Guest Contributor:
Art Riggs
http://www.deeptissuemassagemanual.com/
We know that Deep Tissue Massage is used in a wide variety of treatments. We also know the top three focal points of this massage, fascia, muscle and spasms or trigger points.
Now we will look at why and when we will use the skills learned in Deep Tissue Therapy.
Cultivating a sensitive and powerful touch generated by soft hands is a life-long process, but virtually impossible to explain.
One essential quality that comes to mind is the concept of intention. Without a clear intention of depth at which you focus your energy and a specific goal of what you want to happen, your strokes are merely empty gestures.
We have all had massages where beautiful flowing strokes were emphasized but we really felt nothing happen in our bodies. This is a result of placing more emphasis on form rather than function.
This is important to remember because having a client that requires Deep Tissue Therapy tells us that they have a specific goal in mind and are expecting you to carry out that goal.
So what kind of client might ask for such a specific modality?
In our previous article we touched on Spasms and Trigger points. Some activities that could create this condition are fine motor movements, these are movements performed on a small scale like keyboarding, playing an instrument, creating art, all while maintaining good posture.
Gross motor movements are those movements that occur on a larger scale such as exercise, yard work, sports activities, again while maintaining good posture.
Then we have stress and fatigue. A spasm caused by stress is similar to one caused by an injury, the muscle response is the same.
We focus on these reasons specifically because they are the top reasons for an individual to seek out Deep Tissue Therapy and we see all of these conditions represented in society.
When addressing an area of a spasm it is important to remember that we are helping and not hurting the client. Always make sure there are no contraindications. Pay very close attention to their reaction to your touch. This is a wonderful indicator as to whether they can receive a massage or not.
The biggest cause of pain or harsh touch is attempting to make things happen rather than letting them happen, never try to force tissue into releasing, rarely is pain caused by working too deeply but rather a case of working too fast.
The deeper you work the more you must slow down, if the tissue does not respond, going deeper will serve no purpose.
Our best tools are our hands and our ability to bring our clients to a place of healing and balance. With these goals at the forefront of every massage we can be sure that every client will benefit from their massage.
” Choose each day to be blissful and complete, a whole person well cared for by you” Punkie Spelts
