The Massage Message: February 10, 2009

Specials: Valentine’s Day Special: Save up to $30 on Massage Gift Certificates!

Sports or Deep Tissue Massage Gift Certificates for the Man in Your Life: With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, shops are displaying all kinds of gifts, from  pink, heart-shaped candies, to red lingerie with black bows, to Valentine-themed boxes of Godiva chocolates.  One Valentine’s Day gift idea that doesn’t seem to occur to many people is a gift certificate for a massage – especially for the man in your life.  How about getting him a massage gift certificate this Valentine’s Day?  …And I don’t mean for those metrosexual …

According to a survey done by the American Massage Therapy Association in 2007, 32 percent of Americans say they have used massage at least once for pain relief. Massage therapy is sneaking up on traditional pain relief like chiropractic therapy – 38 percent and physical therapy – 44 percent.

~Deep Tissue Massage is a type of massage therapy that focuses on relaxing, releasing, and realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. It is especially helpful for chronically tense and contracted areas such as stiff necks, low back tightness, and sore shoulders. Some of the same strokes are used as classic massage therapy, but the movement is slower and the pressure is deeper and concentrated on areas of tension and pain.

Barefoot Deep Tissue Massage, Barefoot Sports Massage, Barefoot Compression Massage, Ashiatsu… These are some of the terms used to describe a modality of bodywork where the therapist uses his feet to apply pressure (usually the heel and sometimes the sesamoid bone) instead of his hands.

So you’ve taken the Barefoot Massage course, you’ve practiced on your friends, now what?

The first challenge you face when you’re ready to start giving barefoot sessions is that your clients may not necessarily be ready to receive barefoot sessions!

Ok. We’re getting there. So now, you’ve convinced some of your clients to try the Barefoot Deep Tissue Massage and they’ve even gone the whole 60 minutes without asking to switch to a table massage. In the follow-up call the next day, they reported that they slept well and woke up feeling refreshed. But…