Types of Massage

The various ways of performing massage depend on the therapists' training, specialty, and what each client needs.

My schooling introduced me to 15 different modalities, manipulating the body's innate energy flow and soft tissue, including your skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and all fascia.

My primary focus is on the soft tissue that inhibits normal movement, or has been damaged by injury or overuse. The following modalities are what I use most, combined together to get the best results for each client.

Orthopedic Massage

The base of Orthopedic Massage blurs the line between muscle and bone work. The joints are the main area being manipulated, but the soft tissue within the joint, not the bones is what the therapist is working. By releasing the muscles surrounding the joint first, moving the bones together and then in unfamiliar ways, the cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and synovial fluid are all addressed. The big advantage, aside from being able to actually work new areas of the body traditionally not manipulated by massage, is the profound effect and prevention it has on osteoarthritis.

Russian Massage

Developed in Russian, it was first performed only on terminally ill patients. Unlike traditional Swedish massage, the focus of Russian is to have a predictable, measurable outcome. Massage in general has benefits on muscles, circulatory system, cardiovascular system, and more. When using Russian techniques, there is a specific speed, direction, hand position, and pressure to elicit a specific change to have a desired outcome. It is also one of the only modalities that can specifically affect nerve damage. Whether it is a stroke survivor with impaired abilities, or lack of sensation following surgery, specific work in those affected areas can re-grow or re-train the nerve signals. It can be applied to the body to be relaxing, stimulating, therapeutically, or very specifically.

Injury Massage

Recovering from an injury is not always due exclusively to a muscular dysfunction, but the soft tissue is always impacted. The most crucial mistake anyone makes during rehab is to ignore the primary functioning of muscles and other soft tissue in the affected area. For example, nerve damage can become permanent if the tissues surrounding and directly affected by the injury are not treated. Much focus is given to the skin and removing swelling and addressing compensating musculature is the primary focus of each massage session.

Sports Massage

A sport is defined as any routine activity. Therefore, going to work and sitting in the same position, riding in the car for extended periods of time regularly, and playing the same sport continuously are all viewed the same when it come to using sports massage techniques. The goal of sports massage is to release the muscles and other tissue that is shortened from the activity, and to strengthen the opposing muscles and tissues that are over-stretched by the repeated activity. Specific stretches and range of motion of the joints are included in this massage.