A question I ask all my new massage therapy clients is what their preferred pressure is during a massage. Everyone has different sensitivity levels so I feel it’s important to make sure I’m not using too much or too little for my clients. Most clients tend to prefer ‘firm, but not painful’ category, although there are the ‘CRUSH ME BRO’ and ‘anything heavier than a feather touch will kill me’ outliers every now and then.
But why does it matter? Well, if the goal of a massage is to relax or help in pain relief, using too much can be a hindrance and at worse, make the problems worse. As much as I’d like to drop an elbow with the force of a semi-truck behind it into Aunt Maude’s upper trap, it probably wouldn’t aid so much in relieving her back pain or my client retention (unless she happens to be a ‘CAN’T HURT ME BRAH!!!!’ type of client.)
Plus, using too much pressure right off the bat can cause the muscles to tighten up and resist the pressure even more, and then it just becomes a losing battle at that point. That’s not to say there’s no place for super deep pressure, but it is usually better to build up to it rather than diving in head first, or, in this case elbow first.
Too little pressure can also be an issue, and can lead to clients thinking they’ve been swindled out of their hard earned dollars! If a client is expecting a therapeutic massage and instead I gently rub my fingertips on their skin for 60-minutes, they’ll probably leave thinking they’ve been bamboozled and a little weirded out. My Yelp page will rue the day I gracefully and gently tickled your back for an hour!
So what is the right answer? The simplest answer is whatever amount the client feels is right. For some, that might be very deep sustained pressure and for others, something much lighter. It may take a few sessions to get a feel for what is best too. Sometimes pressure that feels right in the session may leave the person feeling a bit achy and sore the next day, but hopefully not too debilitated.
Don’t be afraid to speak up if you’re not satisfied with the pressure either! Trust me I’d much rather you communicate with me during the session so that I can make corrections, rather than letting your frustration build up and result in you punching me in the gut after your appointment, or even worse, posting about your bad experience on social media! The horror!!!!
