Tools for Massage

As an “old hand” at massage, I am not too impressed with tools sometimes used in massage therapy. I have stayed away from knobbles and thumb covers and even hot stones in my practice, largely because they tend to create elbow and shoulder problems for therapists who are tempted to use too tight a grip.

         

One of my cohorts in a day spa had chronic extensor tendonitis from using hot stones, which eventually led to surgery on both forearms. It was a career-ending surgery. Rather than use the stones only in hot stone massages, she had begun using stones warmed in the towel cabby during every massage as an added treat.

         

I feel the pain, having had a 10-year bout with extensor tendonitis myself as a result of working an old computer keyboards at various newspapers. My flying fingers suddenly got stiff one day and the forearms had a toothache-like burn that never went away. It took years of therapy and ice to correct the problem.

         

Yet here I am feeling rather good about using a device in massages – conservatively – because I think it does some good for the client as well as the therapist.

         

I recently took a class with esteemed medical massage therapist Boris Prilutsky. He has been experimenting on using silicone cups as a negative pressure tool in massage.

What I like about this technique is that it is not the Chinese cupping. The Chinese method uses fire (scary to the clients) to create a vacuum and then leaves cups on an injured area or blocked meridian for several minutes. Skin is sucked into the cup, creating a bright red mark that can last for several days. Near as I can tell it treats by creating a secondary injury – inflammation and hyperemia – to draw healing factors to the region.

I have seen folks over the years with cupping marks and it has always struck me as not a therapy I would not enjoy doing or having done to me. But I have liked the effects of negative pressure when I have been treated with cups.

Prilutsky brought his massage skills to the table and presented a way of using soft cups made of silicone and very slight vacuum pressure over oiled skin. The technique lifts tissue over adhesed areas and seems to promote both lymphatic and blood movement.

And he advised us to use it slowly, sparingly, and with attention to not creating a tight grip and warring with the tissues.

Good advice, I think.

I’ve been trying the cups here and there on very “stuck” zones and I think it is a tool I will use. Carefully.