none of our work into the spine itself has any chance of lasting.

Performing massage while seated—and applying proper body mechanics—can extend your massage career.

She has been called the "godmother of wellness," the "mother of the modern spa," and a "pioneer in the mind/body/spirit movement." Meet Deborah Szekely, mother of the modern spa.

The brachialis works primarily with the biceps brachii and the brachioradialis to flex the elbow; it is unique in that it is a pure elbow flexor and maintains its leverage regardless of forearm position.

All businesses must comply with Title III of the ADA. There is also an ethical consideration—it is good and right to do everything we can to make massage accessible to everyone, and that includes people with disabilities.

Thai massage is steeped in the rich history and tradition of Thailand, offering modalities that can color your massage practice in positive ways. Learn the principle of metta ("loving kindness") in this feature.

Childbirth is a natural, joyous, and miraculous event, but sometimes with consequences for the mother's pelvic function. The aftereffects of delivery can lead to instability, pain, and all kinds of dysfunction to the pelvic area.

Grounding, breathwork, presence, intention—these are all tools in the bodyworker's toolkit, practices that often separate the satisfying session from the spectacular.

An introspective look from one massage therapist about what happens when you just stop—and return to trusting and listening to your body.

Massage and bodywork are heart-based, caregiving professions. In this article we consider the less tangible aspects of practitioner-client relationships.

Many times, mistakes on our part, such as sloppy draping, are made due to carelessness, without any conscious intent to do something unprofessional. Clients who don't know us well may not know the difference between carelessness and intention.

Kinesiology tape uses medical-grade adhesive to create a microscopic space between the skin and the tissues underneath it, influencing the movement of fluids in the dermal and superficial fascia layers.

To achieve repeat bookings, practitioners must (1) understand client goals, (2) deliver value for clients, and (3) design effective treatment plans.