All posts by Ian Harvey

Is Your Massage Practice Sending the Wrong Message?

Massage Business Stuff, Rambling,

Here’s an important article about a negative experience that a client had while on the table: https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/dealing-with-a-fat-shaming-massage-therapist/

In a previous rant, I said that massage therapists causing pain—and making their clients think it was necessary—was one of the only massage-related phenomena that truly made me angry. Well, this counts as causing pain. If someone comes to me with a unique human body, anything that I say or do to stigmatize that person for their shape, or size, or sounds, or smell, is causing harm. They’ll leave that experience thinking, “I was wrong for putting myself in that vulnerable position.” In other words, they trusted us with their body, and we breached that trust.

Maybe you would never think of commenting directly on someone’s weight, which is great! With that as a given, I’d like to direct your attention to something that we’ve learned from psychological and medical studies: The power of words, and the power of symbols in general. How we speak, and even the signs and pictures in our offices, can communicate a powerful message of brokenness or wholeness to our clients. ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: Myofascial release for TMJ/jaw pain

This one’s on easy myofascial release techniques for TMJ pain:

As you may have noticed, I don’t do any intraoral work here. In fact, I don’t spend much time focused on any one muscle, let alone seeking out trigger points. Instead, I approach this broadly, using slow fascial traction to “iron out” the entire region. With just two passes (one with client engagement), I find that my clients tend to experience a big drop in jaw tension.

In fact, this is one of the few areas that I feel like I can “fix.” If you’ve followed this page for a while, you know that I’m not a big fan of that concept. Most pain resolution happens over the course of many sessions, along with new habits on the part of the client. Jaw pain, however, is something that can resolve after just a couple of massages, often with a big reduction in symptoms after just one. Let me know if you have a similar experience! ... continue reading.

Foam Rolling: Self-care video for massage therapists and clients

Hey, how about a nice self-care video? Today, I show you how to use my favorite self-massage technology, the foam roller. It’s great for working out the back and shoulder tightness that can creep in after a long work week, and it really puts you in touch with that “ironing out” sensation that I talk about so much:

The use of a foam roller is also a skill, and it’s one that you can pass on to your clients. As I say in the video, a lot of your most athletic clients (your triathletes, for examples), will already have one of these things… and they’ll probably be using it to abuse their already painful legs. They’ll be digging in to their vastus lateralus in a vain attempt to lengthen a painful IT band, when really all they need is some work in their hips. We can help point them in the right direction! ... continue reading.

Massage Tutorial Video: Thumb-free massage techniques

Got hurt thumbs? Want to give an entire massage without using your thumbs, even once? Check out my new tutorial video:

You guys know that I’m a proponent of the “thumb vacation” when you’ve got pollex pain. If it acts like an injury, it needs to be treated like one: Rest, inflammation management, and rehabilitation. You wouldn’t tell a client with a hurt knee to “keep doing what you were doing,” so why do we treat ourselves with any less kindness?

The tricky part is implementation. How do I do petrissage? How will I apply deep pressure to certain areas, or scoop up muscles that beg to be scooped? In the video, I demonstrate some strategies that I’ve developed while my own thumbs were out of the game. ... continue reading.

How to Make a Massage Demo Video to Get New Clients

Massage Business Stuff,

I’ve recently done something revolutionary for my massage business: I made a video of myself in action. My new clients increased substantially, my Facebook business page started getting a lot more views and likes, and my advertising dollars suddenly stretched a lot farther.

The days of describing your style and hoping people got the picture were… fine. Trying to tell people how my massage style was different from everyone else’s was always an adventure, because I had to ride that fine line between sounding exactly like everyone else and sounding like a pompous jerk. But it’s the year 2016 or so, and we’re well into the age of easy online video. Why don’t we show instead of just telling?

It’s really not so hard. There might be some equipment to buy, and the editing can be a bit of trouble, but I promise that it’s worth the effort. ... continue reading.