This Is Why Your Beginning Should Be at the Back

Working on the back is commonly the first thing we learn in massage school for a couple of reasons. I mean, it would be weird if the first contact was to the adductors. But also, the back has so many good things going for it that make it the perfect landing spot for learning bodywork: the number of muscles, the common dysfunctions, its connection to the limbs, not to mention that positioning your client prone helps mitigate insecurities. 

But mostly, the back is a beautiful beginning for massage because our backs bear the brunt of gravity, and because it’s really hard to massage our own backs.

Where Tension Settles

I don’t know about you, but I love a good back scratch, in large part because I can’t reach those itches myself. The same goes for all that muscle tension that lives back there. Whether or not our clients are aware, back muscles get tense, and the simple act of a few Swedish strokes can do wonders. Because no one is capable of self-myofascial release down the paraspinals, even if we are in massage school and not well practiced yet, those first swipes down the erector spinae group feel good to whoever’s on the table.

Developing a solid back routine is an excellent idea. After the intake forms and the initial conversations, there is still a heap of unknown information, and very often we find guarding patterns or adhesions that were not verbalized before the session started. Exploring tissue relationships and somatic responses with a detailed approach offers us an incredible amount of information.

Gravity’s Constant Load

As you curate your work to your client’s needs, keep in mind that no matter who your client is—young, old, fit, couch potato—we all have two things in common: (1) We can’t massage our own backs; and (2) we live on a planet that has gravity. Gravity is the ultimate factor in back muscle health. 

As much as we try to help clients understand how to take care of their own backs, no one is capable of kneading their own paraspinals.

Allow me to offer a quick nod to physics. Muscle loading is an important component of the work we do. This means that when you add a load to work, the effort increases. Everything we do hinges on this notion: Tired muscles are overloaded, and weak muscles are underloaded. 

The variable is the load. It can mean anything from a barbell to a bag of groceries to a backpack to a baby. And if we are really analyzing the definition of a load, it could be heightened anxiety or a heavy heart. All these factors present in different ways for our clients. But the one common thread, the one load that remains a fluctuating constant that none of us can avoid, is gravity. 

There are, of course, other variables at play. Typically, as we age, our intervertebral discs lose hydration, our muscle mass gets, well, less mass-y, and our postural distortions settle in for the long haul. But if you keep the compressive load of gravity in the front of your mind as you explore the muscles of the spine and the ribs, you will inevitably discover the relationships those muscles have with the shoulders and hips. 

A Great Place to Start

The unreachable back is truly the best beginning. As much as we try to help clients understand how to take care of their own backs, no one is capable of kneading their own paraspinals. And no one is immune to gravity. The complex human back is truly gravity’s favorite target, and thanks to your skilled work, every back can get a fresh start. 

A Deeper Dive—Map Out Your Session

• With your client prone, start at the upper back and shoulders. This area is very acclimated to someone else’s touch, so it’s a safe place to introduce tactile communication. 

• Using a broad, relaxed hand, slide down either side of the spine toward the hips. With this, you are keeping the introductory work central, along the axial skeleton, and focused on the strong, protective tissues of the back. 

These initial strokes reveal a lot: how your client reacts to pressure, how well (or not so well) they can let go, and how much of what they are telling you about what they feel correlates to what you palpate. This is also your chance to assess your body mechanics. Take a deep breath, drop your weight into your core and your legs, keep your shoulders out of your ears, stack your joints, lean into your palms, and relax your fingers. It can be a bit of a “tap your head and rub your belly” challenge, but you can handle it.

• Walk around to the side of the table, bring your client’s arm away from their side, and follow the lats and the traps as they transition from being back muscles to shoulder muscles. 

• Extend the arm to the top of the table, let it fall to the floor, then slide down into the lower erectors and the QL as they grab onto the hip. 

• Have your client lift their other limbs and then relax them as you do the work, gathering information like a squirrel collecting acorns for the winter.