All posts by Ian Harvey

Massage Technique Video: Myofascial neck spreading/stretching

This one’s a simple myofascial spreading technique for the neck and chest:

I use two hand tools for this—a loose fist to glide up the neck, and a palm to spread the upper chest tissue laterally. Make sure to use broad, slow pressure with both, and to conform your tools to the changing landscape underneath them.

I prefer this over traditional neck stretches taught in massage classes. It still gives the client a deep feeling of stretch, but it keeps them within their comfortable range of motion. As long as you work broadly and slowly, you can use firm pressure without compromising the sensitive tissues in the cervical region. Let me know what your clients think! Like I say in the video, I’ve found it to be a real crowd-pleaser 🙂 ... continue reading.

Massage Video: 5 Massage Methods I’ve Abandoned

New instructional video! This one’s on five massage practices that I no longer make use of:

Why? Some of them were a little more trouble than they were worth. As much as I love psoas work, for example, it takes a good 10 minutes of my session if I give it the time and consideration it deserves. I’ve found that I can accomplish much with low back and hip pain by working with related structures. While I don’t always contact psoas, I know that by working with its synergists and antagonists, I’m having a wide-ranging effect.

Some of my old methods may have even been causing harm. The extreme neck stretches/massage that I learned in many continuing education courses (and that I see in many YouTube videos) are asking a LOT from a collection of rather delicate and sensitive structures. As I say in the video, side effects from this work can range from pain to syncope, and there’s even a chance for tissue trauma in vulnerable clients. Does this mean I don’t work with the neck? Heck no, I can spend a good half hour there 🙂 I just work within existing ROM, and avoid techniques that might compromise the local nervous and vascular tissue. I’ll have a demonstration of a good myofascial technique for working with neck ROM up soon. ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: Side-lying techniques and demonstration

Today’s massage tutorial video is on side-lying massage. While it’s not a comprehensive course, it should be a good refresher for those of you who haven’t given one in a while, and it should have some useful tips for the long-time therapists in the crowd.

 If you haven’t given a massage like this is a while, the general set-up and communication can be a little daunting. What pillows go where? How do I make this a deep massage without shoving them off the table? While I try to give a good overview of the answers in the video, you’ll definitely find it helpful to start with a friend. Find one who’s comfortable speaking their mind, and who’ll tell you when something doesn’t feel quite right. 

While it can be tempting to only do light-pressure Swedish on side-lying clients, this is a great opportunity to offer deep massage that just isn’t possible with a prone or supine client. When applying pressure to the low back, you get a rotational component to the technique that’s built in. As you work with the shoulder, you’ll find that it’s quite mobile as it floats atop the rib cage. Use this opportunity to interact with lateral structures that don’t receive a lot of work normally. ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: Working with Mature Scar Tissue

How do you work with a client with older scar tissue? Here’s a video about my strategy:

I talk about some myofascial-inspired techniques for working with scar tissue, but mostly I discuss my general approach.

When I work with an area with extensive scarring, my primary concern is with the client as a whole. When someone has a visible/palpable area of past trauma, it can be easy to become hyper-focused on the region. While plenty of direct work may be warranted, this can leave the client feeling dissected, and it can feed into the narrative that this is their “bad leg” or “bad shoulder.” Certainly focus in, but always integrate the area back into the bigger picture.

Conversely, it can be tempting to avoid an area of past trauma. With a burn scar, or hip replacement, or amputation, we might feel like treating the area carefully. While I like this impulse (I think we should always approach the body with kindness and care), it can also unconsciously feed into a stigmatizing narrative where the site of past injury feels like “that thing” rather than “me.” ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: How to massage a “crick in the neck”

Massage Tips and Tricks, Massage Video, ,

New massage tutorial video! This one’s on working with stiff necks, or “neck cricks.” As always, I come at this from a myofascial perspective, rather than trying to stretch the kink out or “break up knots.” I do a quick anatomy review of levator scapulae, and then I demonstrate my protocol on a client:

This is one of the few areas where I feel like massage can “fix” acute pain in one or two sessions. If I work slowly and give this area the time it needs, I can typically help them stand up from the experience with much of their range of motion restored.

I think that the “neck crick” phenomenon exemplifies one of reasons why massage is so useful. A little muscle in our neck gets irritated, and suddenly we have a huge amount of impairment. Rather than feeling like a spasm, it can often feel like a bone is out of place, which is a scary sensation. Suddenly, many of our tasks of daily living become more difficult, and even sleep can be out of reach. ... continue reading.