(gentle music)
- Hello, massage nerds.
One of my followers asked me to do
a demonstration on the back with effleurage and petrissage.
So I'm gonna do a quick little video
thanks to my client who volunteered
to let me work on her back.
So I wanna remind you again that effleurage
comes from the French word to glide, to flow.
And petrissage comes from kneading and mashing.
So I'm gonna show you real quick.
Also remember that when you are starting the back massage,
you've done your dry work first,
like the skin rolling or myofascial release.
And effleurage is to help you introduce now
the touch to your client
and also the oil or lotion that you're gonna use.
So I'm gonna go to the head here
and of course you wanna touch her,
don't lose contact with your client,
and then you're gonna apply your oil.
And you're gonna start at the base
of the neck, glide down, up
and to the neck, you can do two or three of these.
So it's both hands, this is effleurage,
you go to the contours
of the body between the scapulas out, and then back.
You can do this up to three times, here I'm following
the contours, getting to her hips spreading out,
coming back in between the scapulas
and then back, you can even do some,
a little bit of effleurage right here on the neck.
Okay, so this is a very good effleurage
to introduce the oil, start warming up the tissues,
and you can also go to one side.
What I like to do is break up the back
into four part into a quadrant,
so that you can tie it all in together
at the beginning again, and then maybe the low back,
work the low back individually and the upper back.
And I'm just gonna show you one side at a time.
So you can go ahead and do your effleurage with your palms.
You can do two or three.
Remember you can do a soft, a soft fist.
This will be a hard fist.
A soft fist is like when you fold it just like a taco
and you do the ironing.
Remember this is the ironing.
You can do, this is still effleurage, with a soft fist.
You can do one hand at a time,
especially right here between, you're going
between the transverse processes and the scapula.
You don't wanna ever go over the spinous processes.
So that's another effleurage that you can do, okay.
And then once that's warmed up,
you can go ahead and start, oh, this is,
this would be your petrissage,
this is the ocean waves, remember this is the ocean waves,
where you just kind of kneading
and going a little bit deeper,
warming up the tissues a little bit more.
You can go, if you're on the opposite side,
which is contralateral.
Remember ipsilateral to the same side,
so contralateral would be the opposite side of the table.
And I'm gonna do some C bowing and some kneading here,
really getting to the gluteus medius, minimus,
and the origin of her lats, her serratus anterior.
So you can do from the contralateral side, do some kneading.
And then I'm gonna come back
and do just some regular mashing here with both
of my hands and the C bowing, remember you're going
to do the C bowing here,
the ocean waves, the soft fist now,
to do your figure eights around the hips
and kind of just really get that tissue warmed up.
This would be another petrissage.
And then you can transition to effleurage.
You can go from the waist up to the neck
or the opposite side,
go to the head of the table and then come down.
You wanna follow the contours of the body.
And also remember what I was talking about,
the valleys and the peaks and the peaks kind
of create a little bit more traction for you.
So it goes a little bit deeper, so if I'm going,
you can use your fingers on the lateral side here
to get the erector spinaes.
Remember the erector spinaes are three muscles.
The iliocostalis is about two
to three inches out, the longissimus,
and then the spinalis, so you wanna get real close
to the spine, but never on the spinous process.
So you can do hand over hand effleurage
to tie it all in together.
You can do your petrissage again.
You can do the ironing with a soft fist.
You can do the petrissage
on the shoulders, especially the upper trapezius
to really get in there and work that upper trapezius here
with some kneading.
So these, remember these are just basic strokes
of effleurage and petrissage,
which are very much from the Swedish massage.
These are not specific moves.
These are just warming up the tissue so that you can,
now you can go to percussion or you can go to,
percussion and tapotement are the same thing.
It's a matter of fact, I have a video
on tapotement and percussion, you can check it out.
And another one on skin rolling.
So that will really help for learning the basics.
And on this side, I will show you,
let me show you a little bit.
So you're following the contours, doing the effleurage.
I like to do three strokes of effleurage, of each modality.
So like this would be the soft fist now,
or you can do both fist together,
go out, or one at a time.
I'm gonna move to the side again.
And I'm gonna go from the bottom up,
doing some effleurage and following the contours of her body
creates a little bit more traction, more resistance.
So you're going just a little bit,
a little bit more pressure and deeper.
You can do the raining or the ocean waves.
And remember that my legs and my shoulders are square
to the table, this is a four stance,
all the power really comes from me moving.
And when I go, when I go to do the effleurage,
I do Archer stance where my right foot is forward
and I push with my back leg.
And then the weight goes to my right leg.
So it's like a dance going back
and forth, and you can use your fingers.
You can use the soft fist, the ironing.
You can go more specific the petrissage, the C bowing.
Really get the serratus and the origins here of the lat.
You can do some kneading with your soft palms, soft fist.
And I forgot to do the forearm.
You can also do some effleurage with the forearm
on the low back, it feels really
release a lot of pressure over the sacrum.
You wanna go lightly, but this is where you can use
the forearm or the right arm,
whichever one feels more uncomfortable for you.
You can also use your forearm to go up for some effleurage.
I'm not putting pressure on the bony parts.
You wanna stay off the spinous processes
and the scapula, but you could use your forearm.
I like to use this one better,
I'm pushing with my legs and you can support your wrist
Here, it's just for me to hold my arm there,
but this is another form of effleurage,
where you just using your forearm, the soft fist,
the hand over hand, and the petrissage.
And so when you finish, also remember
that you can use the effleurage, just to kind of
do some nerve endings strokes with the fingertips.
Let the brain start relaxing or you can go back
and do the one that you started with
just to tie it all together
and have a closure with your client.
I like to even go down the arms lightly.
You don't wanna put a lot of pressure going down the arms.
You can go down the arms, I like to alternate also.
And you can also do the soft palm right here
between the scapula, they have a lot
of trigger points there.
Then of course, after your effleurage and your petrissage,
you wanna go back and do the specific work.
So these are just basic techniques
of effleurage and petrissage for the Swedish massage.
And I just wanted to reply to that comment
that really wanted to have a demonstration on the back.
So until the next time, create a great day.
(gentle music)