Massage mystique

The touch business is booming. From physiology centres to new-age gymnasiums and holistic centres to beauty parlours for the well-heeled, al...

The touch business is booming. From physiology centres to new-age gymnasiums and holistic centres to beauty parlours for the well-heeled, all are full of stressed-out strivers and sole-weary shoppers who drop in, stay fully dressed, and quickly unkink with a 10-minute foot or back rub. Soothing the weary soul (or sore hamstring) is one thing, treating post-mastectomy patients is a considerably more complex understanding. An educated touch feels good. But in what form? Swedish or shiatsu? Reiki or reflexology?

Eastern medicine’s theories about meridians, energy flow and the inter-correctedness of distant body parts can leave Westernised minds reeling. For a massage to be effective, must it be backed by hard science? Or is it that bodywork is just one healthy part of a larger belief system? Read on.

Bodywork benefits

Athletes believe in massage. In fact, the prevailing image of competitors these days is of pampered, stroked, soaked and pummelled bodies, especially oiled and primed for peakprofessionals, Saturday athletes and fans of holistic health practitioners who account for a bulk of the new massage converts.

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"There are very real benefits of massage," says Poonam Chandra, fitness manager, Taj Mahal Hotel. "One of the chief ones is physiological. The touch of a hand is a soothing encounter." The long gliding motion and therapeutic rubbing strokes found in most fullbody rubdowns are techniques derived from Swedish massage. Facial massage, lymphatic drainage and polarity therapy — all employ similar motions.

Acupressure (shiatsu or trigger-point treatment), on the other end of the spectrum, uses direct finger pressure (and sometimes the therapist’s elbows or knee) with varying degrees of intensity on specific problem areas. Many currently popular forms of bodywork, like sports massage, often include both — freely mixing techniques based on centuries-old Eastern methods with modern Western knowledge of physiology.

"Feel good" therapies (facials or foot rubs, aromatherapy, beauty bodywraps) are, by definition, almost always gentle manipulations of the skin and superficial muscle layers. Therapeutic massages dig deeper into muscle and tissue, relaxing muscle fibres and increasing blood flow.

But consult your doctor before beginning a massage regimen just as you would do before starting any new physical activity, especially if you are pregnant. For anyone with the following conditions, massage may not be appropriate: thrombosis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, AIDS, boils or other skin infections, lumps or recent scar tissue and even acute back pain.

Massage as medicine

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Inherent in all schools of thought is a basic reality: stimulated blood flow delivers nutrients to cells more efficiently, helping heal tiny muscular tears and ease physical aches. Certain stress hormones, like cortisol, may decrease, while endorphins, the body’s own natural narcotics, are released to moderate pain, elevate mood and create feelings of well-being.

In hospitals, massage techniques may be used asadjunct therapy for underweight newborns and for drug or alcohol rehabilitative patients. In one recent US study, massage was shown to significantly ease depression and anxiety among hospitalised bone-marrow transplant recipients. Research is on to see whether bodywork therapy boosts the immune systems of AIDS patients, reduce the itching of burn victims and relieve insomnia.

Select therapists are working with psychiatrists to help sufferers of sexual abuse; the introduction of the healthy human touch helps teach the satisfying pleasures of nurturing contact and leads victims to greater levels of acceptance of their bodies. "Massage was once more or less ridiculed by the medical community. But isn’t any more," says P K Prabhakar, head, Institute for Physically Handicapped. Different Strokes

With just three ingredients and five moves, anyone can give a devastatingly, luxuriant massage.

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Buy massage oil from the stores or make your own by filling up a squeeze bottle with vegetable oil. Duringwinter, however, avoid using coconut oil as it leads to dryness. If the oil doesn’t have its own aroma, you can mix a drop of essence.

Collect some old sheets and towels — oil stains clothes and bed linen.

The massage room shouldn’t be dark and dingy.

Choose a firm, steady surface. Soft mattresses absorb impact, stealing benefits from the body. A massage table is ideal, but you can stimulate its advantages by kneeling or straddling your partner on a yoga mat or firm bed.

Massage is a physical activity for the giver as well as the recipient. Because stretching and leaning are required, the massager’s body is open to injury. To prevent muscle strain, breathe deeply. Avoid pressing just from the hands or arms. Position your torso over your hands, but don’t bear down — glide forward using your legs rather than your back.

To keep your hands from tiring, change moves frequently or switch from palms to knuckles, thumbs, even forearms or knees. Always stroke towards the heart. Youcan damage the valves if you push away from the heart (especially, on the legs, where the veins are visibly nearer the surface; arms with deep-set veins, like the torso, pose less of a problem).

As you explore your partner’s body, encourage him/her to tell you where massaging hurts or where you’re being unnecessarily gentle. The body is tougher than you think but it’s up to your partner to speak up. Massage is a relationship that requires communication.The 10-minute neck and shoulder massage

Position yourself behind your seated partner. Take a few deep breaths and relax.

Place both hands between his/her shoulder blades and, using effleurage, let your hands glide up alongside the spine towards the base of the skull. (Take care not to put direct pressure on the spine, lest he/she gets a slipped disc). Try stroking with flat hands or — for a different sensation — with fists.

Next, still employing a gliding stroke, move sideways out to one shoulder, then back to base of theskull, out to the other shoulder, then lightly back to the centre and straight down to the lower back.

With fingers, vibrate skin from the base of the skull out to each shoulder.

Use gliding technique around and over shoulder blades.

In jerky, circular motions, apply friction between the spine and the shoulder blades.

Firmly squeeze and lift, from base of the skull out to each shoulder.

Apply friction, again moving in circles at the sides of the spine, from lower back to the base of the skull.

Use the gliding motion along the rib cage.

Vibrate across entire back and shoulders.

Drum across the back and the shoulders, using tapotement. Go wild.