Since chair massage is an easy, portable means of providing your services to a wide range of clients, you will want to have two or three chair massage routines that you can offer. Because the client remains fully clothed and no oil is used, you can set up anywhere and offer quick, inexpensive massage. This basic neck and shoulder massage is good for relaxation, and great for offering at corporate health fairs or as a community service. Coffee shops and retail sites would also be a good place to offer neck and shoulder massage.

If you do not have a massage chair, you may also have the client straddle a chair (seated backward), with hands folded in the lap or placed on a table in front of them.

If you’ll be doing several hours of chair massage, you will want to save your thumbs and fingers. When using the thumbs or finger pads, try not to flex or bend them, but instead use direct pressure. You can also use your forearms and fists to good effect, as shown below.

TO START: Place hands on the client’s shoulders and ask him/ her to take a deep breath in and out. Matching your breath with the client’s will help you to form a connection and help the client to relax.

x trigger point and referral sites

Trigger Point Therapy

Myofascial trigger points (tiny contraction knots) in overworked or poorly conditioned muscles are the most frequent cause of pain in the ankles, feet and toes. Trigger points should be at the top of the list during any examination for pain, numbness and other abnormal sensations in the lower legs, ankles, feet or toes. When healthcare practitioners have had adequate training and experience, trigger points are easy to locate and treat. In fact, there are ways to treat them yourself quite effectively.

Misdiagnosis of Plantar Fasciitis

Travell and Simons believe that a diagnosis of heel spurs is often mistakenly applied when physicians are uninformed about myofascial pain. Trigger points typically refer pain; that is, they send pain to some other site. Physicians and other healthcare workers are commonly led astray by this phenomenon.