The most common massage technique is the Swedish massage, named after Pehr Henrik Ling, who published a medical style of massage movements in the 19th century that were adopted by the Americans years later. It is the basic Western-style massage based on the ideas of anatomy and physiology in which the sessions last from 50 to 90 minutes. Techniques can be slow and gentle or strong and invigorating and may include all of the most common techniques of movement along the body. Proper mechanics for the Big 3 Swedish massage strokes include effleurage, petrissage, and friction, which are common for a professional Swedish massage therapy session.
The effleurage is the fundamental movement in the Swedish massage technique. It is a hand-over-hand, smooth stroke that glides over the back, legs, arms, and chest. The pressure can be either light or heavy on the muscles. To knead, or petrissage, is to squeeze the muscle tissue between the thumb and fingertip in a rhythm on the bigger muscles, such as the thighs, shoulders, and buttocks. We know friction the noun form as any hostility. In massage lingo, friction is an act of separation of an adhesion in the tissue, notably with deep tissue massage. Using the thumbs, the massage therapist moves around circularly, going deep into the muscles and tendons to clear the adhesion.
Stretching is a technique common in both Swedish and Asian massage procedures. Here, the therapist moves the four limbs into different positions and stretches them in order to loosen tissues and joints on the legs and arms. The percussion technique usually takes the form of rapid tapping movements from the wrist in which the body is struck with soft blows from each hand alternately. Percussion movements are generally performed for relatively short but even sequences and durations over specific areas of the body.
“The mind cannot forget what the hands have learned,” said John Zahourek. This is a mindset to have in training in order to keep the psychological stance of a therapist in check in doing the job flawlessly. The touch of the therapist matters for each client, and it all goes back to how they perform each technique to fix a person’s aches and problems along their body. Massage is a temporary departure from reality.
At Discoverypoint School of Massage, you will learn basic to advanced techniques of therapeutic massage that licensed body practitioners effectively use. Our classes explain in detail how to succeed in this capacity with the professionalism needed. Massages are popular to get because of the medical uses for those who are injured, stressed, or have any mental fatigue that can affect people in the term long. There isn’t just one massage or just one procedure done for a massage. To be proficient and knowledgeable of all techniques is the goal of a professional licensed massage therapist.