Massage therapists! Are you an athlete? (long)

[beautynails]

For the last few years I've been a nail tech doing a bit of beauty therapy; before christmas I started a new job where I'm doing mostly beauty including lots and lots of massage.

All this massage has been really hard on me physically and there's been trips to the physiotherapist, chiropractor and massage therapist. The massage therapist leant me about on injury prevention which I'm finding very interesting.

The book talks about massage therapists being athletes who need to train to be able perform.

One point in the book that really got me thinking was

you may lift his leg (anywhere from 15 to 100 pounds- that's 45.5 kilos)..........................Do you have the strength to lift these body parts?

Now 100 pounds is very close to my body weight, so what am I doing lifting my body weight? It seems to me that has to be asure fire way to injure yourself.

How many of us think about the amount of weight we are lifting in a day?

Are we in the proper physical condition to be lifting it?




OK Geeks here comes the big one.


I do solemnly swear to do my excercises, lift my weights and be the best massage therapist I can be.



BTW- The book is Save your hands! Injury Prevention for massage Therapists by Lauriann Greene

 

[weezie]

I have noticed since starting to work out a month ago I have been finding my job a lot easier, we need to look after ourselves!

 

[fozzyo]

If anyone has any aches or pains during or after a massage I would strongly advise you look into No Hands Massage or Injury Prevention Massage training as soon as possible. They are very similar and aim to be zero-strain techniques, I am trained in No Hands Massage and I love it and my clients love it. I can do very deep powerful massages without injuring myself and without causing the client pain / discomfort! Unlike any deep-tissue massage I've had.

Also think about body mechanics, posture, support etc.

Mat xx

 

[Susie H]

Hun, I am the extreme case that proves you right.
I'm not a therapist, My main job was coach driver for National express.
Passengers are supposed to turn up with 1 case no heavier then 20kg, the reality is most of the cases are as big as I am and in the extreme cases I have stood there and said, if you can lift it on it can come otherwise forget it,
cases with wheels are the cause, peeps pack them with no thought to lifting them.
I had injuries to my spine from car accidents but over the last 6 months of lifting 49 cases twice a day, 6 days a week I have now had to go back to working on town center buses, the consultant told me if I carry on I will be in a wheel chair before I'm 50, thats 6 years away. The MIR scan showed excessive wear and tear in the upper and lower back. It wasn't there a year ago.
It is so important that you work with a fitness expert to build the muscles that support the joints and ligaments that you are using in your work, before you end up with numb fingers, permanent pins and needles and trapped nerves, once damaged I have been told there is very little that can be done except injections to numb the nerves. Which have to be repeated every 6 months.
Thank you for high lighting this, when you are young you bounce back from injuries so easily that there is no thought to long term problems in the future.

 

[Top Tottie]

Wow!! I didnt know all that.. I lift quite a lot of things and i absolutely hate my portable beauty table its soo heavy..cant afford a lighter one at the moment.. I am going back to gym soon!!

Thank you so much for highlighting this... the things we do to our body!!
xxxx

 

[rouge]

I've got that book, it makes very interesting reading. I believe it was that that started Gerry Pyves off on his research that turned into No Hands massage.

I have had to cut down drastically on the amount of massage that I do, I no longer do back-to-back massages if I can avoid it. It's something we should all be aware of but is not stressed anywhere near enough in colleges and training centres. Unfortunately therapists often don't think about it until it's too late and the damage is done.

I did start a thread on this a few months back, here's the link if anyone wants to read it http://www.salongeek.com/skin-geek/55007-no-hands-massage.html

 

[beautynails]

If anyone has any aches or pains during or after a massage I would strongly advise you look into No Hands Massage or Injury Prevention Massage training as soon as possible. They are very similar and aim to be zero-strain techniques, I am trained in No Hands Massage and I love it and my clients love it. I can do very deep powerful massages without injuring myself and without causing the client pain / discomfort! Unlike any deep-tissue massage I've had.

Also think about body mechanics, posture, support etc.

Mat xx

I'm really interested in no hands massage, but I haven't been able to find anything here.

 

[Brandywine]

I'm beside myself with excitement as I'm going on the No Hands Massage training next weekend. I'm very conscious of looking after myself as I already have a slightly iffy shoulder.

 

[rouge]

I'm really interested in no hands massage, but I haven't been able to find anything here.

You could get in touch with the UK website and ask if they do any training in Australia.

 

[fozzyo]

Unfotunately as far as I am aware there are only No Hands courses in the UK and Taiwan, and Injury Prevention (IPM) Training Centres in the UK as well. I know that the No Hands Massage courses for this year are fully booked, and having spoken to IPM they are just in the process of getting dates for the 2008 courses.

If anyone is interested in IPM Massage I'd definately suggest you get along to Beauty UK at the NEC on the 14th April. I'll be there so you can celebrate my birthday with me and Jennifer Longmore is doing a seminar introducing IPM massage and how it can help you. So why not see it in practice and find out a bit more about it.

Mat

 

[hippy-chick]

this time last year I did a HANDS FREE CPD course and thought it was excellent.
The course had nothing to do with Gerry Pyves (just his name irritates me).

It was basic but I do the moves with EVERY massage I do and it has saved my hands and my thumbs immensely.

I am going to be teaching basic massage this year and will definetly include some hands-free techniques.

Re: lifting
Why lift? you can do a perfectly good massage without lifting anything! I occasssionally lift the leg and place it onto my shoulder so I can use both hands, and sometimes I lift the arm, but not everytime.