Hands-free Massage

The course is mainly practical and includes:

• Conditions of the hands and arms such as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), causes and prevention
• Hand, arm and wrist warm up exercises and self-protection exercises
• Introduction to concept of hands free massage
• Benefits and effects of the treatment
• A range of forearm and elbow techniques that can substitute for and extend ‘classic’ massage techniques for varied pressures
• How and where to best use them
• How to feel with these massage ‘tools’
• How to use them skilfully and sensitively, including ways of moderating the pressure that you are applying
• How to adapt them to different client builds, tensions and responses
• How to blend them effortlessly into your preferred massage routine
• How to monitor and adapt to the client’s responses
• How to support this with good body use, rather than working too hard with your arms and shoulders

You will learn to effectively and confidently use the forearms and elbow to work on clients at a deeper muscular level using:

o the forearm – for powerful stretches and mobilisations.

o the inner forearm - for applying widespread general pressure and for firm sweeping strokes, especially on the back and legs, ranging from medium to firm pressure.

o the ulna forearm and the bony areas around the elbow for applying focused pressure

o the precision elbow tools – for very specific work on ‘knots’/points of tension and pressure point techniques

o the whole forearm for mobilising parts of the body and for applying stretches

o the body weight and stretches to maintain or add pressure

o the non-massaging hand for support, precision and palpation.

Please Note: These are strong, powerful tools, which can deliver harm and bruising pressure to clients if they are used without care. Therefore, using them skilfully and learning how to adapt each technique to a range of builds, tolerances and reactions is a core part of our training.