Deep tissue
As its name implies, deep tissue massage is the manual treatment of deep anatomical structures. The work is slow, deep, and very specific – working either parallel with or perpendicular to the targeted muscles, tendons, or ligaments. Among the many benefits of deep tissue massage:
- pain reduction
- improve mobility; increase range of motion (ROM); restore ease of movement
- reduce muscle hypertonicity, tension, and spasm
- reduce scar tissue and other fascial adhesions (which can impair both circulatory and nerve function in addition to creating mechanical restrictions)
- promote circulation (of both blood and lymph)
- reduce ischemia (by releasing hypertoned muscles and reducing fascial adhesions, thereby improving circulation)
I use my fingertips, knuckles, hands, elbows, and forearms during deep tissue massage. A classic deep tissue move is slow running the point of the elbow (olecranon process) down the length of the spine, next to the spinous processes of the vertebrae. This releases both the superficial erector spinae muscles and the deeper transversospinalis muscles.
I will often ask you to breathe into the area I’m working on during a deep tissue session. This both gets you to focus on the affected area and promotes movement that improves the efficacy of the work.
Contrary to a widely held myth, deep tissue massage doesn’t have to hurt to be effective. One of my deep tissue massage teachers said, “If you are specific, you can go deep.” If you have thorough anatomical knowledge – if you know the origin, insertion, and action of each muscle – and understand how muscles and tendons work, then you can work effectively on very deep structures without causing pain. This is how I most often do deep tissue massage.
I no longer believe in the “no pain, no gain” school of massage. All of my work falls safely in my clients “comfort zone.”
Swedish
I think that Swedish massage is what most people first imagine when they think of massage.
Swedish massage is the foundation of most modern Western massage education for a reason. It is a well-established, systematic way to manipulate muscles and other tissues in a very relaxing way. Among the many benefits of Swedish massage:
- reduce stress/increase relaxation
- improve circulation (both blood and lymph)
- increase state of well-being
- reduce muscle hypertonicity, tension, and spasm
- improve mobility; increase range of motion (ROM); restore ease of movement
A classic Swedish massage involves an hour or more of flowing (effleurage), squeezing (petrissage), rubbing (friction), and gentle, passive manipulation of joints (Swedish gymnastics). It’s profoundly relaxing and often leaves my clients on the verge of a nap.
Sports massage
Sports massage can mean a lot of different things. Many people first learn about it when they see rows of massage tables in tents at the end of a marathon or other event – that’s called event sports massage.
Sports massage also encompasses preventative and treatment work performed on athletes during the long non-performing stretches of their athletic lives between races, games, matches, and other events. This is what I do. I don’t do on-site sports massage at athletic events. Instead, I work on athletes in my office, helping them with:
- performance improvement
- injury treatment
- injury rehabilitation
- injury prevention
- health maintenance
Over the past decade, I have worked with many different kinds of athletes:
- dancers
- runners
- triathletes
- skiers
- snowboarders
- hikers
- soccer players
- golfers
- power lifters
- yoga teachers
- personal trainers
I have studied sports massage with James Waslaski, and several other teachers
Myofascial release
“Myo” means muscle. “Fascia” is the connective tissue that contains our muscles. The simplest analogy (really an over-simplification) is a sausage: muscle is the meat and fascia is the sausage casing (in fact, fascia pervades our entire body, connecting and running through organs and other tissues as well as muscles).
Myofascial release is a form of massage that is designed to get muscle fascia to move more freely. It is deep, slow work that helps to lengthen shortened tissues and separate tissues that shouldn’t be adhered to each other (another over-simplified analogy can apply here: picture two layers of Saran Wrap that have stuck to one another – now picture slowly and deliberately moving them against one another until they become unstuck).
Like all of the techniques I employ, I rarely do a full-on myofascial release session. Instead I incorporate it into the orthopedic massage protocols that I use.
I have studied myofascial release with James Waslaski and Cameron Tamlynn "TC".
Wikipedia offers a detailed look at the various aspects of myofascial release.
Orthopedic massage
Orthopedic massage is the systematic application of multiple massage modalities to address orthopedic conditions (like back pain, whiplash, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.). It’s a way of effectively organizing a massage treatment session that may include orthopedic assessments, Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, neuromascular "trigger point" technique, myofascial release, sports massage as well as movement education and self-care exercises.
Among the many benefits of orthopedic massage:
- decrease pain
- improve mobility; increase range of motion (ROM); restore ease of movement
- improve work productivity
- improve athletic performance
- reduce muscle hypertonicity, tension, and spasm
If you have chronic pain or nagging injuries that you suffered at work, in a car accident, or doing sports, orthopedic massage may be an appropriate treatment for you. I have found it to be a very effective treatment for tendinitis, repetitive strain injuries (RSI), thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and shoulder, hip, and other joint injuries. I also use it a lot – almost exclusively, in fact – to treat the tragically predictable array of problems that come with regular desk and computer work: back pain, sore shoulders, tight neck, achy/tingly wrists and hands, and headaches.
Orthopedic Massage Certification
I am certified in orthopedic massage by The Center for Pain Management, James Waslaski’s teaching and certification organization, and I am a teaching assistant for him. As well as Medical Massage certification with Cameron Tamlynn "TC".
Trigger point massage
Trigger point massage, sometimes called neuromuscular therapy, is a very effective way to address those pesky knots that give you both pain at the trigger point itself and often at distant, apparently unrelated areas in your body.
You can recognize a trigger point by the way it responds to direct pressure. A trigger point will feel like a little nodule, and it will be tender to the touch, and it may generate discomfort in a different area than where the trigger point is. To get a little more technical, in their groundbreaking book on myofascial pain and trigger points, Travel & Simons define a trigger point as, “a hyperirritable spot in skeletal muscle that is associated with a hypersensitive palpable nodule in a taut band. The spot is painful on compression and can give rise to characteristic referred pain, referred tenderness, motor dysfunction, and autonomic phenomena.:”
I typically use trigger point therapy as part of an orthopedic massage session. Sometimes, I won’t even have to use the neuromuscular trigger point work I was taught, since I often find that the myofascial area-preparation work that is included in an orthopedic massage session often resolves a trigger point without working directly on it.
