Advanced Clinical & Sports Massage
Advanced Clinical and Sports massage is a specialised form of massage and incorporates the manipulation of the body’s soft tissues using specific techniques. It is suitable for everyone, young, old, sports or non-sports.
It is used to :-
provide comfort in response to pain
relax the body when it is tense or stressed
prevent injuries from happening
improve restricted movement
Massage is the therapy in which I am most present right in each moment. What I mean by this is that in kinesiology or nutrition etc, I am often piecing together, what area of the body, supplement, essence is related to this imbalance. With massage, it’s all about what I am feeling underneath my hands. “The issues in your tissues” so to speak.
During the Session
Massage is frequently done on skin using a balm, wax or oil, so I ask you to undress appropriately for the massage, (bras are usually not worn, pants are kept on). At times when I am doing myofasical techniques, I work through your clothing so it does depend. If your movement is restricted then again very often I will work through your clothing.
While one area of the body is being worked on for example the leg, the rest of the body is kept warm and covered with towels. When each area is finished, it is re-covered and then I move on to the next area.
More Information
I first qualified in Holistic Massage back in 2003 and in 2014 I decided to upgrade my skills in this fabulous hands on therapy. During the advanced training in Advanced Clinical and Sports Massage, we were taught about ‘listening thumbs’ and it’s so true. Very often during a massage I will close my eyes just so that I can focus even more fully on how the muscles or the fascia feels and moves, whether it’s stuck underneath the pressure of my hands. Also at the end of 2014, I trained with the Jing in their Hot Stone Fusion Therapy which has added a beautiful and effective arm to the massage treatment.
Clients often wonder why I work where it isn’t painful. Even when “it only hurts on the right” I want to know what the left is doing as a comparison. It may be that an old injury long forgotten is showing itself and the side that hurts is compensating and therefore working too hard but the original injury still needs some help.
I also qualified in Advanced Myofascial Therapy also in 2015 and this is also incorporated into how I work with clients. It can be slower and deeper work, again I only work to your pain threshold. The old adage of “No pain, No Gain” is exactly that, OLD! Working within your pain threshold ensures your body isn’t going into clenching mode either in the area that is painful or somewhere else which may then cause another problem further down the line.
Fix-in-6
The Jing Advanced Massage Training Academy that I did my advanced courses encourage us to work with for a minimum 6 sessions when starting to work with a new client. The first 3 sessions are best to be had close together, (generally a 5-7 days apart) especially when it comes to chronic pain - i.e. more than 3 weeks old. This is to prevent the old neural pathways from becoming the strong pattern and going back to the old way of holding the body, and allows you to learn a new way of movement and also for the pain and perhaps trauma to be released.
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The classic strokes used in Holistic/Swedish massage are all used regularly as well as the variations that have emerged in more recent times such as nerve strokes and trigger point work that I learned in my Advanced Training. Deep slow pressure may be needed to release a tense or contracted muscle and during this type of work I will generally be using Advanced Myofascial techniques such as skin rolling, or deep release work. Heat will often be a factor as well as I incorporate the Hot Stones in most massages. Clothing may be removed or not, depending on your pain and mobility levels and which techniques I feel are most relevant for you.
Pressure is always applied gradually until the desired effect is achieved. Discomfort may be experienced but pain should never go beyond your threshold and I encourage you to tell me when you feel pain.
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After the massage, I give you time to get dressed, have a chat with you about how you feel and what change has occurred. I always encourage you to drink some extra water after a massage in the hours that follow. This is because one of the fluids in the body called the lymph has been stimulated. The lymph is the cleaning fluid for the body and drinking extra ensure it is able to do its job.
At present I am encouraging you to bring your own water to prevent disposable cups being thrown away - just another way to be kind to the planet where we can.
With Rosemary I had helpful consultations in a relaxed atmosphere. She recommended tablets/herbal remedies to relieve the symptoms and with the Kinesiology/Massage this helped to balance my body and aid stiff joints.
- Digestive Problems
{Female, 74yrs Melrose Area.}