Is the pressure ok?
One of the things that will make or break your massage is learning to give the right amount of pressure to each individual client. Since each persons needs and perspective are different, it is important that you learn to communicate with the client to find out what they need.
Just asking “Is the pressure ok” does not tell you anything. Is is ok for what?
I just had the experience of having such a massage at a local spa by a fairly new massage therapist. It is my once or twice a year experience where I just get it in my head that I need a massage and I go off looking for one. Actually even more interesting is that she asked if the pressure was ok when she was digging her knuckle into my Achilles tendon - which gave me little or no sensation but pressure. She applied deeper pressure there but no where else or at any time during my massage.I did go in knowing that it was a spa and that I would be getting a spa massage, but this place actually offered deep tissue massage. One of the other things that really amazed me is the amount of time she wasted doing the fluffy massage stuff even after I asked her to do deep tissue work. Do people at spas really like this? Or do people who go to spas not know any better and don’t ask for much more?
Now how they define deep tissue massage is still a mystery to me and they don’t have a clue what deep tissue means to me as they never asked or tried to communicate about the pressure in a way that could determine just how much pressure would feel good and do the job of loosening up some tight muscles that I have from working out and gardening a lot lately.
It really gives me some new insights everytime I go off and get a massage from someone I don’t know. It really helps give me some perspective about how to better serve my clients - something I still am always striving for after 18 years in the business.
How do you find out if the pressure of the massage is meeting the needs of your client? Just asking is the pressure ok one time really does nothing. How do you engage the client in the process of getting their needs met?
A better way to ask is to ask a series of questions as you work on various parts of the body. Does this pressure feel deep enough? On a scale of 1-10, how deep does this pressure feel? What number would you like it to feel like?
You could basically be asking that question every 3 or 4 minutes or everytime you move to another muscle or area.
The other thing that happened is that after I asked for deep tissue and I was met with confusion and no interest in whether she had adapted adequately, I gave up asking and just put up with the massage hoping to get something out of it at least and waiting to be able to tell the people at the desk that it was an awful experience. I knew the gal was new and it wasn’t really her fault but she didn’t even try or know how to try. How often do your clients give up or hide what they really want thinking that they will hurt your feelings?
They of course had no interest in knowing how I liked their service. Is it no wonder the massage therapist didn’t have any interest? Is it the nature of the spa business that you think that most people don’t come back and they are only coming for their once a year or whatever spa adventure?
I guess I always seem to find the ones to write about!
What do you do to communicate with your clients about how the pressure feels to them?
May 21st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
i listen with my hands. as i break up fiberous tissue, i tune in to any and all movement from my client. a small movement followed by a letting out breath is a good indication of an effective deep tissue stroke. the opposite reaction tells me to back off and flush the area.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Ask your client…You are making assumptions which are more about you than the client.
Ask the client how it feels, what it feels like, what they want it to feel like otherwise you are doing the massage you would like to have done on you.
Use your hands to feel and then ask what they are feeling.
Letting out breath really does not idicate an effective deep tissue stroke - it indicates that they were needing to take a deep breath.
Don’t make assumptions. It takes practice. We all make assumptions and are not perfect, but assumptions are usually based on projections and our personal filter system.
May 24th, 2007 at 1:15 am
I’ve found it very helpful to explain to clients about the one-to-ten scale, and to let them know that I don’t want them to let me work above a five or six–or what may be challenging or slighly uncomfortable, but not painful enough to be tensing. I let them know that painful pressure will likely restart the pain-spasm cycle, and in end will not be as beneficial. Clients who have had massage before but where never told such a thing seem grateful to be told about this; most of them have experienced pain during a massage and thought it to be normal {as I had thought before attending massage school.}
May 31st, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Ironically, some of the leading massage/bodywork educators in the country go WAY too deep, regardless of how much it hurts, and will not back off even if you ask them to. I know because I’ve had more than a few of their students and clients in my private sessions and workshops.
The idea we have to overcome hardened tissues with brute force is profoundly out of touch with neuro-muscular, psycho-muscular and myo-fascial reality.
Even those who DO pay attention to The Edges of Sensation are usually not accounting for the action of the Descending Sensory Nerve Pathways. These nerves selectively block incoming sensation for a variety of reasons. The result is the client is very often significantly DE-sensitized and when they think you are right about at the Edge, you are already really WAY over it. This is far more common than almost anyone seems to realize, and is at least as big a problem in yoga, where practitioners stay way too long, way too deep, for way too long in their yoga poses.
And, as far as the Breaking Up of fibrous tissues goes — which implies a certain attitude about what’s being done in those tissues — the very phrasing of it that way indicating a profound lack of understanding, bordering on violence — of the physiology of what’s really happening in the body. Yet this kind of thinking is rampant in the massage and bodywork — and yoga — communities. The whole *breaking up of adhesions* thing, though partially correct, is WAY over-stated and over-done. Those fibers FEEL as if they are *scarred* tissues that are being *broken up*. But in really they are hyper-contracted — mini-spasmodic — muscle fibers that feel so hard to be mistaken for actual scar tissue. This in turn is a result of over-emphasis on fascia and not enough on muscle dynamics.
Take Care,
David Scott Lynn
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:15 am
For what it’s worth, I would be really annoyed if a massage therapist asked for feedback every 3 or 4 minutes. My rule of thumb, based on great massages I have received, would be for the therapist to ask the client at the beginning of the massage to let him know if the pressure is too light or too firm, and then to check a couple of minutes in–”How’s this pressure?”. Obviously be sensitive throughout the massage, if you feel areas of tension, and verbally ask if you think you could go deeper, but if the client is consistently responding “yeah, that’s great”, don’t keep pushing for “yeah, that’s great, now please shut up while I relax for two seconds!”. I don’t necessarily want to be pulled out of the massage experience to locate my sensations on a numerical scale. That in itself is an assumption that the therapist makes about what will satisfy me as a client.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I agree with Liz, being asked constantly is just annoying! It is true that most techniques can be done effectively without causing a allot of pain even “deep tissue”. The problem I find is that many of my clientele prefer some level of discomfort or even pain, even if I tell them that this is not necessarily the best response. I have tired both approaches on a client who prefered very deep treatments (painful) for her condition, and asked for feed back a week after each session. Although I experienced better response in the fascia with the more gentle approach the client reported greater benefits from the more “painful” approach. I believe we must accommodate our clients needs and not just think we know what’s best. Yes we are the trained ones but I believe in a wholistic approach.