The
FAINTING
MYSTERY
A phenomenon unique
to chair massage
by ERIC BROWN
photography by ELLEN JASKOL
I've owned two successful massage clinics
and my staff has done tens of thousands of
massage treatments over the years. In all that time,
we've never had anyone faint on a massage table.
Occasionally, people report feeling dizzy immediately
after getting off the table, but that's known as postural
hypotension, which is self-correcting after a few
seconds. When I first learned about chair massage,
however, I was told that about one in 1,000 people
would faint when getting a seated massage. That
seemed odd, and I couldn't understand why it would
happen, but I kept it in the back of my mind as I
excitedly branched into this up-and-coming field. ➺
58
massage & bodywork
january/february 2014