There are three main massage techniques that you'll find used by all professionals, and they all have different functions. Most of the time you'll see Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, and sports massage offered at a professional massage studio near you. The first thing every student should master is “the basics”. The four basic massage movements are effleurage (light or deep stroking), petrisage (kneading), tapotement (soft slaps) and friction.
Effleurage is designed for relaxation and stress relief. This is how each massage starts and ends to ensure that your patient has maximum relaxation. Petrisage, or kneeling, is actually a practice of separating muscle from bone, which helps relieve muscle spasms. In general, if something hurts in a massage session, this is the time, but this movement is not intended to be painful.
The therapist should communicate with the client to ensure maximum comfort. The action of tapotement is very similar to what the name sounds like. This is a gentle tap or cupping of the skin with your hand to create a percussion-like effect. This movement is preferred by healthy customers with exceptional muscle mass, but it is not recommended for patients with ailments.
Finally, friction is the concentration of pressure at a specific point. Through very small, focused circular motions, friction helps release tension at specific points. Massage is probably the oldest and simplest form of medical care in existence that has been used for relaxation, fitness and other health purposes. Basically, massage therapy is a therapeutic technique that involves manipulating the soft tissues of the body.
It is the soothing and therapeutic process of kneading, stroking and pressing different areas of the body to relieve pain, relieve stress and tension, or relax, stimulate and tone the body. Perhaps the easiest for amateurs to perform, kneading involves using your thumbs or palms to apply pressure to various parts of the body. The idea here is to separate muscle from bone, a practice that helps reduce muscle spasms. The technical name given to kneading is Petrisage, which is mainly used in textbooks on massage therapy.
Kneading is one of the first techniques taught to massage therapy students and is therefore a little easier to understand than with the others. However, the speed and intensity of pressure applied to the skin and muscles are also important factors to learn. As the title suggests, the rubbing technique essentially requires the use of thumbs that normally move in a circular pattern, applying pressure as you go. This method is used to stimulate blood circulation within the body, as well as to treat muscle and joint pain.
Different types of movement patterns can fall within the rubbing technique, as long as you use two thumbs. These movements, although similar in many respects, can in fact be called a different technique depending on how and when massage therapists around the world use it. For example, rubbing can also be referred to as a kneading subcategory, otherwise called deeper efleurage. Is it difficult for you to get to the clinic? Are you trying to reduce your exposure to COVID-19, as well as other contagious diseases, and do you still need to see your doctor? Telehealth is safe and easy, get quality care from anywhere.
Effleurage strokes can be performed with increased pressure to loosen muscle knots, but are most often performed with gentle pressure to apply oil and warm the body at the beginning of a massage session, 1 This helps prepare the client's body for deeper pressure to follow, with less discomfort. Effleurage is also often used for the transition between other techniques in the course of a massage and for relaxation at the end of a session. 2 The technique originates from Swedish massage and is one of the five basic movements used by therapists in that tradition; however, it is widely used by therapists regardless of the type of massage. Effleurage is a French word that indicates a light touch or touch of friction.
This is another common massage technique rooted in the tradition of Swedish massage. It comes from the French word meaning knead, and generally involves sensations of greater intensity than efleurage. Although petrissage connotes kneading movements in French, as a massage technique, the term actually refers to a wider range of movements. According to a detailed guide from the Miami School of Acupuncture and Massage, these include lifting and compressing soft tissue, “twisting” the tissue so that it presses against the bones below before lifting it, and twisting movements that may include muscles or just the skin.
Tapotement can be applied in a variety of ways to achieve different effects and to attack different parts of the body; the therapist's fingertips, clenched fists, cupped hands, open palms, or sides of the therapist's hands can be used. Taping is avoided in bone areas and for clients at special risk of injury, discomfort, or bruising, including those who are very thin or elderly. To do this, a massage therapist uses sustained pressure, usually applied with the fingers, directly at the trigger point. The therapist generally maintains the pressure between 30 and 90 seconds, until the client reports a reduction in tension or pain.
For this reason, communication between the client and the massage therapist is a crucial ingredient for the success of trigger point therapy. Myofascial release therapy is an approach of many contemporary massage therapists, mainly because of its promise to alleviate significant painful conditions. The technique of myofascial release therapy in massage involves the therapist using touch to identify areas where the myofascia feels stiff, rather than elastic and flexible. The therapist then works to provide greater blood flow and flexibility to these areas through stretching, stroking, and pressure, 10 Take our 1-minute quiz to find your match.
Swedish massage is a massage technique most often used by massage therapists to increase relaxation, increase circulation, and improve range of motion. Pressure is applied to the body with the fingers, hands, and forearms to manipulate soft tissue. The Effleurage massage technique literally means guiding, stroking or lightly touching. Use sliding movements with your palms, thumbs and fingertips.
The effleurage is a manipulation in which the entire palmar surface of the hand is shaped to the contours of the body and applied in a stroking movement towards the heart. These massage movements, used in Swedish massage, are used to warm up the muscles before performing deep tissue work with petrissage. The efleurage method is a relaxing and stroking movement that is usually used at the beginning and end of massage therapy treatment. From the French petrir, “for kneading, petrissage” are massaging movements with applied pressure that compresses the underlying muscles.
It can be shallow or deep. This massage technique uses kneading movements with the hands, thumbs, fingers and forearms. The movements are applied with one or both hands using alternative pressure to press and release soft tissues. Pressure is applied by lifting soft tissue from underlying structures, or compressing downward, toward underlying structures.
Kneading, twisting, rolling the skin and picking and squeezing are petrissage movements. Movement applied with the palms, thumbs, fingertips, knuckles, or forearm in a circular motion. Types include kneading with fingertips, palm, double thumb, knuckles, and forearm. It is applied by lifting a muscle group away from the underlying structures.
Between the palm and the fingers of both hands, with opposite force and moving the hands from side to side with full palmar contact. It is applied by lifting the muscle tissue with the palms, fingers, or heel of one or both hands in a circular motion with pressure in the direction of venous flow. The skin grabs between the thumb and fingers and rolls slowly. Pressure is exerted on a muscle or muscle group and the underlying structures.
The hand can be reinforced or alone. Slow, deep compression of a muscle. The palmar surface of the hand, thumb and fingers are used to pick up and release tissues alternately in a circular and spoon manner. Manipulation using the thumbs, fingers, palms, ulnar edge of the hand, knuckles and forearm.
It can be simple, reinforced, supported and applied with moderate to deep pressure in a movement along the fibers of a muscle. The friction massage therapy technique uses compression and movement to interrupt and break existing and forming adhesions (knots) in muscles, tendons and ligaments. This deep tissue massage technique is used to increase circulation and release areas that are tense; particularly around joints and where there are adhesions within muscles or tendons. Friction is defined as “a penetrating pressure applied precisely through the fingertips.
No lotion needed for this massage technique. The vibrating massage technique is a fine, soft and trembling movement performed with the hands or fingers. This technique, depending on speed and pressure, can be used to stimulate the body's soft tissues, stimulate nerves, relieve muscle tension and reduce stress. Vibrations at a slower pace are an effective treatment to produce a feeling of relaxation.
This massage technique can be used to relieve tight muscles, reduce stress and improve circulation. From the French word “tapotter” which means rap, drum or pat. Tapotement is a rhythmic percussion technique in which forceful hacking or tapping is used rhythmically using the fingertips, the ulnar edges of the hands, the palmar surfaces of the hands, the fists or a cupped hand. In this massage technique, the thumb and fingers are used to perform these light pinching or pecking movements, as the tissue is gently touched between the thumb and fingertips.
The massage therapist performs alternate pinching actions in rapid succession, quickly pulling and releasing small pieces of skin and underlying tissue. The massage therapist uses only the fingertips to gently tap the client's body while keeping their hands loose and relaxed. This is a lightweight percussion technique and can be safely applied to delicate areas such as the head and face. This tapotement massage technique is performed with the edge of the little fingers, or the ulnar edge of the hand, while the therapist's wrists are loose and relaxed.
The therapist's palms are facing each other, while his hands hit the client's body in succession and alternately and rhythmically. In this technique, the therapist's hands are held in the cup position, with the fingers together, the wrist in pronation, while the client's tissue is rhythmically and alternately struck. While the massage therapist's hands are held in a loose fist, the client's tissue hits the dorsal or ulnar surface of the therapist's fist. Massage is almost universally appreciated, but the finer points of its techniques often remain a mystery, even to regular massage clients.
Effleurage is also often used to transition between other techniques in the course of a massage and for relaxation at the end of a session. As with other techniques described above, a massage therapist must ensure that his client does not feel any type of pain while the massage is being administered. Deep tissue massage generally focuses on localized muscle groups and addresses specific complaints in the body. If you're giving someone a massage, one way to know how much pressure and speed to use is to ask the client their preferences.
You can use circular motions to gently massage the skin and, to a certain extent, increase the pressure if the client so desires. There are four main techniques that Florida Academy makes every student master in the massage therapy program, to help you prepare for success as you begin your career. However, the primary goal of the massage techniques involved here is to increase blood and lymph flow, while reducing pain and releasing pressure trapped in the nerves. In this massage, the masseur uses his hands with rapid movements to hit various parts of the body, especially the back, thighs and buttocks.
Well, as most experts have said, massage, no matter how simple or complex the techniques involved, can really be a great healing system. By developing your vocabulary and perspective on massage, you'll facilitate high-level communication with your therapist, and this can help you work together to maximize the benefits you enjoy from your massage therapy program. . .
