How to massage back using the forearm
This week I’m going to show one of my favorite ways to massage a back using the forearm with the receiver on a massage table. My clients love this too.
Stand by the receiver’s head. Locate the edge of the shoulder blade. Using your forearm, glide up the shoulder and along the edge of the shoulder blade, and come back. Use your weight and nice stance as you glide out. If the space between the spine and shoulder blade is narrow and your arm is much bigger, I don’t recommend this technique as bone-on-bone hurts and you do not want to press on the spine or shoulder blade with the boney part of your forearm.
After several times of this I then glide all the way to the lower back and massage the waist in a sawing motion. Again, if the space between the hip bone and the rib is narrow and your arm is bigger, I don’t recommend this technique. When the elbow is on the lower back muscle turn the arm so it’s parallel to the spine. Glide up the back muscles next to the spine and out the shoulder. I tend to repeat on the shoulder because people have lots of tensions here. You can also use the other forearm to massage around the shoulder blade.
Sometimes the back muscles are very tight and slippery. If that’s the case, turn the arm so it’s perpendicular to the back muscles for more stability. Be careful not to put too much pressure on the ribs. If necessary cover and protect the spine with the other hand so you do not massage on the spine.
I originally learned this technique in Lomilomi class which is a traditional Hawaiian massage modality which incorporates the long continuous strokes as you saw. Forearm is a very useful massage tool. Use the boney hard part for more pressure but turn the arm and use the softer side for less pressure.
Happy Massaging!
11-11-13 Forearm glide on back http://youtu.be/-8XXEsRcHf8
