Help - need to completely revamp my body mechanics

[Becks]

I am just starting out in practice and I have terrible issues with body mechanics. We didn't get much training for this in school - I have tried to be very conscious of it, but the more I learn, the more I realize that my entire massage routine needs to be replaced bit by bit with techniques that are safer for my body.

My most pressing concern is learning hand-saving techniques. I have hypermobile fingers, and my thumb joints in particular look like bombs waiting to explode. I always notice when I am doing something bad, but I keep doing it because it's the way I learned and I don't know what else to do. Most of my issues are with supine neck, shoulder, and arm work - just about everything I learned for these regions involve thumb-heavy kneading or friction and contorting the wrist in various directions. I've been trying to incorporate more fist/knuckles, but I haven't figured out how to entirely replace my old routine.

Any advice or resources? I have Dynamic Bodyuse by Darien Pritchard, and Deep Tissue by Art Riggs. I guess I just don't really have a clear idea of how to put something together into an effective, cohesive routine - I feel like I'm ineffective and "missing the mark" when I try for forearms, elbows, and the like (and am probably still using awful body mechanics). I'm in the Midwest if anyone knows of any classes, but any advice I can start working with now would be much appreciated.

 

[graceomally99]

Help - need to completely revamp my body mechanics

You have great resources to work with, you just need to spend some time studying and practicing. Here are a few recommendations that might help you keep moving in the right direction:

1. Don't panic. The tone of your note sounds a bit frantic. It's clearly a great concern for you, but try to relax a bit. Rebuilding your massage technique requires some patient practice, and it's unlikely that your thumbs will blow up immediately.

2. Forget about having "a routine" that you use all the time. A stock routine is a helpful teaching tool for students, but you are out in the real world and don't have to follow a dogmatic approach to massage anymore. You are free to create new routines, or better yet work without a routine confining your creativity and ability to adapt to your client's needs.

3. Start your technical changes with effleurage. This is the old standby of massage, and arguably the most important for maintaining a sense of flow. Look at how Pritchard and Riggs set their table heights and how their working stance permits them to move with proper mechanics. Notice how they adjust their stance for different types of effleurage strokes from different positions around the client. Seek to emulate them. If you can find a willing volunteer, do some unpaid technical practice on the areas you most struggle with, using ONLY effleurage. These sessions will be based on what YOU need to practice, NOT on what they might want. (Hence, unpaid.) You can also practice on inanimate objects.

4. By the time your effleurage mechanics are better, you will be ready to begin working on your petrissage technique. This is more of the wringing/kneading that you seem concerned about. Good effleurage mechanics will make it easier to pick up good petrissage habits, and so forth.

5. For specific work, such as trigger point therapy, acupressure, connective tissue massage, etc., you want to have a solid base of good Swedish body mechanics. You should know how to stack your joints properly to avoid injury. Pritchard's book has MANY great examples and explanations. Since you have hypermobile thumbs (as I do), you want to look at reinforcing techniques. Also, learn how to strengthen your hands, wrists, forearms, and the rest of your body. Also learn how to stretch it safely. Hypermobility is NOT the same as being flexible, and you need to more careful when stretching. Smart stretching habits are a great complement to strengthening and technical practice.

6. If you can find a qualified massage mentor to work with you, do so! Hands-on training and feedback is invaluable, and will save you a lot of guesswork.

 

[leah5302003]

Help - need to completely revamp my body mechanics

Jason has given you some great ideas to start with. I highly recommend this

6. If you can find a qualified massage mentor to work with you, do so! Hands-on training and feedback is invaluable, and will save you a lot of guesswork.

having someone to show you directly is invaluable. I also have increased the use of forearms to ease the work with thumbs. Look into Val Guin's Forearm Dance. She goes into body mechanics a bit.
It took me a little while to realize a particular 'move' I had learned made my hand hurt and to stop doing it! It was as if I didn't want to 'give it up'! but it hurt and its not worth that. watch videos of others doing massage to get some ideas too, but watch with a critical eye and beware - MT's demonstrating on video are not necessarily using best body mechanics either!