Most of us can figure out that ashiatsu barefoot massage is going to be deeper than hands-on massage simply by seeing that gravity does a lot of work for the massage therapist. How much pressure can you get with barefoot massage versus hands and forearms?

Today we have an easy-to-do cool little trick is for you. All it takes is your massage table (you can use your dining room table to check your hand/forearm pressure if you’re at home), a scale, and a board. The board simply gives a solid surface for the scale. I used a cutting board. (You can skip the board if you’re checking this out on your eating table.)

Put the scale on the floor to see how deep you can go with your foot if you don’t have ashiatsu bars!

Caveat: I’m kind of lame, apparently, when it comes to hands-on massage. Apparently, that’s what happens when you’ve learned barefoot massage and give up your “regular” massage.

But I did use really good body mechanics, sucked in my gut, used my core and seriously did try really hard to get as deep as I could with my hands and forearms.

The difference between my thumb, hands, and forearm pressure compared to my one-foot pressure is significant.

The results:
✋? 2 hands stacked: 39.8 lbs of pressure. You can hear me grunting trying to get more!

?? 2 thumbs stacked: 24.7 lbs of pressure.

?? Forearm with hand on top to give me more: 41.8 lbs of pressure.

? One foot with other foot on the table (my weight was shifted onto my foot that was on the scale): 90-95 lbs of pressure.

Foot versus thumbs: 3.8 x deeper. (That’s almost quadrupled!)

Foot compared to hands: 2.4 x deeper.

Foot wins over forearms: 2.3 x deeper.

In all actuality, it’s easy to go deeper with one foot too–my foot was flat here in this experiment. When you work more specifically, you use a smaller surface of your foot (for instance, the ball or heel) which makes the work even deeper on your “heeling” sole.

Try out this experiment yourself, and let us know if YOU quadruple the pressure with your foot versus your thumbs or hands! Comment below and let us know how you fare.

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Are you thinking about giving up your hands-on massage so you can truly do deep tissue massage without hurting yourself? You’ve come to the right place! Start here for more information on how you can learn barefoot massage in our CE classes!