How to Massage a Senior's Legs

Video Transcript

"Okay in this next segment we're going to talk about massaging the client's leg. After you're finished with the feet where we applied lotion, obviously here the client's not wearing pants. So what I recommend is simply wiping your hands off on the sheets and you're going to work through the client's clothing. Again, here we're just providing compassionate touch, nothing vigorous, we're just going to start with a gentle motion going back and forth here. In the massage business we call this a Petrissage and you're just gently going back and forth over the leg and the lower leg. Again, when I make a movement towards the heart, there's where I apply more of the pressure and then as I come up I release the pressure. So whenever I'm making a pressure stroke, it's towards the heart and you'll see even when I use my left hand and I go this way. This way is lighter than when I pull back towards the heart. So again, you see I stroke this way and then this way I grab and I pull back towards the heart. So all the time I'm trying to focus I'm pushing the blood back to the heart to help with the blood circulation. It also helps with the person relaxing too and you have to kind of think of massage as a dance whether it's a massage or a compassionate touch and you provide like a rhythm to your massage and you can see how my hips are somewhat swaying back and forth. So the movement of my hands and arms comes from my hips and that helps you to last longer, to keep from getting tired out while you're providing compassionate touch to these wonderful individuals. So once you've worked on one leg for a few minutes, 5 minutes, go ahead and switch to the other leg. Again, just providing the same touch, same type of gentle squeezing or what we call petrissage and just stroking from one side to the other. Now, I happen to have long arms so it's not uncomfortable for me to reach across the table like this, but if you don't I highly recommend walking around the table and then working from the side of the leg that you're on. You always need to be conscious of your own body mechanics, making sure that you're protecting your body as well as providing relief for the individual that you're working on. So you'll notice how I get lower and lower to keep my back straight in order to provide relief for this individual that I'm working on. So once we finish with both legs, the next thing we're going to move to are the arms and hands and of course the shoulders are kind of attached to that as well so we'll be touching on those also."