In my last wellness article published in May, I explained a smorgasbord of foundational massage modalities offered in our culture, including Swedish, deep tissue, sports massage, and myofascial release techniques. Herein I address additional techniques, which add variety and focus to the previous menu of bodywork modalities. Some I currently offer, others I have limited experience with.
The cooling weather of fall will entice you to sweeten your massage with soothing hot stones, a tool I offer with every massage, due to unanimously positive feedback. My clients love hot stones regardless the time of year, due to their comforting, relaxing, and warming properties. Smooth basalt rocks warmed in hot water are incorporated into massage strokes to promote circulation and relaxation, allowing superficial muscles to soften so deeper pressure can be more readily accepted.
Massage Cupping
Massage cupping is another therapeutic ingredient to add to your session when appropriate, and delivers quite a unique sensation of lifting the layers of skin, fascia, and musculature, rather than compressing them, in active gliding motions. The negative pressure suction is like a leavening agent in the layers of soft tissue, allowing space. I rarely deliver a complete session of cupping massage, but rather, use cups to prepare areas for more effective treatment. By gliding plastic or silicone suction cups over the treatment area, practitioners can feel where tissues hold tension, and use the negative pressure to create lift and circulation to that area, speeding muscle recovery through increased blood flow. Cupping can reduce inflammation and scar tissue, move toxins and stimulate lymphatic flow.
Active Release Technique
Active Release Technique (ART) is a specifically formulated and targeted group of procedures used to approach chronic and acute muscular pain, and can certainly spice up your massage, adding precise therapeutic techniques to traumatized musculature. Over 100 protocols exist just for the upper extremity, each isolating the muscle involved, utilizing active motions while engaging the muscle appropriately to stimulate a release and promote healing. Presently, I am certified in ART for the upper extremity, and have found it to be an effective technique for many injuries where cumulative trauma has caused pain. I look forward to taking classes in ART for the lower extremity and spine.
Thai Massage
Thai Massage is flavorful and unique. Sometimes called “lazy man’s yoga”, or Thai Yoga Massage(TYM), a true Thai massage is unlike what I offer on my massage table, but I do have experience in an alternative, Table Thai Massage. TYM is done on mats on the floor, fully clothed, with the practitioner stretching their client into a variety of yogic positions while adding static and rhythmic pressure to “sen” lines, or energetic channels, of the body. A full TYM works the connective tissue between the bones and tendons and includes stretching and applied pressure to the entire body, taking about two hours. Table Thai Massage, the alternative that I offer, incorporates a number of TYM stretches that can be administered on a massage table, and added into a more customary western massage. Thai massage lengthens and relaxes muscles through assisted stretching, increases joints’ range of motion and circulation, and balances the body’s nervous system and energy flow.
Reflexology
Lastly, reflexology is a healing art based on the principle that reflex areas of the hands and feet correspond to glands, organs and areas of the body. With ancient roots in India, China and Egypt, modern reflexology in this country is based also on the 1930’s work of physiotherapist Eunice Ingham, and Zone Therapy, which divides the body into 10 longitudinal lines, which begin at the fingertips and terminate at the toes, linking specific body parts. While not certified in reflexology, I do offer Thai Foot Massage, which incorporates reflexology of the foot. Established by Jivaka Kumar Bhacca (aka Dr. Shivago), the same ancient physician who is celebrated as the founder of Thai Massage, and served as private doctor to Buddha and many kings and nobility of India, Thai Foot Massage is a 75-minute foot treatment that incorporates the stimulation of 23 reflexology points in the feet and sen lines of the leg. By applying pressure to areas of tenderness in the foot, we stimulate the corresponding organ, which is reflexively connected. The procedure can be abbreviated and is a wonderful accentuation to the beginning or end of a massage.
For further information or to schedule an appointment please contact Alessandra Nisco Jacobson at Alison Palmer’s Physical Therapy and Wellness Center, (970) 729-1737,
Located in Cimarron Lodge at the bottom of lift 7. Wellness is the full integration of mind, body and spirit. We look forward to helping you towards a healthier life.