Massage: The Personal Touch

Peter Riddering, Dip Advanced Naturopathy, BHSc(CompMed) dip Rem Mas, cert Iridologist, Fascial Kinetics

• (1) Super Massage. G. Inkeles, Piatkus Publishers.
• (2) Collinge, W.1988. Psychosocial outcomes of complementary cancer therapy. Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Ninth Annual Scientific Sessions. Boston: 60-61.
• (3) Collinge, W.1988. Psychosocial outcomes of complementary cancer therapy. Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Ninth Annual Scientific Sessions. Boston: 60-61.
• (4) Massage Therapy and Bodywork: Healing Through Touch (c) 1996 William Collinge, M.P.H., Ph.D. (Excepted from The American Holistic Health Associations Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine, Warner Books)
• (5) Rick Smith, Masseur, Internet site.

This article was published in The Waihekian under the column: Eye contact 19 Massage: the personal touch

Introduction

 From baby on we have been touched, so deeply that we do it automatically when we meet other people. We shake hands, hug in all sort of styles; not just to exchange physical expressions in joy or sadness but also when we meet as strangers. After eye contact it is the second expression we recognise as a meeting of energy. We can often feel the same energy without touching and most of us do it without knowing. If you do not believe that, than look what happens with twins, family bonds, etc. Ever felt you were being watched without being able to see the watcher?

Benefits

  A therapeutic massage has an incredible effect on the body especially if it is deep. The benefits of deep soft tissue massage are numerous: The circulation is increased, blood pressure is lowered, vascular and lymphatic toning is increased. There is an increase in oxygenation of all tissues. The muscles are affected in that recovery from strains is a 300% faster and endurance is increased. The nervous system benefits enormously with a reduction in anxiety, increased relaxation, relief from cramp and often wrinkles and worry lines recede. The skin is moisturised. It is important to drink a few extra glasses of water after a massage to help with the internal dehydration, which was created by the break-up of the protein adhesion bonds and freeing up of lactic acids that stiffen muscles. The body can than keep those chemicals in circulation and allow them to go to the body- organs to be broken down further or eliminated.

 Basically deep tissue massage has a fluid release effect, that alters in minutes the chemistry of fatigue and stress. The tissues are super oxygenated and irritating wastes are pressed out of the tissues. The results often have to be experienced to be believed: nagging pains disappear, fatigue vanishes and a sense of well-being takes place. One begins to feel instead of think. Flexibility is increased and one feels energised. This is why serious athletes at competitions often have a personal masseur to give them the edge with top performance. The effects of massage can be profound and provide instant and long lasting benefits. One session is usual not enough though it may alleviate most of the symptoms of the problem. You have to understand that usually the complaint has been building up for considerable time, often months or years and expectation of miracles is great but an investment in time may be essential. Much has to do with the client's behaviour before the pain occurred. It is well documented that the muscular damage was been done a long time before the appearance of pain, like that last bit of hard work in the garden, shifting those big boxes just aggravated the problem and "broke the camels back". One needs to "train" and strengthen those muscles before we do this sort of work and build up to strenuous activities. That is why we are told to warm-up and stretch before a sports event. A football (or any other sport) team with a lot of injuries is not a fit team. The term "fitness" of course is relative to what is required. You can be fit to run a marathon or fit to be a couch-potato.

Tools of the trade

The tools of the massage therapist are the hands. For the energetic and deep work it is not just finger pressure but the use of knuckles, wrists, fore-arm and elbow combined with body weight, one hand or arm supporting the other. The massage that I do is with slow deep pressure where my body weight is central to the techniques I apply. Massage can be done "dry" through cloth like light clothing or a towel. Massage can also be done with water as in hydro-therapy. Most of the time a lubricant is used and the client needs to undress. The most common lubricants are vegetable and mineral oils and they vary with the therapist as well as the technique used. I have stepped away from oils and am exclusively using a massage wax, made from a combination of bee's wax and some selected oils. The effect of oils can be likened to 'ball bearings" rolling, while the wax performs like plates "sliding". The wax molecule has a completely different structure. The skin is left with a non-sticky satin feeling, it does not get oxidised like conventional oils (even when anti-oxidant oils like wheatgerm oil is added), it comes easily out of towels and my clients clothing. One of the other advantages of massage wax is that there is a wonderful friction that creates a "heat" that assists the warming up and speeds the healing of the damaged tissues. Nature provides the best materials for our health.

Types of massage

Massage techniques can be broken down into the following five broad categories:

Traditional European Massage

Swedish massage is by far the most predominant example of traditional European massage and it is the most commonly used method in the United States. It was developed by Per Henrik Ling in Sweden in the early 19th century and uses a system of long gliding strokes, kneading, and friction techniques on the more superficial layers of muscles. Aromatherapy is a contemporary Swedish massage technique where specific aromatic oils are applied, most of the time with only light pressure.

Contemporary Western Massage

Neuromuscular Massage. This is a form of deep massage that applies concentrated finger pressure specifically to individual muscles. This is a very detailed approach, used to increase blood flow and to release trigger points, intense knots of muscle tension that refer pain to other parts of the body (they become trigger points when they seem to trigger a pain pattern). This form of massage helps to break the cycle of spasm and pain and is often used in pain control. Trigger point massage and myo-therapy are varieties of neuromuscular massage. Deep Tissue Massage. This approach is used to release chronic patterns of muscular tension using slow strokes, direct pressure, or friction. Often the movements are directed across the grain of the muscles (cross-fibre) using the fingers, thumbs, or elbows. This is applied with greater pressure and at deeper layers of the muscle than Swedish massage and that is why it is called deep tissue. It is also more specific. Sports Massage. This uses techniques similar to Swedish and deep tissue but more specifically adapted to deal with the needs of athletes and the effects of athletic performance on the body. Sports massage is used before or after events, as part of an athlete's training regimen, and to promote healing from injuries. Sports massage can be a relatively vigorous form of massage, sometimes with a great deal of joint movement included

Structural/Functional/Movement Integration

These approach work on body structure and how it moves. The most common approaches include Rolfing, Hellerwork, the Rosen Method, the Trager approach, the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique, and Ortho-Bionomy.

Oriental Methods

Oriental methods are based on the principles of Chinese medicine and the flow of energy or chi through the meridians. The geography of the acupuncture meridians is relied upon to determine points of applying the techniques and the ultimate goal is restoration of harmony or balance in the flow of chi. These forms may also be used in concert with herbs and acupuncture. Pressure is applied by finger or thumb tips to predetermined points rather than by the sweeping broad strokes of Western style massage. Strong pressure or very light pressure may be applied. There are over a dozen varieties of oriental massage and bodywork therapy, but the most common forms are acupressure, shiatsu, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Jin Shin Do(r) Bodymind Acupressure.

Energetic Methods (Non-oriental)

In a sense, all the oriental methods described above are also energetic methods in that they are working with energy according to principles of Chinese medicine and view the human being as an energy system. However, there are other energetic methods that are not based on Chinese principles. The most prominent of these are Therapeutic Touch, polarity therapy, and Reiki.

Contra-indications for massage:

Your massage therapist knows from his training when not to massage the client. There is some controversy over tumours and cancers. Experts though agree that it is best to err on the side of conservatism. Chemotherapy does make the tissues more fragile and thus it is better to wait for a few days before initiating massage treatment with lighter movements. 2 A number of cancer treatment programs incorporate massage therapy as complementary cancer therapy, it has been an integral part of a program that resulted in significant improvement in quality of life, even for patients with metastatic disease. The ability of massage to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress is a logical counter to the strain a cancer patient must deal with in facing a life-threatening condition and traumatic treatment.

Scientific support for massage

Prior to the advent of pharmaceutical medicine earlier in this century, references to massage therapy and research were not uncommon in the mainstream medical literature. There were over hundred articles in various journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal, and others from 1813 to 1939. A great deal of research was also conducted in Eastern Bloc countries and China. After World War I, there was a world-wide precipitous decline in focus on this field as drugs and other allopathic interventions gained the foreground. Psychological conditions also are affected beneficially, as the physiological changes that occur with these kinds of intervention help harmonise and re-balance the nervous and hormonal systems. There is great potential in using massage to reduce cumulative traumatic disorders in the workplace. For example, factory workers with continuous repetitive movements, data processors and typists often develop carpal tunnel problems. Regular maintenance of fortnightly deep tissue massage with mainly cross fibre massage (combined fi. with Fascial Kinetics, acupressure) of their wrist/arm/shoulder area is the usual treatment to prevent the recurrent OOS (RSI). It is the experience of some of my clients that it is best not to smoke immediately before a massage or take pain medication. Plan it so that the session is roughly half way between smoking or medication. The body tissues release more of the hidden or trapped chemicals during the massage treatment. This is also borne out in some of the literature and massage training. 5

Conclusion

When clients come and tell that they have tried a variety of methods and medical experts and find no "cure" it is hard to say "I can help you". Most of my clients come to me because of "word of mouth" experience of their family, friends or work mates. They are my ambassadors and sometimes I have to admit that I experiment and adapt a combination of methods to complete a treatment. To say 'experimenting on clients' may sound terrible but the treatment plan comes from the combination of the physiological and anatomical knowledge of the therapist, the client information and the therapist's previous experience and it is never really the same. No two clients are the same, nor when they return for a second or further sessions. Every client is my teacher and improves my way to provide a better quality of life for the next client. The bulk of my successful treatments come from working on all the three bodies of our being, to explain this crudely I tend to work on the physical, the etheric, and the electrical of the body working inward. Massage is not just for people who can't handle their pain or for people who feel the need to be pampered. Very few people come for a massage for the luxury of it. Massage is in actuality therapeutic. The Mayo Clinic lists the psychological benefits as: "Massage relieves stress and can improve your state of mind. Also, massage fulfils a universal human need for touch. Massage is not only the answer to the aching back it can change our lives for the better". You do not have to be sports oriented to enjoy a massage or have a physical problem. After a hard day at work there is no better way to unwind than with a massage. We get more and more stressed because the quest to have and do more is natural. The world around us is showing us the opposite in that Time in this physical universe seems to speed up. Gyms are great to destress if you know how far you can go before returning to a stressful situation. Experiencing a good deep massage leaves you full of energy and feeling great. Don't forget: It is wonderful to be kneaded.

** You can find Peter at the Ostend Market in the hall, Waiheke Island on Saturdays mornings or see him at his practice at home and in Downtown Auckland. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook as Peter Riddering and Raw Toof. You can also reach him by phone at 372-8573