Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/142672
• • • • in and washes tension out of the body, and encourage your client to do the same. Easy, slow breathing increases body awareness and cultivates centered, healthy bodyuse patterns. Avoid belly breathing because it sways the lower back. Do, however, expand your solar plexus with each inhalation. W ork closely to the table and stay up and over your work. This will keep you from overextending your body by reaching too far away from your center of gravity. By staying over your feet, you can easily step and lean into the client, using body weight to generate pressure. M ove slowly to induce a relaxation response, in both you and your client. Unless you're practicing sports massage, there is no need to hurry. A slow and steady pace provides the time you'll need to go comfortably and efficiently from one move to the next. It also prevents those quick, poorly executed moves that often lead to injury, contributing to the atmosphere of safety and relaxation for both you and your client. F ace the direction of your hands and avoid twisting the spine. If you have to twist, make sure to contract your oblique muscles to protect your lower back. T o increase pressure, lean with your whole body and push from your feet. Do not be afraid to lean your body weight on your clients, especially when applying pressure. Applying pressure with your body weight will feel better for them and it will save your wrists and hands from overworking. No matter how small the stroke, lean into your hands, like you would when pushing a car out of the snow. This distributes the compressive forces through the center of your body, preventing strain and injury to the wrists and hands. • void sharp angles in the A fingers and wrists. Let your arms extend naturally in front of you, and use your hands as conduits for the movement of your whole body. Imagine the energy of the earth coming up into your body from the soles of your feet, rising up through your torso and radiating out through your hands. • assage with rhythm and M fluidity; let each stroke be a full-body movement. Flow in and out of each stroke like a dance— effleurage like a sweeping waltz, petrissage like an African beat, and apply deep-tissue strokes like sustained tai chi. When practicing trigger point or static (nonmoving) techniques, sense the innate subtle swaying motion that continually rebalances your body around its vertical axis. By giving massage with this dynamic postural sway, your movement and touch will be more fluid and rhythmic, and your clients will feel the difference. • evelop a self-care routine to D practice between clients. Here are a few ideas to get you started: > Grasp a chin-up bar to traction your wrists. > Lie backward over a physioball and reach your arms above you to stretch your chest. > Circumduct your arms in each plane to loosen your shoulders. > ie on your back and reach L your fingertips and arms sideways for neural traction. > old your arms across F your chest and breathe between your scapulae. > et your energy moving with G a short, brisk walk; some situps or calisthenics; or yoga. Here's one last point to consider. Setting boundaries to protect your body from injury is a lot smarter than suffering work-related injuries that can cut your massage career short. Know your limitations. If passively stretching your clients strains your back, drop the stretches from your massage routine. If you have hitchhiker thumbs or fingers that hyperextend, use your knuckles or elbows for giving deep pressure. In short, the better care you take of yourself, the better equipped you will be to take care of your clients. Adjust your techniques to suit your individual body needs so that you have a long and fruitful career. SPH Mary Ann Foster, CMT, has taught body mechanics courses to massage therapists for more than 25 years. Her text, Somatic Patterning, is filled with self-care exercises for practitioners. She wrote the script for ABMP's "Body Mechanics for Injury Prevention" online course, and her text Therapeutic Kinesiology presents the kinesiological basis of body mechanics.