Before the client arrived, I made sure the bed was clean, the couch roll was laid down and I had the appropriate massage mediums. It’s important to have a range of mediums as some clients may be allergic to certain ones. You would find this information out by asking the patient what contraindications they have. I started off on the back and spent around 20 minutes focussing on this area. I performed effleurage and petrissage on the whole back and then moved to the upper back. Around the scapula area I used a circular motion for effleurage to allow me to cover a larger surface area. My client had tightness in the levator scapulae so I performed soft tissue release on this muscle. Soft tissue release is where you apply pressure to a muscle and at the same time stretch the muscle therefore increasing range of movement. I then got the client in a comfortable position so that the scapula was more superficial. I palpated it and felt for any knots or areas of tension that I could work on and release any tension. I spent 10 minutes on each gastrocnemius starting with effleurage to increase blood flow and then petrissage to get deeper into the muscle tissue. I used hacking which is a tapotement technique to revitalise the clients sore and tired muscles from exercise a few days before. As this was a post exercise massage I expected to feel tightness and hypersensitiveness in the calves. When I did find areas like this I used neuromuscular technique to relax and normalise the tense tissue.

Areas for further improvement 

To improve I believe I need to practice massaging different areas of the body as I am very confident at massaging the back and the legs but I need more experience in massaging areas like the feet and pectorals. It’s important to continue to develop my knowledge on anatomy to allow me to understand why certain areas of the body experience achiness and how these areas may work together or assist in certain movements.

Things to Remember 

1. You may need to adapt the different massage techniques depending on the body type of your client
2. Its important to understand why we use different massage techniques and what the aim of them are so you can select the appropriate one
3. Communication is key when massaging