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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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