Video: How to Give a Back Massage

When giving a back massage, use oil, run two fingers down each side of the spine and use cross fiber friction techniques. Give a back massage with tips from a massage instructor in this free video on massage therapy and techniques.

Video Transcript

Hi I'm Gretchen Rivas with Relax to the Max Massage Therapy and today we are going to talk about how to give a back massage. Whenever you are working with someone on their back if you want to put a little oil on them because it doesn't feel really good to have it done on dry skin, you want to spread it out in a nice smooth manner. You don't want to, a lot of times people just do this type of thing and you really don't want that, you want a nice smooth spreading motion when you are putting on your oil. It feels really nice to run two fingers down each side of the spine. Whenever you are working on the back you want to be careful not to rub on bone because it is not very comfortable for the client. You want to come around the shoulder blades and you can come down along the edges of the spine and back up through around the shoulder blade area and work out through there. It always feels good to do some what we call cross fiber friction which is where you are going the opposite way of which the muscle runs because that helps break up muscle fibers and adhesions that can cause pain. So always go down each side of the spine and come back up through the ribs and the waist and around the shoulder blades like this and back out around through the neck. Another thing that feels really good too is if somebody has low back issues if you come back up through deep in at the waist through here. A lot of times the low back is deep within so you want to kind of come up through there and see if that is where some of their pain might be coming from. Work deep in on the sacral area and rub on this low back area, it usually feels really good for people if they have low back ache. Back and forth across the back and stroke down both sides of the spine and come back up around, down through again and over and around and that's how you give a back massage.

How to Give a Back Massage

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