Sometimes I go to a Chinese massage place to get good acupressure done over the clothes. This week, I’ll show you what I like getting done on my lower back.
Between the hip bone and the last rib, you can access the muscles next to the spine. These are called Erector Spinae. It’s a group of three muscle groups spinalis, longissimus, and iliocostalis. These ropy muscles run parallel to the spine and sometimes get very hard after long hours of standing.
So my favorite massage therapist grabs these ropy muscles with his thumbs and presses towards the spine. He goes up and down between the hip bone and the rib, sometimes shaking the muscles. He has very big strong hands and this feels amazing. He knows I like hard pressure so he usually overlaps his thumbs for more pressure.
He then presses the tight spots with his forearm towards the spine. With this you can go deeper and you are also treating Quadratus Lumborum also known as QL which is a hip hiker.
Then he just pauses, sometimes using the elbow but he’s only on the muscles and not on the spine and it feels sooo good and it hurts good. His hand must be limp because I feel he is relaxed which I like. You can just tell if someone is just using the body weight or straining something during massage.
Another thing he does is pressing the lower back towards the hip bone. Again he must be overlapping his thumbs for more pressure.
I always learn from other massage therapists and if I like something, I do it to my clients. So for me, getting a massage is like getting a continuing education. Too bad I can’t get CE credits for it for my massage licenses.
Massage Monday #392 – Lower Back Massage I Like http://bit.ly/mm-392