It wasn’t until after I had become a massage therapist that I began to understand the benefits of stretching in a massage session. My friend Dave had gotten a massage internship of sorts with a semi-pro hockey team, and he specialized in stretching and sports massage to keep the guys limber and injury free.

Up until that point, I had thought that most clients primarily wanted to lie there like a pancake, flip over, and be pried up off the table when “done”.

The first time Dave worked on me and incorporated stretching in along with careful draping, I was blown away. Gracefully pulling, rotating, and twisting until I was looser than I had been in years, I was hooked.

“Stretching Massage” – what comes to mind?

While traditional Thai massage is done through clothing and on a mat on the floor,  the therapist works sen lines, compressing, pulling, stretching, and rocking to clear energy blockages.

Sports massage may include stretching, and it can be done through clothes or directly on the skin (often on limbs, not on the back) both pre- and post-event, during recovery, maintenance, and as injury treatment.

We have discovered that the combination of stretching and ashiatsu barefoot massage work beautifully and synergistically together.

We teach, for the sake of ease, our stretching ROM (Range of Motion) classes while therapists receiving are fully clothed, but we also include a fantastic addition: draping. Most of the strokes we teach can easily be converted to be included in a “typical” ashiatsu session.

Say your client complains of hip issues, or you notice their gait is off. Upon palpation with your feet, you discover that their lateral hip rotators seem to be tighter than they need to be. Enter stretching. While they are prone, we can work through the sheet or directly on skin in this instance while we “stir the pot”, rotating their foot as we compress muscles in those wicked little rotators.

While we are not “lengthening” the muscles, we are returning them to their original place, or at least closer to where they are supposed to be.

Stretching benefits

Benefits of stretching are numerous, and they depend on which source you may be referring. Some say (like the Mayo Clinic) that it helps prevent injury, improve circulation, and will help with better posture. Increased flexibility from stretching may help joints move through their full range of motion.

Most everyone agrees that stretching simply feels fantastic too.

Adding stretching into your ashiatsu barefoot massage session has a number of benefits:

? Clients think stretching feels great.
? Increases therapist’s options for a well-rounded massage.
? Improves client’s range of motion.
? Therapists often hold stretches longer than the client does, so they become more effective.
? Therapist’s understanding of anatomy while stretching their client can assist the client in becoming more aware of structural imbalance.
? A variety of stretching styles (more on this in a coming blog post) gives the clients more options in increasing range of motion and healing.

Adding in stretching to your barefoot massage is another great way to increase career longevity and prevent burnout. It’s good for both the therapist and the client!

Have you added in stretching into any of your massages? What kind of feedback have you gotten from your clients? Let us know in the comments below!

For more information on our ROM stretching massage CE classes, visit our site here. Our class schedule for ROM can be found here.

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