Category Archives: Find Touch Announcements

Joyful, Useful Skin Massage

Snappy massage therapists used to make fun of “skin massage”, using it as a stand-in for a massage of no connection, a mere application of oil, an unmemorable massage of no consequence.
But hey, snappy aside, there is a really awesome aspect to skin massage worth thinking about – and doing.
Here we are dealing not with lilting pressure, but often no pressure, and a term perhaps last heard on whaling ships: furling.
Furling, really? Yeppers-peppers.
Sometimes a pain complaint from a client is the ghost of the past. An imprint still there long after the trauma is gone. If lucky, the massage therapist may feel it in the easiest structure to touch and modify, the skin.
Once in a while I find one of these morphed patches of skin, right at the beginning of a massage when I am scanning and feeling the area of complaint. It might be over a stuck infraspinatus, a wedged down trapezius, or a plastered temporalis.
When I find these spots, I gently- heed that word – gently try to pick up the skin between thumb and forefinger, skin only, and see if the pain disperses. Sometimes the planets align, and the pain goes whoosh! The client may think it was magic (not a bad way thought when it comes time to re-book) and it certainly can seem that way. Of course it is not, just another expression of starting at the beginning and checking layer by layer of the structures involved in a pattern of pain or tension.
If the skin won’t open to lifting touch, it is time to go on to gentle rocking, range of motion, itsy-bitsy circles, anything to remind the skin that it is supposed to move moderately independent of the structures below. Sometimes that is the key, and the skin releases.
If it does not let go, it puts the massage therapist on the ship deck with the whaling sailors. We probably all furl, but perhaps don’t call it that because we drop words unique to the 19th century. But I like antiques, and this antique tells the story best. To furl, we pick up all of the portion of a sail, bunch it up and smooth our bunch before we seek to add more.
Massage furling is picking up a bit of skin, with a bit of adipose, and possibly a bit of connective tissue and muscle, and gently rolling it to smooth and open the adhesions.
Reminder time, this is a gentle technique. One of my buddies did this as a pinch, a locking pliers kind of pinch, which made me levitate, and wouldn’t let go until I came back down to the table. Fun amongst therapist friends, but zooming across the pain threshold will lose you most clients. Gentle takes the day.
It’s a cool way to begin a massage with first relieving the pain, then following with a Swedish or mixed technique massage to address the entire body.
Well, call me Ishmael. Skin massage has some purpose too!

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Massage Clients Need Training, Too

Most massage therapists charge by their time spent in a session, so dealing with client cancellations and no-shows is a particularly dear subject.
Big massage businesses just put their policies out there: 24-hour cancellation or full charge for the missed session. No appointment without a credit card to “guarantee a reservation.” It is a survival tactic that keeps the bills paid.
But what happens when the massage is not part of a big edifice of business complete with a receptionist to state the policy? Massage is a client-based business, after all. Can you afford to alienate a client for a missed appointment? Can you nicely charge folks for services not rendered? Is a cancellation policy a must or a risk for the small massage practice or clinic?
Those questions are an excellent place to start when considering your practice and its future. But keep in mind that massage therapists tend to be quiet, healing people who do not like confrontations, especially with those people seeking relief from stress. If you don’t have any policy stated up front, you may be in the position none of us healing people like: broke and behind in the bills.
Aaargh. Yes, boundaries. Those darn things hopefully they talked about a lot in massage school. Is there a middle ground? Can a therapist walk the fine line between impersonal business policy and caring personal service? And still pay the bills?
This is a tough subject. Why? Because out there in the universe, most people are honest and upfront and understand that you need to be paid for your time. Then there are others who feel every nickel saved on a cancel fee is a personal victory attesting to their ability to avoid paying for anything. Yes, these are the legendary “cheap clients” who will turn your book into a sea of red ink if you are not careful.
Airlines and other big shops generally don’t give money back or reverse charges. They have found out the hard way that when a big biz is involved, many people perceive lying to not be charged or to get your money back is okay fibbing. Hey, the airlines can afford it, right? Well, not really. Big shops have to defend themselves.
The most important thing here is that if you have a “cheap client” with a great excuse is to get rid of them. A cancellation policy will do that. Otherwise these folks will suck your energy dry with no regrets.
Sometimes, yes it happens, the client is actually using the no-show as a way of firing you. It says in a big way that the client does not value the service. It means “cya.” Whatever is going on, this is the client you will be relieved to remove from your book. If that client ever calls again, they pay the no-show fee before getting a massage for their “emergency.”
In the big and small picture of customer service, I think it is important to respect your skills enough to have a firm cancellation policy. It can be full charge, half charge, whatever you want, but have it. And when a regular client who appreciates your work has a true emergency, it is okay to say “no charge.” That will be appreciated. After all, small business is personal, eh?

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Taking Chances with Your Massage Muse

Massage therapists are like musicians, athletes and dancers. We train, we practice, and yes, we ache.
Those of us who are in it for real are often playing despite pain. Therapists should be doing all kinds of things to stay in the game, from stretching icing and exercising. But like our musician and dancer friends we are often too busy doing lots of massages and working on our careers to do these things regularly.
Lately folks have wondered about the longevity of a massage therapist’s career based on body mechanics. The stats are kind of miserable: Some newbies are out in three months. The average career is five years. The longer-lasting folks seem invincible but are not really.
My long-timer buddies look fine but have complaints of tendonitis and numb appendages. In my observation, people who work out or do a cardio activity such as cycling seem to wear well. I will think that and then I see a friend out for six months after an accident on the bike.
I suspect there is no magic formula to surviving and thriving in a massage career, but I also suspect that some people leave their starting gates with their feet tied. Hyper-mobile thumbs, hips, shoulders don’t do that well in time. Too stiff people seem to get by but have a lot of osteoarthritis. A long-time therapist friend (25 years) says it all comes down to whether she can play racquetball twice a week.
Well, we all have our goals/expectations.
The older and wiser therapist, has, hopefully learned. My exercise ball is in my living room; another is at the office. My racquetball-crazed friend has her Pilates reformer in her living room. Another has her own cold laser on the nightstand by the bed. How many ice packs can fit in a side-by-side fridge?
We all know the best prevention of all is massage, of course, and when therapists get a massage once a week they seem to do well. How many of us do it? How many of us pay for it?
My master plan is to continue to enjoy doing massages for a good while longer. That takes dedication to prevention. I feel like the musician who has made it to the symphony. I’d better take care of what I have so I don’t have to retire before I am ready.
What is your strategy? Do you have one? Are you dedicated to prevention, the thing we tell all our clients about endlessly?

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Trigger Me Mine

Massage therapists often enjoy showing clients something they can do on their own to relieve a chronic trigger point.
I do it too: “Here, try an old tennis ball and lean up against the wall. Just a little pressure, not your whole weight. Keep gentle pressure on the point for 10 to 15 seconds and then gradually lift.”
Most massage clients are surprised by what they can do one their own. But I am mindful of human nature. Like most therapists, I emphasize caution. “Avoid the urge to push too hard. You will be tempted. But too much pressure for too long can make the point come back much worse later. Always do this easy.”
But humanity has its nature. And unfortunately, the numerous videos and self-treatment trigger point therapy books can be the road to perdition.
In the last two years I have had two clients pop in with Olympian trigger points that don’t respond to usual treatment. These trigger points want to stay and drive the clients crazy. What do these two clients have in common? They learned from a book or video how to do their own trigger points.
I had the advantage of learning trigger point therapy in school. The instructors and the books all cautioned students not to go crazy doing trigger points. One by one, every student in my class learned the hard way why trigger point therapy rules are good to follow. I found an especially precious trigger point in my temporalis. I worked it like crazy. Sure that when I erased it I would get relief. Within a few days, I had blinding migraines.
Clients don’t have that experience to help them believe in under-treating trigger points. I am so much more cautious about giving out old tennis balls now.
So what do you do with runaway trigger points? With these clients I tried a few different tactics. The first responded to active release techniques, but the monolith trigger point tended to return after a week or two. The second came around with dedicated, repetitious Swedish massage. I had to get the relaxation system back up and running in the nervous system. Funny, huh?

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Massage Heals Whiplash

Massage at the Top of the Spine

People who have suffered whiplash are a good number of the clients in massage therapists’ practices. They seek relief from neck and shoulder pain, tension headaches, migraines and fatigue.
Massage does wonders for sore muscles of the neck and shoulder even years after a whiplash. It opens fused muscles, improves circulation of blood and lymph, and helps muscles re-learn movement.
Usually people with whiplash have been around to many different doctors and therapists. Often they have gone as far as they can with them and have decided to try massage to reduce symptoms.
And here is where the massage therapist can shine. Depending on whether the whiplash was from the rear, front, sides or diagonal directions, massage can open up clogs of adhesed muscles and return their natural movement.
Most have thick fibrous bands starting at the occipital ridge and ligamentum nuchae, and simple Swedish strokes – softly drawing away from the occiput and gliding back – can draw down the congestion.
Light to medium trigger point work on taut bands of the trapezius, splenii, scm’s and scalenes will further restore motion.
What I find, however, is that many clients tell me massage therapists shy away from their whiplash zones, even though this relatively simple work will bring much relief.
The whiplash survivor is not a china doll, but someone who needs the relief of massage.
Sometimes we are used to massaging the thick muscles of the shoulder area but clients start to cringe when we move up to the neck. It is a natural reflex to dig in to hardened tissue of the neck in order to loosen it. Actually, the opposite works much better. When I check the neck I soften my hands and do more soft molding strokes. I want the defenses to drop, not increase. When hands are soft, the tissue responds by allowing you to massage more deeply, but with gentleness.
Another common reflex is starting a stroke lightly and adding pressure as it proceeds. In effect, it is a grinding motion and a very unpleasant sensation to the client.
Instead, use the same medium pressure throughout the stroke. Go back and start the stroke again with slightly more pressure, repeating and adding slightly to the pressure with each glide, taking care not to depress the vertebrae. At the end of four to six strokes, the tissue will have been opened and drained. Success!
Drawing away from the congestion and doing light pressure techniques on the neck and upper shoulders will bring a great deal of relief without having to get into more complex techniques best left to intensive workshops. There is no reason to be afraid of making these areas worse. Your hands can’t go from 40 miles per hour to zero in one second!
A few who have had severe whiplash – and survived – they are the tough clients. Their symptoms are more serious – vertigo, sleep disruptions, fascia that forms nooses and restrictive loops over the years of compensating for severe imbalance.
I like to think I have great massage skills for all these folks, but I am cautious. Have neurologists or osteopaths with experience in these dysfunctions evaluated their injuries? Are they stuck or hyper-mobile? Have they had an increase in symptoms from additional injuries?

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Massage Goals and Baskets

Hey, it’s the time of year most massage therapists try to take a few days off, before the deluge of Christmas gift certificates and post-holiday injuries start piling up on the books.
I like to practice something with therapist employees and therapist friends. It’s something that shouldn’t be so rare but we often forget to do it. It’s the where-am-I-going-in-the-next-year game.
Yes, goals.
This shouldn’t be that hard, but I find many people in this field don’t set goals because they are bummed out if they don’t meet them. But goals are just that – something you shoot for in basketball. The number of attempts does not count; it’s the baskets.
So we will benefit from having personal goals, professional goals, income goals, housing goals, fitness and massage goals. Who’s up for some thinking ahead?
With employee massage therapists, I’ve met some resistance because when people are struggling, their gaze drops from the horizon. But this is the best time to set goals, little to large, because scoring will develop confidence. Forget the attempts and count the baskets!
Try setting small goals. One of my favorite therapists complained that she felt like she did the same massage all day. Well, that will drive anyone crazy. We talked and she said she wanted to learn some new moves.
Well, there are great ways to do that. Classes, sure, but how much do you retain with just short practice sessions during class? Take the class with a friend and practice that night and the next day. Retention of techniques goes up tremendously. Plus you get some work on your own tired body.
I wish classes had refreshers in a few weeks so people could go over what they learned and see the amount that has stuck or been lost. When I do classes or training, I offer that.
The less expensive way to learn is to trade with another massage therapist. Now I’ve had people come and get massages from me solely to copy techniques later, and they do not do very well. The missing step here is to tell the person you want to learn and practice some of the moves done on you. That takes feeling the technique, as well as getting off the table to really see what is being done with a test-body. Sound like school? Yes.
But at some clinics/spas those Tuesday morning schedules are a great opportunity to hold practices – if others are willing to share. Sometimes you just need to find the right people. In my experience, therapists who “steal” moves from the prone position do a poor and ineffective copy of the original. And those who say they want to learn do much, much better.

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Massage and Life Learning

Massage Opportunities and Life Learning

Massage therapists have an excellent opportunity not only to meet extraordinary people but also to learn from them. I have met many, and they have taught me many things.
After 20 years in massage therapy, many of my wounds have healed through touch, and I have tried my best to listen and learn from my clients. They have given me many thousands of gifts I might have otherwise missed.
I am very thankful for the opportunity to help people feel better through massage. We have had more than a few laughs and cries along the way.
Rarely, I am blessed with outright advice. A client celebrating his 103rd birthday told me “Never sell land.” We both had a laugh over that one. I practice in Orange County, CA, which in the past 60 years has gone from a stagecoach rut to an economic powerhouse with its own Riviera.
Early in my career I saved my money from massage and bought my own little patch of OC on the advice of another client. Good move. Wish I had bought two.
The visceral and the spiritual, of course. One client told me God inspired him to recite a psalm to me. “I don’t know why it is this one,” he said. “It just came to me.” (psalm 6. Boy was that one on the mark.)
Sometimes clients tell me exactly what is on my mind. Occasionally, I have told them. “This is grief,” I said to a client one day as I palpated the sternum at the 5th and 6th rib. It was as if I first heard the words as I said them. Where did that come from? It started her recovery from a long-suppressed tragedy.
When I worked at a big spa, a client asked me why I did not have my own shop. I admitted to being afraid of the nuts and bolts of business, such as books. “If you can add and subtract, you can do books,” she said. She was right.
How do we express gratitude to our clients? And how do our clients thank us? By being real people, present in the moment, sharing our journeys. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

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Massage with the Eyes in Your Fingers

There is a time in every massage when the therapist begins to rub the posterior neck. For many of our computer-burdened clients, it presents an opportunity to relieve the congestion of technology.

The head is supported by these many muscles, embedded with many layers, often adhesed, and near the source of many functions from sleep to mood to respiration.

Headaches emerge from these groups, as do disorders such as head-forward posture, and as some suspect even problems such as chronic fatigue.

So what do many of us do when we approach the root of these many complex problems? We effluerage upward, in the direction of the cranial vault and away from the shoulders.

Medical Illustrations by Patrick Lynch, generated for multimedia teaching projects by the Yale University School of Medicine, Center for Advanced Instructional Media, 1987-2000.

Let me make a case that we are drawing our hands in the wrong direction. Take a look at the accompanying picture from Wikipedia. See all the muscular origins? The SCMs, the traps, the cervical erectors?

The upward effluerage comes from the general direction of Swedish massage, which is in the direction of the heart, following venous flow.

But at the shoulders, we are no longer drawing toward the heart, but away from it. This draws thumbs and hands into the great space at the under-cranium, the place where those headaches and balanced-head issues hide.

With congestion disorders from headaches to fibromyalgia, we may do much good for our clients by drawing down from the hairline toward the mid-trapezius.

Try drawing congestion away from the source, toward the crux of the trapezius. You might be surprised by the results.

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Smart Companions

Numb fingertips, cramp-y necks and para-spinals that feel like abandoned rock quarries. We massage therapists treat the injuries that computer technology can produce.

My smart phone just updated itself (can it reproduce?) revealing the phrase “Lifetime Companion” on the home screen. Really? This whole phone thing has gotten out of hand.

People are ruining their eyesight, developing dowager humps and filling up my schedule book from peering at tiny screens. Weren’t these things supposed to help us?

Device injuries have delightful names such as Pac Man Pinky, Smart Phone Presbyopia, and Blackberry Thumb. Let’s hear it for the names. But when are we going to get devices that do not turn us into garden gnomes?

I have been waiting…tap…tap…tap. Captain Kirk just had to ask the computer to do stuff, he dictated his log, and sometimes he would twist a little button on his communicator. The only repetitive motion he suffered was trying to do that funny split-finger salute when Spock introduced him to the fam.

The techies have been awaiting the Apple I Watch, a device that looks like we will all be hunching over something even smaller in the coming months.

We massage therapists can hear a “Ca-Ching!” in our futures. The devices are not getting better. They are getting us more work than we can handle. So much for getting to that seminar in Costa Rica this year….

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Knowing Your Client – What Works For One Person Doesn’t Work For All

In the early days of a massage therapist’s career, discovering which techniques work well in a treatment session can be baffling.

Is it deep tissue? Soothing strokes? Is it short sessions? Long sessions? Is it movement? Breath? Is it the clients’ mindset? Perceived value? Desire?

Somehow fumbling about in our dim-lit treatment rooms we establish our patterns of understanding, and hopefully we can match those up to our clients’ expectations.

But ask a room full of massage therapists what works can be maddening. Folks who otherwise feel compassion for others can get rigid about their thinking. After all, if something works for them, should it not work for everyone?

It’s a hard fact of life that what works for one person doesn’t work for all. Yet we as a profession are constantly trying to define and establish “scientific” protocols for what works. An effort of little reward, it seems, for therapists and their clients. It does seem to fill up chat rooms and discussion groups.

I saw a lot of this discussion in other professions, as I spent much of my first career reporting on medicine and health sciences. People in these professions don’t want to do any harm, but they want to alleviate suffering and improve lives. Complicating that is the fact that outcomes vary widely. Protocols often work far better for one doctor over another, and for one facility versus another.

The human factor, a long-time friend explained, is what drives people a bit crazy in clinical practice. Was it the protocol or the nurse/doctor/therapist/team/facility or the family prayer group in the waiting room? Is the new drug a wonder pill or is it the selection of patients and monitoring of its use?

I suspect the answers in massage therapy may be about as difficult to vet as it is in medicine. Meanwhile, we practice in the dim-lit rooms of our vocation. If lucky, our clients will tell us what we need to know.

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