All posts by Ian Harvey

Building Your Massage Business (With a Little Help From My Friends)

Massage Business Stuff

People ask me about business stuff a lot, but… I stink at business stuff. I don’t promote myself often, or answer phones, or leave my house. I basically maintain a Facebook blog, advertise, and let clients come to me. This works for me and my social nopeness, but there are ways of tapping into your local client base quicker, finding the right people for your business, and getting the ball rolling in months rather than years. I can’t help you there, but I’ve got friends who can.

Allissa Haines and Michael Reynolds run the Massage Business Blueprint, which I’ve been an advocate for since it began. I’ve even helped with a podcast and an article (they were about working with the gluteal region, so we got to say the word “butt” a lot). In fact, they bring in experts in different fields regularly, so it’s a good way of hearing a lot of viewpoints about massage and business. ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: Reflexology basics, techniques, & routine

This week’s massage tutorial video is on reflexology basics. Now, I should point out that this is my version of reflexology—I’ve long since forgotten most everything about meridians and organ reflex zones, but I’ve been using the techniques for a decade now. This routine feels great, and it seems to create a more profound client experience than your typical Swedish foot massage.

So, does reflexology “work”? That’s a question that I hear from clients and therapists alike. I think people are asking if we can really influence distant organs by interacting with the foot, and I don’t know the answer to that question. I do know that the technique feels vastly different than the stripping and compression that we’re used to. I know that the rhythmic press, press, press of reflexology has an interesting effect on my body and mind, making me feel floaty and dreamy (and making my feet feel fantastic). In this way, I can emphatically say that, yes, reflexology works. ... continue reading.

So Your Massage Client Has an Anxiety Disorder

Massage Communication,

Clients have many different goals when it comes to bodywork, and a perfectly valid one is the management of their stress/anxiety. What are the different types of psychological disorders you might encounter? What do you need to know about anxiety as a massage therapist?

Credit: Jon Rawlinson, CC BY 2.0
Credit: Jon Rawlinson, CC BY 2.0

This article, “Worrying About Worrying” by Ruth Werner, is a good primer on anxiety disorders and how they affect clients. (If you’re an ABMP member, you can see the full magazine version here).

It addresses what you can do as a massage therapist. You’re not a psychologist, but you can create a supportive, nonjudgmental space for your client to finally just unwind. Massage has pretty robust support in the scientific literature for reducing anxiety in the short- and long-term!

Anxiety vs. Stress

Something interesting about anxiety is that it’s very difficult to disentangle from a concept that we’re all familiar with: stress. “I’m so stressed out from work/school. I’m so stressed I can’t sleep. I’m so stressed that it seems like I can’t ever relax.” “Stress” is just a word that we use as a proxy for that fluttery, clenching feeling in our chest that pops up whenever we expect something to require a lot of mental or emotional resources. ... continue reading.

Massage Therapist Self-Care Video: Wrist Pain

This week’s video is on self-treatment for wrist pain. It’s specifically for massage therapists, but I imagine there’s some good info in there for other people.

The information in this video should be pretty safe for any non-traumatic wrist injury, whether it’s a persistent ache after increasing your daily workload, or pain following a “tweak” during a deep pressure massage. I talk about stretching, strengthening, and self-massage, as well as a basic timeline for your recovery. If your pain sticks around despite treatment, feels unusual, or gets worse, do see a medical professional.

Other than the treatment stuff, I mostly emphasize rest. Now, it’s hard to imagine resting your wrists while continuing your massage practice, but it’s possible. You’ll need to find ways to reduce the proportion of your massage where you’re applying palmar pressure. If it’s currently 50%, we need to get you down to half that, or less, for the recovery period. ... continue reading.

Reading Your Client’s Mind: The Art of the Follow-up Question

Massage Communication

When I’m interviewing new massage clients, there’s a trick that I do that makes me seem psychic. It goes a little something like this: They’ll mention that they have headaches, and I’ll ask where. They’ll point to their temples, and I’ll ask if they also have jaw pain/dysfunction. “Yeah, I do! How did you know?”

I’ll give them an enigmatic smile and say, “a magician never reveals his tricks.”

Via Alan Levine, CC BY 2.0
Via Alan Levine, CC BY 2.0

… Not really 🙂 I’ll take the opportunity to let them know about their temporalis muscle, and how jaw problems can refer up into the temples, and vice versa. I’ll emphasize the reciprocal relationship between the two areas, and let them know that I’d like to work with areas related to their pain rather than just concentrating on any one spot. They’re usually pretty enthusiastic about this approach. ... continue reading.