How do you decide which is right for you? Medical Massage therapist, Debra Redman gives an overview that should help you in deciding just what your body, mind, and spirit needs. This article is intended to educate people about all the ways massage therapy can help them, as well as identify what type of therapist they would like to use.

· Relaxation massage
· Deep tissue massage
· Therapeutic bodywork and medical massage therapy

Relaxation massage - A relaxation massage is intended to simply relax the mind, body and soul. It is intended to leave the client feeling refreshed and peaceful, which is good when that’s all the client has time to do, is in a maintenance mode for some issue, or just needs some TLC without having to do “work.” I enjoy doing this type of work with clients, particularly when they have successfully completed their healing goals.

In a spa setting, which is where most people will get this type of massage, the technician will do a standard routine, which means that he/she won’t spend anytime discovering “trauma” areas and working to alleviate them. The “trauma” areas that may be activated are usually slightly relieved for a short period of time but will come back. The client leaves feeling good before beginning to feel the same pain or worse. The client thinks they have to live with the pain for one of two general reasons: 1) they don’t know that advanced forms of massage could be used to alleviate the cause of the pain and/or 2) they aren’t interested in alleviating the pain for various reasons. Only the symptoms of the client’s problem are being alleviated, but not treated to be released permanently.

Deep tissue massage - Deep tissue massage should not hurt. Proper deep tissue techniques should not elicit a tissue defense response from the body. A client should not feel like all that happened is that the pain got “pushed around.”

Many people who go to spas ask for deep tissue massages only to walk away in more pain than they were in when they started. The potential for bruising and actual injury is possible. Many therapists believe that putting an elbow or other bony body part in a muscle that is already in spasm is appropriate. Unfortunately, this is true for a few reasons: 1) because it is part of the routine they were taught in massage school and they have never varied from that routine; 2) they were not taught how to palpate for when using an elbow or thumb is appropriate or 3) how to prepare the body to accept the use of the bony body part, let alone 4) how to position and use the elbow or thumb correctly in the first place.

Another reason may be that the person simply does not possess the ability to palpate. The ability to palpate subtle energy, muscle and fluid movement in the tissue is a high-level skill that a therapist is born with and that must be developed through various training experiences besides massage modalities. A therapist who has is this skill is considered a gifted therapist.

Therapeutic bodywork and medical massage therapy -Therapeutic bodywork and medical massage seeks to use various techniques and modalities to help the client get to the bottom of the problem and heal it. These types of therapists know they are facilitators of healing and have gotten over the ego-based belief that they are the healer. They know the client is the one who does the real healing and the therapist simply creates the proper environment or space in which to complete a healing process.

The artists and gifted healers of the massage and bodywork industry tend to gravitate toward an evolved philosophy about the use of massage therapies and bodywork modalities. They generally want to make money, but not at the expense of the client. It is their job is get people healthy in a reasonable period of time. A good therapist wants their client to get back to an active, healthy life. While the client and therapist work together, the client learns how to do self- care to maintain the healing achieved. They learn enough about themselves to know when to come back for maintenance work, relaxation, or to heal a new trauma of some kind.

Who Benefits From Medical Massage?

When a client works with a medical massage therapist, they are supported during the ups and downs that an active healing process initiates. Clients see and feel the progress they are making as they become healthier, more flexible, pain-free, and peaceful. Often, significant life-changing events occur in conjunction with the healing. They take pride in being responsible for their health. The benefits of the therapies become clearer as the client finds that the releases they achieve last longer and longer. That’s when they know they can live without the pain and discomfort that has been hindering various areas of their lives.

Debra Redman started her healing career as an energy healer before incorporating craniosacral therapy and some of the more mechanical modalities such as massage in its various forms. The training in energy work helped her to develop gifted palpation skills. “It is my calling,” says Debra, for the last 16 years. She has devoted her life to helping people use holistic modalities successfully. If you feel that you would like to experience true healing with medical massage or enjoy a spa massage. To schedule an appointment call 404-252-4540