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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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