Better Bodywork: The 5 Principles of Excellent Massage

By MERCEDES BULLOCK

The best massage therapists are not the ones who know the most modalities or offer the most add-ons. They are the ones who embody five simple principles:

1. High-Quality Touch
2. High-Quality Strokes
3. A Polished Protocol - On and Off the Table
4. Anatomy
5. Continuous Learning

• Language: English
• Publisher: MERCEDES BULLOCK
• Release date: Apr 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9798201150495

Book preview

Disclaimer

This book is an educational and informational resource for licensed massage therapists. It is not a substitute for formal instruction at an accredited institution. Neither the publisher nor the author makes any guarantees about the outcome of following the recommendation provided, and any statements about the potential outcome are expressions of opinion only. Your outcomes are based on subjective factors that are not within the author’s control. Therefore, following any information or recommendations provided in this book is at your own risk. If you need further instruction, you should attend a class or purchase a valid CE from an accredited institution or other professional.

Foreword

To be honest, my inspiration for writing this book was a crappy massage. 

The facility was beautiful - everything conducive to relaxation, luxury, and healing. The scene was set for leisure with a cozy locker room and steam shower, free to use before or after my appointment, cold infused water readily available, a meditation room with couches, a fireplace, and snacks. Everything about it was beautiful. Right away I wanted a job there so I could be there every day. 

Everything was top tier, except for the massage itself.

It was a thirty-minute massage - my neck was killing me, and I decided to drop in for a quick appointment before I had to pick up my baby from his grandma's house. I had never been to this spa, but I was quickly dazzled. Every aspect of the place filled me with anticipation and led me to expect an exquisite experience.

My massage therapist came to collect me from the meditation room, and I was immediately yanked from my contented stat. She wasn't wearing shoes - a strong breach of hygiene and professionalism, but I was ready to forgive her if her work met the quality of her workplace. 

And to the credit of the spa, during the massage, there were hot towels, heated tables, crisp sheets, hot rice bags for my feet, every perk I could have wanted.

But the therapist's strokes were jabby, relying heavily on fingers and thumbs. I was seriously distracted by how bad her body mechanics were in regard to her thumbs. Her strokes were too quick - I could feel the bruises forming as she went roughly over my scapula. She was nervous and ineffective with her forearms, too afraid to use them on my neck. She used them a bit on my shoulders and upper back, but her forearm game was weak there too. 

I asked her to squeeze my feet so they wouldn’t feel left out, and her foot massage wasn't much better - all quick gouges with fingers and thumbs. 

I was overwhelmed with all the advice I wanted to give her, and all the pain she was causing me. But there wasn't enough time, and mediocre bodywork is better than no bodywork. 

Ten minutes into the massage, she seemed like she had run out of things to do for my neck. She kept reusing the same wimpy (and yet excruciating) strokes. And she wasn't thorough. She only treated the lower half of my neck, obviously oblivious to the shapes and lengths of the muscles and how to treat them. 

I wanted to share my preferences to improve the experience, but there was just too much to say. It was clear that her education had failed her miserably. She, like hundreds of thousands of other massage therapists, had fallen prey to a crappy school with sub-par teachers and an inadequate curriculum.

Her connection through touch was weak. She used only two of the Swedish strokes: effleurage and petrissage, and she didn't use them well. 

Her protocol didn't flow. It was jarring and disjointed.

She either didn't know musculoskeletal anatomy, or no one had ever taught her the importance of working each muscle in its entirety. 

She seemed to have no inkling of how her touch was being perceived. Even when I tensed my whole body in pain, she didn't lighten up or ask me about the pressure. 

In my own decision to attend massage school, I researched schools meticulously to find the best one. Massage school is expensive, and I didn't want to waste my money. I looked at curriculum, success rates of graduates, percentage of students who graduate, and reviews of teachers and students for all the schools near both my North Carolina and Utah families. I was surprised to find that all massage schools basically accepted anyone with the ability to pay. 

All you need is an inclination for the work, and no sexual