Which one is right for you?
Swedish massage. deep tissue massage. Sports massage. Russian massage. Trigger point therapy. What are they and how are they different? If you are a customer looking for a 마사지, how do you know what to order?
You don’t need to know the name of a specific technique, but you do want to be clear about what your goal is. When a new client walks into my office, I ask them what brought them in and what they want to get out of their session. I want to rest a bit. Others have some kind of pain they want to get rid of. Others want to improve their performance. By understanding the client’s goal, I can tailor the session to their specific needs. However, people often ask, “What is the difference between these different types of massage?”
Different styles of massage
There are several different styles of massage. Massage is as old as humans, even older (remember: primates groom themselves when one of them is agitated, too), and each culture has developed its own approach. For example, a particular type of massage originated in Thailand or Hawaii. There are many techniques, too many to be addressed. However, I will describe some of the more general categories of massage.
Swedish massage has come to be used as an umbrella term for general relaxation massage. Of European origin, it is largely based on sliding and kneading movements, although rubbing and vibrating movements can also be used. This is a general message for relaxation and health. One can do a full body massage or a short session can focus on the back, neck, and shoulders.
Sports massage is a 마사지 specifically designed to meet the needs of athletes and physically active people. There are three broad areas: pre-and post-incident massage, injury rehabilitation, and general sports massage performed during training to help improve an athlete’s performance.
Deep tissue massage is a massage that targets the deep muscles of the body. Clients and massage therapists alike often mistakenly equate “deep” with “hard.” However, they are not necessarily the same. Try this experiment for yourself: place your feet on the floor of a chair and keep them relaxed. Reach over and grab the back of your lower leg with your right hand and push your muscles back and forth. See how the muscle gently vibrates down to the bone if your leg is at rest? The movement is gentle, yet engages the deeper muscles, which is difficult to achieve with direct pressure on the thick calf muscles. You can’t go deeper than the bone. So deep doesn’t mean hard. However, deep tissue massage is generally more vigorous and uses more pressure than Swedish massage for general relaxation.
Russian massage is a massage system developed in the former Soviet Union as a form of medical and sports massage. Like other European massages, it uses gliding, kneading, rubbing, and vibrating movements. Although the US is familiar to many clients and massage therapists, it applies to a wide variety of situations. It can be soft or vigorous depending on the client’s needs at the time. It is based on 150 years of continuous scientific research into the specific physiological effects that various massage movements have on the body. Russian massage should always make the client feel comfortable. There should be no pain, even if it is vigorous. Pain creates a stress response in the body and should be avoided.
Prenatal or pregnancy massage is the massage that meets the needs of a pregnant woman. It can be a simple relaxation massage, or it can sometimes relieve some of the discomforts that come with pregnancy. A trained prenatal massage therapist will know how to accommodate a woman who can no longer lie on her stomach and will know how to safely massage a woman whose body is going through the hormonal changes of pregnancy. They will understand how to overcome some of the discomforts that sometimes accompany pregnancy.
Trigger point therapy, also known as neuromuscular therapy (NMT), is a specific technique for specific types of pain problems. Trigger points are tender points that can develop in muscles that cause pain or other sensations. Where we feel pain is not always the source of the pain. A good neuromuscular therapist will be familiar with the common locations of trigger points and their general patterns of referral. In addition to using pressure on specific trigger points, the therapist may use other massages on the muscles and will try to help the client understand why the pain problems developed in the first place and what to do to prevent them from coming back. Actions can be taken.