Hello everyone! I am a new massage therapist working independently and I am having trouble releasing one clients knots. When she is in the prone position I can look at her back and see that here trap is raised on both sides and begins at the middle of the medial border of her scapula and continues down to the very inferior part of her trap. It almost looks like her lats are raised as well. She has large knots at the superior angle of the scapula. She is a professor and does lots of work at the computer. She is overly flexible~ stretching is very hard to do, she is also double jointed. She is healthy and active. I have tried Trigger point, deep tissue, hot stones, I even raised my table so that I could increase pressure. I am getting frustrated and I have suggested a referral but she isn't too keen on that idea. Does anybody have any suggestions???
Hi Regina and welcome
I was a massage therapist for over 15 years and it can be frustrating when clients have problems you just can't shift.
I'm sure others will be along here with good ideas to try. My suggestion is try and get her to do a regular yoga class. Sometimes that can help loosen stubborn knots and prevent new ones developing.
Also wondered about your comment about raising the table to increase pressure. I found it more helpful to drop the table so you can use more body weight and lean into the muscles with a firm pressure (but remember to keep your knees bent and body relaxed). Not sure what techniques you've trained in but I found using my forearms helpful working around the back and shoulders.
Best of luck
Hi RD
Welcome to Healthy Pages :wave:
For a start you can't make some one better if their system isn't up to it. We can't help everybody.
Massage is great stuff, but people's life-styles and work patterns, unless changed, will get in the way of healing. They need to take more personal responsibility for their health. I very rarely see "lazy" people, it's those that do too much, "work and play" often have such difficulties. Doing, doing, doing and more doing is a compulsive habit that is an easy trap to fall into.
The hypermobility sounds interesting. Since there is a lack of stability, muscles in certain areas will tighten up to try and compensate. Stretching, for example, may not be useful as they are already flexible. A better form of exercise is toning up, ie doing light weights in repetition . Though Yoga may be useful as it can stretch and tonify for better overall balance, but in this case the stretch isn't as important.
RP
Thank you both for replying! I found that raising my table was not a smart decision. Elbow use is not my specialty and I found I would be sore after trying to so I thought it was my table, I just needed better body mechanics. She does yoga 2x a week. I have given her exercises to do while she is at the computer. Should I be doing more work on her chest using trigger point? And less work on her back? I feel if I can get her knots at the superior angle of her scapula to release~ the rest of the back muscles will relax....maybe? Maybe not?
What about referring her on to a different therapy - myofascial release for instance? Perhaps less is more in her case? I wouldn't recommend trigger point on her chest/breast - I had it done just once, and found it the most painful experience ever.
My mother had the problem of knots in her back. I took her to Belle Vie Day Spa and the massage therapist was able to relieve my mother from the pain, using hot stone massage therapy.