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What parts of my body will be massaged?
As a profession therapist, I prefer
to work most areas of the body to optimize the massage experience.
Please tell me if you have areas that you would prefer not to be
massaged. This may be verbal or you might have to check off areas of
intake form during our initial consultation. I will respect your wishes.
Should you request that any part
of your body not be massaged? This is another area where the answer is
not so easy. A person getting massaged should be relaxed. If anything
during the massage causes them to tighten their muscles, than the
benefits from the massage won't be obtained. For instance, if a buttocks
massage makes you tense, than massaging this area is a waste of time.
On the other hand, the body is one interconnected organism. Even though
you may feel discomfort in one part of your body before a massage, the
cause of the problem may rest in a different area of the body. Overcompensation
for an ache or nagging injury by limping, walking differently, or
carrying yourself other than your normal way will cause muscles
throughout the body to suffer. To reap the most benefits from a massage,
all areas should be addressed. Skipping an area like the buttocks will
ignore all the large and important muscles in that area that connect
the torso to the lower limbs.
As a professional massage therapist,
I’ve seen and massaged thousands of different bodies. I won't get
excited seeing or massaging any part of your body. Numerous times I've
started on a new client's buttocks, and felt a small twinge of
nervousness from them as I did, but by the time I was finished with it,
they were relaxed, and often made the comment that they didn't realize they
were sore there.
The other area besides the buttocks
that cause a lot of nervousness is working around a
women's breasts. Some therapists skip this area completely so as
not to make the client nervous. Others work the pectoralis muscles
(your pecs) above the breast, and sometimes to the side of the breast
near the armpit. They keep as much of the breast draped as possible
while working these areas. Again, it can be an important area,
especially if you have upper back problems. Tightness in the chest
muscles can affect the muscles in the upper back. The same caveat
applies, though, that if you cease to be relaxed because this area is
being worked, then the benefits of the massage will be lost.
As a general rule, just try to stay
relaxed as much as possible during a massage. If it's your first massage,
and you suddenly find yourself nervous as I move to a new area, just
try to let your mind float and enjoy the feeling of having the stress
worked from the muscles. As you repeat future visits with me, your
nervousness about those areas will most likely go away as you come to
trust my strokes and professional approach.
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