Massage & Bodywork Magazine

Neck tension doesn’t always come from the neck. When a neck feels tight, stiff, and achy, that doesn’t always mean that the neck muscles are the culprits. On the contrary. Clients frequently present with neck pain and are totally confused as to why they have it. I mean, it’s not like sitting at a computer all day or sleeping peacefully at night requires neck reps and loaded mobility exercises. The shoulder and the arm, on the other hand, move all day.

Another year has come and gone, and it’s time to turn your attention to taxes: not only the preparation of your 2014 return, but also planning for the year ahead. What comes to mind when you hear the term tax planning? You may think it’s about saving your receipts and keeping track of your expenses and income. But it’s much more than that. Tax planning is the art of keeping as much of your hard-earned money as you legally can. Most business owners use a paid tax preparer.

When you’ve been working in massage and bodywork for a while, there are times when the daily grind can wear you down. Necessary tasks such as paperwork and marketing may reduce the joy and excitement you used to feel. Maybe your enthusiasm has taken a temporary hit from empty spots in the appointment book, or you’ve spent a few days working with difficult clients. Fortunately, there are ways to get back the passion you once had.

Longtime massage educator Clint Chandler works the glutes both through a drape and with specific gluteal draping. He says you need both. “By leaving the area draped, I can use more aggressive approaches and I don’t have to worry about the placement and/or position of the drape. However, I also like to work directly on the tissue using a secure gluteal drape, and everyone knows you can't address the fascia unless you work directly on the body’s tissue.

The practice of clinical massage provides wonderful opportunities to learn new things about the body and help people who are looking for relief from their pain and injury complaints. In this installment, we follow the case of Dustin, a professional piano player whose pain in his arm and hand is impairing his preparation for an important audition. Dustin began having significant forearm and hand pain about three weeks prior to his first visit.

Repetitive strain injuries are caused by the overuse of specific body parts to perform a specific task, such as using thumbs or fingers to palpate muscle tissue. Bodyworkers and massage therapists are especially at risk for these types of injuries due to the precise nature of their work, which places a significant amount of stress on the small bones, ligaments, and muscles of the hand and wrist.

“I’m worse. Way worse. This is so discouraging.” These are not the words you want to hear from a client at the beginning of a session. I tried (probably unsuccessfully) to hide the disappointment I felt. Failure is something I am familiar with, but this turn of events completely surprised me. “I thought you were doing better after our last session. Wasn’t the pain down the leg receding?” I inquired. Ms. H.

Ever feel like your practice requires you to be a different person from day to day? Great—that means you’re doing it right! Les and Kristin discuss the diverse roles therapists need to step into on any given day to achieve the ultimate role of business owner. Have you mastered all 10? Les Sweeney: One of my favorite Jerry Seinfeld jokes (it’s nearly impossible to choose among the hundreds of great “Seinfeldisms”) is when he talks about the fear of public speaking.

It’s not uncommon to be in the final stages of a history intake when the client casually states, “Oh, there is one other thing: sometimes my jaw clicks when I eat or open my mouth.” According to The TMJ Association, “A clicking jaw in those presenting with face, head, and neck pain may be a smoldering fire that should not be ignored.” Joint noise is not unusual, but a clicking jaw can represent an incorrect relationship between the condyle disc and the mandibular fossa, or possibly...

The pectoralis major is a large, superficial muscle that covers the chest from clavicle to abdomen. A complex network of muscle fibers extends centrally from the costal cartilage, sternum, and clavicle to a thickened convergence at the proximal humerus. Prior to inserting on the humerus, the fibers of the pectoralis major fold and twist, forming the thick anterior border of the axilla.