Locating & Identifying Muscle Groups for Massage

Series Summary

Massages are a great way to relax and reduce muscle tension. Whether it’s a quick rubdown or a full-body treatment, the human touch has practical applications for promoting both physical and emotional well-being. The basic idea behind massage is the use of motion, pressure, tension, and vibration on certain areas of the body, localized around muscles or joints in pain or under stress. This allows a release of tension and a return to a homeostatic condition. Therefore, massage is very important for general stress relief, pain management, encouraging physical and emotional healing, or improving circulation. When giving a massage it is important to be able to identify and isolate the major muscle groups you'll be working on.

In these free videos you'll learn how to give a soothing massage to major muscle groups like the neck and upper back, shoulder, lower back, arms, legs, abs and the gluteus maximus. Expert massage therapist Jean Hurley demonstrates the massage process and talks about the various massage products you can use, like oils and lotions. If it is your first time for a massage, watching these free videos will show you what to expect and help you get comfortable with the process of getting a massage.

Video Transcript

"Hi! On behalf of expertvillage.com, my name is Jean Hurley from Siegels Day Spa in Cottonwood, Arizona. We’re going to talk today about pinpointing muscle groups. So we’re going to give you some tips and techniques for pinpointing the muscle groups during a massage. Today, we’re going to use Kirk Tyler as my model for all of the holds today. We’re going to send him off to undress down to his underwear so we can actually visualize what the muscles look like. What we’re going to do is make sure that the feet, either with a bolster or a pillow are on a good position so it takes pressure off the lower legs and the knees. Tuck this in. Another thing I like to do is have the arms off to the side of the table like this. That way it puts a natural stretch right here and the body is not pinching, the muscle groups aren’t pinching. First thing you need to know about muscles is not necessarily what they’re called but how they move, where they attach and at each end of a muscles group. So working right here in the scapula area. First thing you do is you want to roll. So you’re heating up a muscle and you can see where the muscle moves. "