What's New?

It's been a while since my last posting. I have since graduated from massage school. passed my national cert. test, obtained my state license and will begin work for one of the busiest chiropractors in Sterling next week. That depends on how fast we can dig out from under the almost 2 feet of global warming that's falling as I write this. Can't wait for Spring and my golf teaching to start again.

Last night I performed chair massage for the Relay for Life kick-off dinner and reception for the sponsors and volunteers. There was over 100 in attendance so I was pretty busy.It was also nice to see old friends from last year in attendance. In case you're not familiar with R. for L., they stage an annual 24 hour walk/ run to benefit cancer research. Last year it was at South Lakes HS in Reston and we had a tent set up to massage the runners and walkers. It was great fun for a cause that's dear to my heart as both my father and older brother died before their time from this awful disease.This year it will be the third weekend in May and I hope to be there and see you there too.

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.