6 ways to distinguish an expert massage therapist from a novice.
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 9:22 pm
1.) your LMT does a quick visual postural assesment before you massage session (if you have specific muscle issues that are in pain or imbalances.) a good massage therapist will do this to determine while standing which muscles are symptomatic and which muscle are problematic. This simply means what muscles are causing you pain and which ones should be massaged to alleviate the pain. A great massage therapist will know the difference. The novice will not and will usually work all the muscles that you pointed out leaving you out of balance an later needing another massage.
2.) an excellent massage therapist will know specific muscle names, functions, and locations. This is a simple test that takes only minutes to get results to weed out the novice from the pro!
3.) Really great massage therapists really don’t need you to tell them where to push, you will find a great massage therapist’s hands already in the right place before you have to tell them. Skilled LMT’s have honed their palpation skills like a fine instrument. If you have to tell them ”a little to the left, no up, a little more to the right” then you are dealing with a novice.
4.) HAve you ever felt exposed on the massage table due to poor draping? NOVICE! Did the therapist fumble with the sheets like they were unsure of where things should go? Amateur! A great therapist can do a massage blindfolded and the draping would still be secure and perfect.
5.) Did your massage therapist have good “flow?” Flow is is just like breathing. When you are scared or excited you pant and when your are relaxed you have a calm breathing pattern that keeps you in a relaxed state. For a therapist, this is a skill that takes a while to perfect. Have you had a massage where the therapist’s hands were moving really fast, without direction, and no subtle transition to the next body part (choppy or jumpy?) Those are novice red flags! Imagine long strokes that are patterned by a calm breathing. There is a natural rhythm in breathing. The experienced therapist knows this technique and as the recipient of massage you will know the difference when your therapist has good “Flow.”
6.) A massage should be felt, never heard! A novice will make noise (not just talking noise either.) What I mean is that an expert will try their best to control the environment to avoid their own noises (like heavy breathing, coughing, squeaky table, bad music, etc) or ambient noises that will take your focus off relaxing. Small details are considered where the excellent massage therapist is concerned. Not so much with the novice.
Lutz Massage has therapists that are all excellent therapist. Call today to experience what a great massage feels like.
Thanks for reading
