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Saturday, June 23, 2007
How much pressure should you apply?
Over the years I have seen many therapists, who have a feeling that a massage is more effective the more pressure they use. They try to force tension out of the muscle.
But in fact muscles even though they can handle quite a bit of pressure are sensitive to pressure and you don't need to squish the muscles to have an effect on them.
My motto is: Go as light as possible!
This doesn't mean you should not squeeze at all or just pet somebody on the shoulder, it means that to find the right balance of pressure.
The right pressure is like the key to a door. Too much pressure will lock the door, because the client will tense up, too little pressure will not do anything.
So how do you find the right pressure? I want you to try something out: Let's say you are massaging the back. Put your hand on the back muscle, apply pressure until you feel resistance in the tissue (meaning you feel there is a barrier), then back up from that just a little bit and hold it there.
What happens? Do you feel the tissue relaxing? Great, this is the right pressure.
Imagine the muscles on the body as layers. You go from superficial to deeper levels.
Many therapist try to go through the tissue all in one go, but that's not really working. There is a key for every layer of muscles. So you have to be patient.
It might take you a little bit in the beginning to be confident about that, but in the end you will have much better results than many therapists out there.
It is simple, because it appreciates the intelligence of a person's body. Good luck!
But in fact muscles even though they can handle quite a bit of pressure are sensitive to pressure and you don't need to squish the muscles to have an effect on them.
My motto is: Go as light as possible!
This doesn't mean you should not squeeze at all or just pet somebody on the shoulder, it means that to find the right balance of pressure.
The right pressure is like the key to a door. Too much pressure will lock the door, because the client will tense up, too little pressure will not do anything.
So how do you find the right pressure? I want you to try something out: Let's say you are massaging the back. Put your hand on the back muscle, apply pressure until you feel resistance in the tissue (meaning you feel there is a barrier), then back up from that just a little bit and hold it there.
What happens? Do you feel the tissue relaxing? Great, this is the right pressure.
Imagine the muscles on the body as layers. You go from superficial to deeper levels.
Many therapist try to go through the tissue all in one go, but that's not really working. There is a key for every layer of muscles. So you have to be patient.
It might take you a little bit in the beginning to be confident about that, but in the end you will have much better results than many therapists out there.
It is simple, because it appreciates the intelligence of a person's body. Good luck!
