Before we ran the Berlin Marathon last year, we went for a massage. We’d logged a LOT of miles and our muscles ached. It was my first massage ever and the pure sense of relaxation that I felt for about 24 hours thereafter was amazing.

Massage therapy is one of the greatest tools available to help heal an injured body or to help maintain a pain free lifestyle. Most everyone can find some benefits from massage therapy – from therapeutic ranging all the way into Eastern style therapies. So, what makes a great massage experience?

1. Great Education. As a massage therapist, going through the best massage therapy program is something that is critical. A wide variety of Eastern and Western techniques can then be applied throughout one massage. It can also help a massage therapist find their niche in how they treat patients who come to see them and get their name known for more patients/clients.
2. Personality. One of the greatest attributes a successful massage therapist can have is the ability to personally connect to the patient/client. If one cannot establish that trust, there’s no healing that will happen because the patient/client will not feel comfortable.
3. Versatility. Another great attribute of massage therapists, is the actual ability to perform a variety of techniques. Sometimes a body will not react to just deep tissue massage. Sometimes a body will need various massage techniques, and clients who come in frequently may need something completely different such as a Thai massage just to trick the musculoskeletal system. Therapeutic massages are one of the greatest therapies that are offered by a massage therapist. It takes a lot of strength to perform these on different patients, the same strength for a dainty elderly woman that would be needed for a 25 year-old body builder. Knowing how to discern what proper amount of strength is needed for each patient is key.
   

   photo credit: Nick J Webb via photopin cc

4. Communication. If a massage therapist is working in conjunction with a doctor of any sort, good communication with the doctor is a positive attribute. A lot of information is passed to the massage therapist when the patient is on the table, and a lot of the information the doctor may be unaware of.
5. Quality Table. A massage therapist’s table is their greatest asset. This allows the therapist to create the comfort needed to provide their services. Electric lift massage tables provide a lot of freedom to the therapist. If they need the patient/client to be on their back to better massage their neck using their own body weight, they can set the table lower so the therapist can sit in a stool and perform that way. If a patient comes in and needs a wide variety of pressure throughout their back, the table then can raise to let the therapist perform accordingly. This then gives the therapist range from using light force in just their hands to a lot of force as they go deeper into the muscles with their elbows.
6. Modalities. Another great asset to a massage therapist who is adept in different modalities is access. Having Chinese style cups to perform cupping allows them to use the cupping method without having an open flame where the massage is being performed. Also, if they have kineseotape (KTape) and have the proper certification to use KTape, the massage therapist can see that there is a part of the body moving too much. With the KTape they can apply it to help facilitate proper movement within the joint and other joints surrounding. Aromatherapy is another asset that aids in the natural healing process.

Make sure the massage you get is quality by doing your homework and asking the right questions.

Do you ever get massages? How did you find a great masseuse?