Get Your Hands on Me - Do
Your Own Massagefrom Kris McFarland and Lori
Stahler
She's pinching, you're
flinching—just in time, professional advice for DIY massage
CAN'T AFFORD A PROFESSIONAL
massage as often as you'd like? Time to convince your partner to help
out—and for both of you to learn the ropes. Beginners often go too far on
expensive glop; a moderate amount of ordinary hand cream will suffice. Start
with light stroking and build gradually to vigorous rubbing. (If working the
limbs, rub toward the heart.) Finish with the light touch again. Spend extra
time on tension areas, using body weight to apply pressure without straining
your fingers and thumbs. Don't massage injured areas without first consulting a
doctor. Now you're ready to rub. What follows are two simple massages you can
practice on each other: below, a shoulder massage and upper-back massage,
courtesy of massage guru Kris McFarland, who works with professional
triathletes in Boulder, Colorado; then, instructions for a leg massage,
courtesy of Lori Stahler, a massage therapist in Salt Lake City who works
primarily with skiers (a sore-legged bunch if ever there was one).
SHOULDER MASSAGE AND UPPER BACK MASSAGE
STEP 1: Have the lucky victim sit
backward on a chair, leaning his chest into the backrest. Stand facing the
massagee, press down on the upper trapezius muscles (near neck), and knead back
and forth.
STEP 2: Place your fingers where the base of the
skull meets the neck, fingers pointed toward the floor. Work the neck as
above.
STEP 3: Standing behind the victim now, go back to the
trapezius zone. Gently squeeze and roll the muscles between your fingers.
(Don't pinch.)
STEP 4: Massage between the shoulder blades and
the spine (rhomboids). Lean in with your body weight, pressing with the heel of
your hand.
STEP 5: Switch places and repeat.
LEG MASSAGE AND LOWER BODY
MASSAGE
STEP 1: Have massagee lie on his stomach on a flat
surface, level with your hip if possible (a bed or a sturdy kitchen table with
blankets will do), or on a blanket-covered floor. With lotion, use your palms
to rub the back of the leg above the knee (hamstrings) with long upward
strokes, beginning with light pressure and increasing to moderate pressure.
(Avoid the back of knee, a sensitive area.)
STEP 2: Using the
same long strokes, rub the calf muscle from the ankle to just below the knee.
Make sure to rub the middle, lateral, and medial sides of the muscle, and then
lightly grasp the calf muscle and jiggle it.
STEP 3: Work the
soles of the feet by using short pressing strokes with your thumbs, from heel
toward toes.
STEP 4: Have the subject lie on his back. Work the
front of the thighs with the same palm-of-hand technique, moving from the top
of the knee upward. On the outer side of the leg, rub the IT bandthe muscle
that runs from the outside of your pelvis to the outside of your kneeusing a
"cross fiber" technique, side to side with the first two fingers in strokes
three to five inches long, starting near the knee and moving upward. Use
comfortable pressure; this is a sensitive area.
STEP 5: Rub the
main muscle of the lower leg on the outer side of the bone, using long strokes
with your thumb from the ankle to just below the knee.Switch places and
repeat. |
