Thai massage exposure

We learned some more Thai massage strokes and stretches today. This needs to be incorporated into every routine. Gives a much better bang for the buck, is easy on the body and is fun.So far I see the need for a lot of compression strokes especially around the joints and stretches to compliment the stroke.

Palpation

We don't learn palpation skills.We are not taught enough skills to discern what we are feeling; how to tell where one muscle ends and another in close proximity begins.Without this skill we cannot be effective in determining the best treatment for our clients ; too much of a scatter-shot approach hoping that whatever we do will some how get the job done.For a MT the need for anatomical learning never ends. One Mt told me he picks one muscle each day to "learn". Sounds like good advice to me.

Thai Massage today

Went to Arlington and got a very unusual massage. This was a medical or healing massage that addresses and treats any ailments of a physical nature. It was administered by four advanced students of the Thai Institute after an assessment was made of my maladies.They asked questions about my various complaints, discussed possible solutions based on ancient Thai medical practices,then 3 of the body workers gave me a 30 minute massage each,for a total of 90 minutes.It was pretty standard stuff; a combo of different strokes and stretches,all pretty tame and nothing too drastic. They all were very careful with my right thumb problem while not neglecting my hands and wrists. All in all a great experience.I did feel much looser and more relaxed and I'll watch to see if my hip is any better. There is something to be said for laying on the floor versus being on a table, more freedom to move around and stretch if you feel like it.
I don't think there is any one body type that has more or less of an advantage doing this work. Proper body mechanics are mandatory no matter what size you are. Some people think this is exercise! Yikes!!!

After school

Many of us are trying to figure out what exactly we want to do with our training after graduation. There are many avenues open to women in the field,not so much to men it would seem. The ratio of female to male MT's is about 4 to 1. This is slowly changing but not fast enough. With that said, it does not mean men can't be successful in the business but we just have to find the niche that suits our strengths and talents. Once we figure what those strengths and talents are we then need to find the road less traveled,the road(s) that the vast majority of MT's don't want to go down.What roads you ask? Like massaging cancer victims,or hospice residents or other ill and terminally ill folks that others don't want to even look at,let alone massage. These are callings that require a certain strength of mission and capacity for loving touch that few have or ever will have, but it is probably the most fulfilling type of work as well as the most frustrating type there is. Spa work is always an option but but I would rather do sport/ injury rehab and corp. chair work as well as mobile in home stuff. Should be interesting to count our options as the date draws near.

I love Chair Massage

Yesterday we did a corporate outing in Maryland in a rather confined space for two massage chairs; the kitchen. We had fun,did about 12-15 clients apiece and got breakfast and lunch and a very nice paycheck.I'm hoping to do more of these type of events on a regular basis.So far the most fun events are running events and chair events.Next one of interest is a run on the 27th in Reston.
Today is my turn to recieve a Thai massage from David Roylance, owner of the Thai Institute in Arlington,a place I'm thinking of taking some classes. Thai is fun to do and awesome to get.And this one is free! Yay!!

Thai Massage

On Friday I'm going to the Thai Institute in Arlington to receive a free 90 minute massage*. It's part of the school class and another person (named "Jennifer") will also be a practice body or demo body for the class. It should be a great learning experience for me, sort of like a free class.(and a great massage to boot).
And tomorrow,a colleague and I will be offering chair massages to a small company in Cabin John, Md. We should do about 12-15 massages a piece. Will be tiring but fun and it's a paid event. How cool is that.More important to me is the opportunity for future work this might lead to.I will post about both events soon.


*Thai Massage is massage on the floor,fully clothed,employing stretches and postures that mirror yoga poses.It employs a lot of palm presses,compression and vibration/tapotement along with the stretches.

The Yin and Yang of it all

Well.it's been a while since my last post. I need to collect my thoughts and express my views about the massage therapy learning experience. There is so much information thrown at the student that unless one knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff (and trust me,there's a LOT of chaff) It causes total confusion. Case in point; Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM for short.This has to be the biggest hoax/scam to ever be foisted on a far too gullible profession. It is a confusion of terms,systems,conjectures and imaginings that parade as "medicine" or a" treatment" for all things and everything that ails us. But it's more than that. It is a world view,a way of looking at life and it's meaning from an Eastern point of view that is adverse to a Judeo/Christian outlook. As a Christian looks only to Jehovah as the source of life, The TCM practitioner would have a god-is-within-you and god is in all sense of mystery about everything that is based too much on feelings and navel gazing and not enough empiricism. And the amount of time in school devoted to this as well as the number of questions on the final certification exam shows the overdone emphasis on the subject.Now there may well be some validity to acupuncture/acupressure but it's all anecdotal, not verifiable, and to my knowledge not repeatable. Now I must give an example of what I'm talking about. From the literature;
"The Yang channels flow downward on the back of the legs and arms.The Yin channels flow up the front of the body and the inner surfaces of the body. The primary meridians(12 in all ) are dominated by the influence of either heaven or earth. So they produce a flow coming down from heaven(Yang) or flow upward from the earth(Yin). Ki or Chi is distributed throughout the whole body through the channels or meridians".
Without explaining in detail what all this might mean which even if I did you wouldn't be any closer to grasping it, the first questions that pop into the inquiring mind might be this; is there any proof at all that such a force as Yang/Yin exists? Any evidence that "Ki is distributed throughout the whole body"? Any proof that there is such a thing as "KI" exists or originates in your solar plexis(actually the kidneys) as is claimed? How about those ol meridians? Any proof for that? Did you guess the answer might be NO? How about the idea that there are five elements that, quote " govern the relationships between the changes of, interaction and transformation of the environment, nature and people and how it affects the emotional,physical body and energetic being-the life force."?????? This is gibberish. And the more you study it the more convaluted and down right annoying it becomes.Can someone explain to me how this is necessary for massaging a sore calf muscle?

Myofascial Release therapy

Just finised a 20 hour class on myofascial release therapy at AKS. In a word..fantastic. Everyone in the class was impressed with the results from using this technique on each other and familiy members.Long standing shoulder and neck pain and restrictions were cleared up in a few minutes of deep tissue work. My own rotator cuff pain was almost totally eliminated.But aside from individual injuries,the overall improvement in posture and ease of movement was shared by everyone in the class. Breathing and lung capacity was greatly improved and everyone slept great on Saturday night. The teacher,Howard Rhondal, is a first class communicator and therapist so his demonstrations were clear and easy to repeat by everyone. It was money and time well spent.
I can't wait to use this stuff on the people I know with shoulder and back problems from golf.

All Types

All types----A massage therapist gets all kinds and types of people,conditions and bodies but Jessica Alba has yet to come through the door. Yesterday I massaged a middle aged man,late fifties early sixties,and grossly over weight. Heavy people are always a challenge to handle on a table for probably obvious reasons but that wasn't the major problem. Moles.lots of em.Bunches. Clusters. Dozens.All over his back, shoulders and sides. Thick and raised with some alarming looking brown/black/red colors all in one. I had to remove my wedding band to prevent snagging them. Whew! A virtual forest of moles, skin tags and bumps. I think I gave him an okay massage but I won't soon forget his condition. He mentioned he went to doctors often for his various health problems so I assumed he was aware of the mole city behind him so I didn't say anything but maybe I should have. Next time I see Mole Man I will most assuredly broach the subject with him.
There are certain conditions where massage of any type is contraindicated. This comes awfully close to one of those times.

CHOICES--At this point,I seem to be leaning towards Orthopedic massage, myofascial release ,Ortho-Bionomy, Sport and athletic and corrective imbalance therapy as my choices for further study. Can't see myself working in a spa setting doing mindless massages to over fed business men and cranky house wives. Or setting up a chair somewhere and hope to sell 15 minute massages. Oh well: I'll just keep on working hard and pray the right door opens. I want to be in the healing business,not the feel good biz. Pain relief and rehab are where my interest lies. Will order the Malalignment Syndrome as soon as finances permit. It's 100 bucks on Elsevier.

Massage School- More difficult than most people realize.The anatomy and body systems study is extensive. It is the #1 reason for the drop out rate.It can be a bit overwhelming to someone with no background in the subject.But the training is really interesting.We are truly wonderfully made. Our Lord's handiwork is to be praised.How anyone can believe in evolution after studying the great design of the human body is beyond me.
Most students of massage are fairly well grounded,however,there is a lot of weirdness in the field. I attended a lecture the other day given by a lady who claims that the plants in her garden speak to her.They direct her in certain areas of her life. She has a pamphlet on talking to Dolphins and other mammals. According to her it's all about the vibrations that every entity in the universe gives off. When we become sensitive to the vibes,we make contact. There is a lot of creature worship and pantheism in so many of these esoteric modalities. Must keep an open mind to "see" any benefit to some of these things.

Welcome to the blog about wellness. My area of expertise is bodywork and massage with some occasional forays into physical therapy and training. See you soon.