Questionhi keetah i am on mt 1st year of my sportd therapy diploma and for my course work i have to exlain how you modify a massage for relaxation,weight problems(overweight), joint stiffness, muscular aches and pains, slack muscles, tight/contracted muscles and massage on the opposite sex. I am quite lost with this course work and would be very grateful if you could help me. look forward to hearing from you soon.
thankyou
AnswerWow, this is a very broad piece of work you have hey! Ok first of all for relaxation massage you want to concentrate on slow gentle movements such as effleurage and petrissage, allowing the person to fully relax and concentrate on how their body feels and allow it to let go of the tension it may be holding. Even though this doesn't seem to be doing much for 'knots' in muscles, the whole point of making a person fully relax will in turn relax those tight muscles. With the weight problem, are they regarding how to promote circulation or in regards to drapping? To promote circulation Lymphatic drainage techniques are great. These are very light strokes which help with fluid movement around the body and increase immune system responses. If they are talking about drapping, then as long as you are drapping modestly and correctly in the first place this should not change.
For joint stiffness, mobilisation techniques are helpful, depending on how stiff the person is, you may want to be careful here, for example if the person is suffering from adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) this should only be done by experienced therapists and only with doctors permission. Also be careful with mobilisation techniques to people who are pregnant or have been within 6 months as the relaxin still present in their body will make their muscles and tendons very easy to overstretch and damage.
With muscular aches and pains, depending on the severity, some deep tissue or transverse friction should help. Be careful, especially since it is a sports course you are doing that the person does not have a muscle tear, in which case RICER should be performed. Slack muscles usually need some basic relaxation strokes to promote circulation, while the opposing tight muscles have lengthening and unwinding strokes carried out.
massage on the opposite sex is no different to massaging the same sex. As long as your drapping is sufficient, you shouldn't be going near any of the 'no go' zones any way (Sometimes refered to as the bikini zone).
I hope this is of some help to! Good luck!
