Massage: how to perform a simple back massage
Hi!
In waiting to pounce on one of my unsuspecting family members to take more pics for the chair and towel exercises, I wanted to discuss an important aspect in my life: massage. Not that I am getting it often, but I give it often, and also I used to produce all-natural massage oils with my own company and am still very interested in them.
My husband has severe lower back problems since an operation a couple of years back and massage really helps him; it doesn't heal but it gives him pain relief. I used to use this jojoba massage oil (jojoba is actually not an oil, but a liquid wax) which has wonderful glide. I have a collection of essential oils still from my days as a health & wellness products company and I generally let the victim of my massage choose the essential oil by smell, as I believe your body knows what's good for it. Currently I have something with Mandarin; I have a lovely body butter from the Body Shop that improves my mood whenever I put it on. Lavender is always relaxing, and Chamomile; Eucalyptus and Citrus are invigorating.
Oh right, the difference between base massage oil (the fatty oils) and essential oils: the base oils are fats from the nuts and seeds of plants, also called vegetable oils such as jojoba, almond, soya, sunflower etc. Essential oils are turpine-like and not fat; they are extracted from the leaves and flowers and bark and are costly and precious: Neroli, Frankincense, Myrtle, Clary Sage, Fennel, to name some of my favorites. Do not ever confuse real aromatherapy essential oils with artificial fragrance oils of the same name. They may smell nice but have no therapeutic value.
Another base oil which I really like is sweet almond oil. To my surprise I see that many people actually use olive oil. I think it is way too sticky. Another good (and cheap) alternative is sunflower oil, although it is inferior to the jojoba and almond in my opinion; much thinner. Also in my personal opinion it is a deathly sin to use mineral (baby) oil. It's made from OIL! As in gasolin and asphalt! It should be totally prohibited as a skin care product, and especially for babies. What the industry doesn't come up with....
Anyway currently we don't use oil at all, but pain relief cream. It takes a bit of getting used to in the beginning because it is messy when it is still white. I generally massage until the oil has gone into the skin, but if I have too little time I blot the remaining oil with some household paper. We use pain relief cream because it really helps him much better than massage with just oil; the cream kind of settles in deeper. O yeah, remember to wash your hands thoroughly after the massage!
I take a good dab of the cream, warm it up by rubbing it in my hands, apply it to his back, wait for the shuddering to stop, and start spreading it out. Once his whole back is covered I start by using effleurage: long gliding strokes. I work over his whole back up to the neck and shoulders, making sure I use smooth, slow strokes. (The pictures are from Pixabay).
Then I return to the lower back area, which is usually swollen, and I use short deep strokes from the center outwards to gently remove the excess fluid via the lymph canals via friction. As my husband is quite used to massage by now I sometimes use my knuckles to put more pressure on the muscles. Be careful when trying this, for some people this may be too hard.
I then use my thumbs to massage out from each vertebra to the top of the ribs, beginning at the hairline and working all the way down to the bottom, putting quite lot of pressure on the area besides the vertebrae.
Then I go back to the whole back; I use my spread-out fingers to create a little room between the muscle fibers and work in circles. This is called petrissage. I alternate between petrissage and effleurage. I also work a bit around the shoulder blades and on top of the shoulders, trying to find the trigger points there.
I don't always succeed with that, to my husband's relief, because if I find them he really jumps.
Then I use my thumbs to go from the neck down and push the vertebrae gently apart from each other vertically. This technique is very good for people with back pain, as it often has to do with tightly compressed vertebrae. I return to his operation scar and do some more deep friction strokes (by this time he is usually at least partly asleep in spite of my quite strenuous efforts).
Finally I round off with long effleurage strokes which gradually become lighter and lighter until it is more a touch than a pressure, notifying him that this is the end of the massage. It can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on circumstances. Massage is actually also an exercise for the massager; ever noted that professional massagers tend to have very muscled arms and shoulders?
Some tips:
* Massage is meant to be relaxing. Squeezing it into the break time of the football match is not a good idea.
* The room should not be too cold, as at the very least the back has to be exposed for a while.
* Ask for feedback during the massage (but not too often, as it is not relaxing) if you are not used to it: is this too hard, does this hurt, how does this feel?
* Remember to take some relaxation yourself afterwards!
In waiting to pounce on one of my unsuspecting family members to take more pics for the chair and towel exercises, I wanted to discuss an important aspect in my life: massage. Not that I am getting it often, but I give it often, and also I used to produce all-natural massage oils with my own company and am still very interested in them.
My husband has severe lower back problems since an operation a couple of years back and massage really helps him; it doesn't heal but it gives him pain relief. I used to use this jojoba massage oil (jojoba is actually not an oil, but a liquid wax) which has wonderful glide. I have a collection of essential oils still from my days as a health & wellness products company and I generally let the victim of my massage choose the essential oil by smell, as I believe your body knows what's good for it. Currently I have something with Mandarin; I have a lovely body butter from the Body Shop that improves my mood whenever I put it on. Lavender is always relaxing, and Chamomile; Eucalyptus and Citrus are invigorating.
Oh right, the difference between base massage oil (the fatty oils) and essential oils: the base oils are fats from the nuts and seeds of plants, also called vegetable oils such as jojoba, almond, soya, sunflower etc. Essential oils are turpine-like and not fat; they are extracted from the leaves and flowers and bark and are costly and precious: Neroli, Frankincense, Myrtle, Clary Sage, Fennel, to name some of my favorites. Do not ever confuse real aromatherapy essential oils with artificial fragrance oils of the same name. They may smell nice but have no therapeutic value.
tripleclicks.comAnyway currently we don't use oil at all, but pain relief cream. It takes a bit of getting used to in the beginning because it is messy when it is still white. I generally massage until the oil has gone into the skin, but if I have too little time I blot the remaining oil with some household paper. We use pain relief cream because it really helps him much better than massage with just oil; the cream kind of settles in deeper. O yeah, remember to wash your hands thoroughly after the massage!
Then I return to the lower back area, which is usually swollen, and I use short deep strokes from the center outwards to gently remove the excess fluid via the lymph canals via friction. As my husband is quite used to massage by now I sometimes use my knuckles to put more pressure on the muscles. Be careful when trying this, for some people this may be too hard.
I then use my thumbs to massage out from each vertebra to the top of the ribs, beginning at the hairline and working all the way down to the bottom, putting quite lot of pressure on the area besides the vertebrae.
Then I go back to the whole back; I use my spread-out fingers to create a little room between the muscle fibers and work in circles. This is called petrissage. I alternate between petrissage and effleurage. I also work a bit around the shoulder blades and on top of the shoulders, trying to find the trigger points there.
I don't always succeed with that, to my husband's relief, because if I find them he really jumps.
Then I use my thumbs to go from the neck down and push the vertebrae gently apart from each other vertically. This technique is very good for people with back pain, as it often has to do with tightly compressed vertebrae. I return to his operation scar and do some more deep friction strokes (by this time he is usually at least partly asleep in spite of my quite strenuous efforts).
Finally I round off with long effleurage strokes which gradually become lighter and lighter until it is more a touch than a pressure, notifying him that this is the end of the massage. It can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on circumstances. Massage is actually also an exercise for the massager; ever noted that professional massagers tend to have very muscled arms and shoulders?
Some tips:
* Massage is meant to be relaxing. Squeezing it into the break time of the football match is not a good idea.
* The room should not be too cold, as at the very least the back has to be exposed for a while.
* Ask for feedback during the massage (but not too often, as it is not relaxing) if you are not used to it: is this too hard, does this hurt, how does this feel?
* Remember to take some relaxation yourself afterwards!
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