Better You, Better Massages- Good Self-Care Practices for Massage Therapists {Guest Post by M. Simpson, LMT}

Better You, Better Massages- Good Self-Care Practices for Massage Therapists

By M. Simpson, LMT

I didn’t understand it at the time, but I started massage training right when my undiagnosed, chronic inflammatory disorder was worsening. Learning self-care was a trial by fire. Poor mechanics that my instructors warned would hurt after a few years would be hurting me within hours. I was a human crystal ball, reflecting the eventual reality of what repetitive strain would do to a body. This guide will help you build a self-care plan to avoid that fate, instead staying relaxed, strong and pain-free for yourself and your clients through years of practice.

Self-care isn’t an indulgence. It’s a necessity. As human tools, our bodies are the single most valuable asset to our practices. We need as much or more care than we give our clients. Even in the short-term, aching hands and a scattered mind will deprive your clients of the deep, attentive massages they need for quality care. Whether you’re fresh out of school or experienced and already aching, it’s never too late to do right by your body.

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Self-care isn’t an indulgence. It’s a necessity. 

What Counts As Poor Self-Care
To start fixing your routine, you first have to know what's broken. Poor self-care is anything that needlessly strains or neglects your physical or mental wellbeing. Make a list of any aspect of your routine that you think could use work. Scrutinize and be brutally honest. Most MTs I meet are loathe to admit their self-care pitfalls, but remember that imperfections are just opportunities to be greater than you are now.

A few common issues include:

• Poor body mechanics
• Brushing off acute and chronic pain
• Never stretching or addressing your own stiff muscles
• Neglecting supportive equipment
• Dismissing overworking and stress

Building a Self-Care Routine
Go down your list of concerns and ask yourself why each issue exists, what you're going to do about it and what you can do to keep it from becoming a problem again. From little things like replacing your work shoes regularly to big goals like going on vacation, start developing a regular routine.

If you’re motivated by specific goals, ask yourself what the goal of your self-care plan is. Make it simple and achievable. If it’s something you feel like you’ve achieved every time you complete your routine, you’re more likely to make a habit of it.

Key Elements of a Self-Care Routine

• Correcting and Adapting Body Mechanics
• Self-Care Exercises
• Addressing Pain and Injury
• Stress Management
• Self-Assessment and Reminders

Correcting and Adapting Body Mechanics All massage therapists know the basics of solid body mechanics, though a refresher course never hurts. The trick is to regularly assess your mechanics and see if you could be doing anything differently.

This is especially important if you’re noticing strain on certain areas of your body. If you suffer chronic pain in your thumbs, for instance, it might be time to explore more forearm and elbow techniques or invest in tools to help your hands. Think outside the box if you’re having trouble finding solutions. When chronic pain battered my hips, I started following strain reduction tips for pregnant MTs.

Self-Care Exercises Stretching, yoga, strengthening exercises, continuing education classes, self-massage, getting a massage… The list of self-care exercise options goes on. Trying different methods is a blast, so make it your goal to experiment.

Online resources like YouTube and Pinterest can be exceptionally useful as long as you're smart about checking the source. Just punch "massage self-care" into the search bar and go. Self-care tools can be invaluable as well. Tools like foam rollers help stretch and relax broad areas while focused tools like massage balls are great for deep tissue work.

Addressing Pain and Injury Over the years, most MTs will end up with some sort of tendinosis or repetitive strain injury. When you start feeling chronic pain in a specific area, do something about it now, not later. Fix your body mechanics, adapt your techniques, work in new tools and see a specialist you know you can trust. Repeated injury can lead lasting damage, and lasting damage can end careers.

Stress Management
Like it or not, mental stress is just as damaging as physical stress. It's physically damaging in and of itself and can slow healing if you're already injured. Burnout is a very real threat as well, but it's avoidable if you admit that you're not invincible. Make an uncompromising commitment to put time for yourself in your schedule. It's not selfish. It's what you need to stay healthy.

Ask yourself if your work load is reasonable, both physically and mentally. MTs that feel swallowed by financial or business matters can find plenty of help from continuing education courses, local small business resources and online communities. Think about trying stress management techniques. Mindfulness meditation is one of the most well-researched and easy to learn, but just going for a walk in an area with trees every day has been shown to reduce stress.

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Like it or not, mental stress is just as damaging as physical stress. 

Self-Assessment and Reminders Unless you take the time to stop and assess how you’re doing on a regular basis, the effects of physical and mental stress can sneak up on you. As MTs, we’re experts at meticulously addressing our client’s stresses and pains, but many of us equally good at ignoring our own concerns.

Put breaks and self-assessments on your schedule. Put them in your calendar and appointment books if you have to. Use that time to breathe, focus on your body to see how you're doing physically and see if you're feeling overwhelmed. Use tools to help keep you on-track in other areas. Download apps to track how much water you’re drinking or that monitor your sleep at night. Set a reminder to check your shoes to see if they need to be replaced. All of these little details will add up to a healthier, happier and more productive you.

A Beautiful Essential Oil Recipe and How to Track Oil Sales in Your Massage Business

https://www.instagram.com/bodyworkbuddy/

I've been a massage therapist for a loooong time. I've had lots of massage friends/colleagues get heavily involved in essential oils over the years, and while I've always enjoyed oils, I just never really got into them. Or at least, not at the level my friends did. (You know, basically carrying around a case of them everywhere they went.) I always thought "yeah, that'd be cool, but I just don't have the <time, money, energy, knowledge> to get into it right now."

Well, I don't know if I just needed more time in the field to familiarize myself with all other modalities and aspects I was interested in to the point of fatigue, or if the timing was just right, or what... but I've recently really gotten into oils. I'm not quite that girl with the case, yet, but I think I might be on my way. ;)

I signed up with DoTerra oils and have been getting new oils monthly. (This isn't a post about oil brands or why you should use one over the other or blah blah blah....I'm not interested in arguing that point and really just want to enjoy oils and it just so happened that DoTerra presented itself at the right time in my life when I was ready to finally take the plunge into the world of oils.)

It's been fun and I'm digging learning new things that I can apply in my practice as well as my personal life. (I'm in love with diffusing and roller bottles! Who knew?)

I'm in love with diffusing and roller bottles! Who knew?

I'm not to the point of offering any for resale to my clients yet, but it got me thinking about the MT's who do sell oils or other products in their practice. Wondering how to track your sales and record income from that?

It's actually pretty easy to do within Bodywork Buddy.

• First, create a service group of oils or whatever product you're selling.
• Second, add products (called services in BWB) into that service group, and have them set to "private". This will keep them from showing on your online scheduler as an option to schedule, but will still allow you to add them to a session record when a client purchases one.
• When a client buys an oil, simply create a new session record for the sale with the product as the service. Or, add a 2nd service line item in the session record for their massage appointment.

You can run a services report at any time to see how much of what product you have sold over the year. *Note: there is no way to track inventory within BWB. So if you have a huge amount of products in stock, this might not be the solution for you. But if you're a solo massage therapist like myself, this works great.

Thanks to Susan for this great pin!
https://www.mydoterra.com/susanmnilon

I've been creating my own roller bottles and thought I would share a little recipe with you I found on Pinterest. It's pretty yum.

• 30 drops of grounding blend (also known as Balance)
• 30 drops of calming blend (also known as Serenity)
• 15 drops of Vetiver

Fill remainder of the 10ml roller bottle with fractionated coconut oil, shake well and roll on to feet, back of neck, behind ears, or your wrists.

I've also found a cool podcast about aromatherapy where I can learn more while doing housework or working in the yard. ;) Gotta love that. Thanks to Hillary Arrieta of Gaia Bodywork for sharing this with me!
Aromatic Wisdom Podcast

So once I get more knowledgable on oils, I'm going to start offering them to clients and tracking it within BWB. In the meantime, I'm off to play some more with my new hobby.

I made a roller bottle recipe for heartburn for a family member and it's working wonders. So I'm a goner now. I will be that girl with all the oils, annoying everyone she knows with "have you tried essential oils?" and I CAN'T WAIT.
 😂

I will be that girl with all the oils, annoying everyone she knows with "have you tried essential oils?"

What are some of your favorite oil blends or what are some of your success stories with oils? Let me know in a comment here so I can try it out!

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999. www.BodyworkBuddy.com

Manual Therapy for the Anterior Neck {Guest Post by Dawn Lewis}

Manual Therapy for the Anterior Neck

By Dawn Lewis

Recently I read an article about a woman suing a massage therapist and Massage Envy.  The woman believes that the massage therapist was aggressive enough on her anterior neck that it lead to a stroke.  I do not know if this is possible, but I do not know that it is impossible.  Since that article there have been multiple facebook postings about why bodyworkers should be afraid of the anterior neck.  This I completely disagree with.

We do not make bodywork safer for our clients by being afraid of their bodies or what is happening to them.  We make bodywork safer for our clients by being as educated as we can be.  There are times when we need to send our clients to medical professionals such as doctors, physical therapists, or chiropractors.  But when we see an apparently healthy individual and we are afraid to touch certain areas of their bodies, we do ourselves and our clients a disservice.

We do not make bodywork safer for our clients by being afraid of their bodies

The anterior neck, in particular, is an area we should all know how to work.  Why?  Because humans spend a good deal of their time right now with their necks in flexion and their heads down looking at their devices.  This leads to shortened, tight musculature in the anterior neck.  Shortened, tight musculature in the anterior neck can cause a multitude of issues.

First, a muscle named longus colli runs the length of the anterior cervical vertebrae.  When that muscle is tight, the cervical spine is in flexion.  This pulls the lordotic curve out of the cervical vertebrae, moving the vertebrae toward the posterior plane of the body.  As the neck straightens and moves posterior, the clavicles and sternal manubrium move posterior as well.  This position of the clavicles and manubrium moves the upper rib cage posterior and the scapulas into abduction.  As the scapulas move into abduction, the shoulders round forward.  This all started with a shortened longus colli.

Next, we could look at longus capitis.  Longus capitis originates on the transverse processes of C3 through C6 and inserts on anterior aspect of the bottom of the occiput.  Again, this muscle tightens when we have our head in flexion looking at our devices, reading a book or magazine, doing bodywork, etc..  But this muscle is attached to the head.  When it tightens, it pulls the anterior aspect of the head toward the chest (think chin toward chest).  The natural antagonist muscles to longus capitis are the suboccipital muscles.  In this position, the suboccipital muscles are in stretched position, leading to weakness, and the possibility for suboccipital headaches.

Finally, a head down position leads to tension in the muscles attaching to the hyoid bone in the anterior neck.  These muscles attach the sternum, thyroid cartilage, head, and scapula to the hyoid.  As the chin moves toward the chest, the hyoid is moved inferior and posterior, causing tension in all the hyoid muscles.  This can lead to pain and tension in the mandible, the temporomandibular joints, or the shoulders.

It is imperative that we learn to treat the anterior neck in an effective way.  I have been teaching anterior neck work for decades.  I teach Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique (SMRT), a positional release modality I made up a couple of decades ago.  I was always fascinated by the anterior neck, but while in basic training for massage therapy 23 years ago, I had a learning experience.

I was in my third level massage course, which happened to be neuromuscular.  Please understand that I am in no way being negative about neuromuscular therapy, I am simply telling you about an experience I had.  One day, another student and I decided that we really needed to practice.  We had been avoiding the neck work because we were not very comfortable receiving it in class.  But we had to know it to pass, so we needed to practice it.  I went first.

I did the full neuromuscular neck protocol on her.  It took about an hour.  That night we had class.  When I saw her in class, her neck was red and looked marbled.  It looked like hamburger, I thought.  She was in pain.  I felt terrible.  The red, marbled look and the pain lasted for almost three days.  This turned me off to doing deeper work on the neck.  When I began to develop SMRT, I spent many hours studying the neck and figuring out how I could affect the neck without causing pain.

If we look at our examples above, it is extremely easy to relieve tension in longus colli.  At one point in my career, I was taught to go into the anterior neck, move the esophagus to the side and cross fiber this muscle.  I have it more effective to place my hand on the top of head and manipulate the head position until I get a release in longus colli.  The pressure of my hand on the top of the head is minimal, as are the movements I make to find the correct position.  When longus colli regains length, the curve in the cervical spine begins to reappear.

When the flexion of the cervical vertebrae eases and the natural lordotic curve begins to re-establish itself, the cervical spine moves away from the posterior plane and into a more neutral position.  This allows the clavicles and manubrium to move into an anterior plane, and the scapulas to move to a more neutral position on the back. As a side note, when the clavicles and manubrium move to the posterior plane, as they do when the neck is too straight, a significant amount of tension is created in lower fibers of sternocleidomastoid.  Allowing the position of these bones to move toward a more natural anterior position, instantly eases the pressure on sternocleidomastoid.

In our next example, we had tension in longus capitis that was causing suboccipital muscle weakness and possibly headaches.  Many times this pattern leads to a report from the client that the "problem" is at the base of their head.  When we palpate the suboccipital area, it feels tight, so we work that area.  But, I find that by again placing my hand on the top of the head and moving the head into the needed position, longus capitis is able to release and allow the chin to come away from the chest, which lessens the stretch on and alleviates the pain in the suboccipital muscles.

In both of these examples, I do not have to work directly on the anterior neck.  In our third example, however, direct anterior neck work is beneficial.  SMRT allows us to do this work in a non-intrusive, gentle fashion, while still getting the desired results.  All of the hyoid muscles can be released and returned to normal tone by working with the position of the hyoid, the thyroid cartilage, and the sternum.

Some therapists believe that it is impossible to get the results a client needs by working with a light touch or by working remotely (i.e. using the head to release the neck muscles).  But I believe it is impossible to get the desired results without knowing the possible reasons for the tension in the muscles being addressed and while working in a way that causes pain and tension.  I have taught anterior neck work to almost 2000 therapists (and that number will continue to grow).  Anterior neck work is not something to be frightened of, it is something to be learned and understood.

In my last SMRT: head & neck class, there was a older woman who had been doing massage for over 30 years.  When we got to the anterior neck, she said to me, "I don't really want to practice this because I will never use it.  It scares me and I will never do it to my clients.  But I don't want to disappoint my partner either."  I encouraged her to try it in class, with the understanding that her partner would be very vocal about whether she was hurting her or not.

45 minutes later, by releasing the anterior neck muscles, she felt a significant change in the position of the hyoid and her partners chin had come into an anterior plane.  Her partner sat up, rotated her head around, sighed, and said, "that was awesome!  Thank you so much!  I slept funny last night.  I had a headache and that catch in my throat that makes you want to cough all the time, feels like a knife stuck in your throat.  It's all gone now.  That was great!"

When I see training experiences like this, I get rather irritated at the facebook posts that insight fear and tell us to stop treating this area immediately.  It is essential that we work on the anterior neck, yet most of the students in my SMRT courses do not work this area when they come to class.  Within the few hours that we concentrate on the anterior neck, they become confident in their ability to effect change without causing pain.  If you feel you do not know enough to work this area, by all means, don't - until you have taken a class, and then by all means, do work the anterior neck.

Dawn Lewis owns Full Circle School and teaches Spontaneous Muscle Release Technique or SMRT. Please check out the Full Circle website for live seminar dates, course videos, free sample videos, and other articles.  http://efullcircle.com/ 

Steamy Wonder Update

Wow, it's been a few years since I added the Steamy Wonder to my services and I still haven't posted my promised update of how it's worked out in my practice...oops!




I started out with adding a complimentary 20 minute steam with each session for them to experience it for the first time. After that, it was a $30 add-on. (Without really adding on any time to the session.) About 2 out of every 3 clients seems to love it, and many have added it to their regular routine. After having worked with the steam for a while, there's a few things I have changed:

• I only steam for about 15 minutes now instead of 20. This includes the cool-down time at the end of the steam, so really more like 10 minutes of solid heat.
• I've moved into a new space and don't have a good area to hang the tent with the pulley system. I realized my previous post didn't make it clear that the pulley system is optional, totally not required. I liked the pulley system, but some clients did mention that it looked like a huge casket hanging from the ceiling... (yikes?!). Now I stand it on it's end and partially tuck it behind my armoire. It doesn't take up much space and is still easily accessible.
• I used to use a sheet as a drape, and would slide it out after putting the tent over the table - leaving the client uncovered under the tent. I have recently switched to a bath towel for a drape, and leave it on the client during the steam. They can choose to slide the towel off to the side if they want, but most leave it on during the steam. It's comfortable and leaves the client feeling less exposed. It also helps to soak up some of the sweat, and then after wiping the client off with hot towels, I switch out the drape to a clean sheet and remove the bath towel.

About 2 out of every 3 clients seems to love it

I offer it as a combined service in my Bodywork Buddy online scheduler. So, for example, under my "deep tissue massage" service group, I have these choices:

• 90 minute deep tissue massage plus steam
• 90 minute deep tissue massage
• 60 minute deep tissue massage plus steam
• 60 minute deep tissue massage
• 30 minute deep tissue massage plus steam
• 30 minute deep tissue massage

I can run a report on specific services within Bodywork Buddy to show how much of my income each year has been from what service. Handy, right?

The small investment of adding the steam service has definitely been worth it. *Pro-tip: Be on the lookout for a used Steamy Wonder in good condition to save money.

So, there's the scoop! Do you have any specific questions on how I use the steam in my practice? Let me know and I can answer them in another post.

BTW, if you're interested in checking out Bodywork Buddy for your business needs, there is a 

free trial to see if it's a good fit for you. *Special discounts for Board Certified therapists and members of ABMP!*

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999.  www.BodyworkBuddy.com

*New Feature* Client Message

Last week we added a new feature that allows clients to leave a quick note for you when they schedule online. This is great if a client has a gift certificate they are redeeming, they need to tell you something that pertains to their appointment, etc.

It's completely optional, so clients don't need to leave a message in order to schedule.

When a client does leave a message, a speech bubble icon will show up next to their name for today's schedule on the dashboard as well as in the calendar. You can click on the bubble or hover over it to read the message.

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999.  www.BodyworkBuddy.com