WWW.MASSAGETUTOR.COM SWEDISH MASSAGE POSTERIOR LEG
2 SWEDISH MASSAGE POSTERIOR LEG
INTRODUCTION Swedish massage is the fundamental and the most popular massage technique for relaxation. However, it goes beyond mere relaxation. The strokes are directed to help improve circulation and lymphatic flow, relief from pain and help enhance sleeping pattern. The method is basically done by rubbing and kneading the muscles with long, gentle and gliding strokes in accordance with the direction of blood flow to the heart. This guide will walk you through the basic structure on how to do a Swedish Massage on the Posterior Leg. You will learn the fundamental strokes, body mechanics, draping, grounding, intention and table set up in an easy, step-by-step process. Let s jump right in, shall we? 3
STEP 1 THE DRAPING Start by draping the leg first. Gather the sheet down by the foot and expose the ankle. Make sure it doesn't get tangled. Expose the entire posterior leg - that includes the lateral side of the glut. *You can run your hand along the edge of the sheet and roll it up to just only expose the working surface. Move to the end of the table and get your hand under the knee while placing your superior arm at the mid-foot. *Hold the leg kind of like you'd pick up a baby and cradle it. 4
STEP 2 THE EFFLEURAGE Get some lotion out and warm it out in your hands. *The reason to warm it up; cold lotion is not relaxing. Paint it on the working surface. *If it doesn't feel like you have enough, put some more. It takes experience to really feel how much lotion is enough lotion. Do 3 effleurage strokes. *Position yourself where your legs provide the momentum and the effort, a little lower from the lower leg. *Do not bend over. It's not good body mechanics. *Rack back and forth - go from your right leg into your left leg and allow your body to move up that leg. 5
*If you're a little shorter, you may need to rack from one leg to the next, take the weight off, step, and go up to the next way and step back. Do superficial friction strokes. *No weight over the back of the knee. Do nerve strokes down. STEP 3 THE PETRISSAGE Position yourself at the foot part of your client's leg. Perform petrissage. Grasp the musculature, offset your hands. Compress in. *It's like wringing a dish rag but being a little more careful with the tissue of the leg. Repeat process (pick up leg, wring through) - go up and back down. *Maintain a squatting position in a table level. *Do not bend over and relax your shoulders to protect your back. 6
*Skip the back of the knee. *Do the procedure until a little below the sheet to avoid becoming invasive. STEP 4 THE TAPOTEMENT Start hacking at the lower calf. *Hacking is going to be with the pinky side blade of your hand. *Align with the muscle fibers run up and down the leg. *Do it with a very glancing motion and a very loose wrist. The loose wrist avoids your from transferring the force of that hacking arm into the leg. *Keep my fingers separated to further reduces the amount of force you put in the leg. *Do it in a glancing blow and alternate your hands as fast as you can alternate in the rhythm. If it's very slow, do it very slowly. *Skip the back at the knee. 7
Perform pounding upon reaching up to the glut. Take your fingers in and with very loose fist and go up onto the glut. *The sheets gonna come down but that's fine. Hack back down the leg. STEP 5 THE FOOT PETRISSAGE Flex the knee and petrissage the foot. Compress the hamstrings, flex the knee, sit on the edge of the table and then rest the foot on your shoulder. 8
*For some people, if you don't compress the hamstrings, the hamstrings can cramp a little bit and that's uncomfortable. *When you compress into the hamstrings, that just changes the action potential so the muscles won't cramp. *If you have longer hair, it's absolutely fine to pull it back - a lot of people do pull their hair back. *Make sure it doesn't get tangled in your client's feet where it drag it up and down along your client; can become optically and a kind of annoying so, make sure it doesn't interfere with your massage. Begin a nice, gentle petrissage around the calcaneus. *Use the pads of your fingers and do a rolling motion. Compress in and roll. *Don't use huge amount of pressure, just whatever's comfortable with your client. *Never be afraid to ask for feedback from your client. 9
Do some kind of effleurage off the calcaneus. Continue to petrissage down the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscles. *Do some kind of grasping and rolling but instead of using your whole hand, just using your thumb and your fingers. *You can go into a little stooped position and for some people, this may really be so uncomfortable for the back so, you don't have to do the whole position with the flexed knee. *One of the main thing that the flexed knee does is that it allows the gastrocnemius muscles to completely relax and become inhibited. *If it's hard on your back, you could use a bolster and rest the ankle on a bolster. You can just let the leg lay flat on the table and petrissage around, dragging your thumb down, also petrissaging around the grastruc. 10
STEP 6 THE THIGH PETRISSAGE Continue the gentle compressing and rolling action into the back of the thigh. *Line up the joints of your thumb and don't not coming in laterally and trying to do a lot of damage with your thumbs. *Do not come in whirling rolls with your fists. *If you want to line up your joints, if you're using pressure, that's all the way through - fingers, metacarpals, carpals, elbow. Gentle push the thigh with your knucles. *Do not use a lot of pressure. *The key is if it hurts, don't do it - knuckles for you and for your client. *Sometimes bodywork can be uncomfortable for your client but it has to be within your pain tolerance level. *Focus on the semimembranosus, semitendinosus muscles and the biceps femoris muscle, or the hamstrings themselves. Do bunching stretch on the glutes. Gently compress in/down. Gently push the tissue together. 11
Gently stretch the tissue apart. *Be aware of the bony prominences and try not to push in with a lot of pressure on the bony prominences, that's uncomfortable. Flush the area with final effleurage. Paint in a little more lotion. Do 2 effleurage in the entire working surface. *Back up pressure from behind the knee. Do 3 nerve strokes. STEP 7 THE RE-DRAPING Cover the glut back up. 12
Move to the foot part of the leg. Flex the knee. Support the anterior side of the knee. Hold the leg between your arm and your body. Pull the sheet straight down and then roll on the covers. Do the same thing on the other leg with exact same strokes. *You have to train your non-dominant arm and your non-dominant side to do the same work as you dominant side. 13
The Swedish Massage video is to show a basic structure on how to do a full body Swedish Massage along with tips on draping, body mechanics, table set up, grounding and intention. WATCH THE FULL VIDEO
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