Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/494122
F r e e S O A P n o t e s w i t h M a s s a g e B o o k f o r A B M P m e m b e r s : a b m p . u s / M a s s a g e b o o k 15 What's your best phrasing for telling a chatty client that it's time for quiet and to focus on their session? Publication Date: July/August How and when do you ask clients to rebook? Publication Date: Sept/Oct Email your responses to darren@abmp.com. Your submission can be as short as you'd like and up to 250 words. Upcoming Topics I fi nd this to be an interesting question. I do not have troubles with my hands. I keep my body well stretched and receive massages at least every other week. The trouble for me is not in my hands, but my core. This area holds quite a bit of my massage work. I ache there more than any other spot. Another area is my deltoids. This is from all types of things: working out, playing sports, and some massage (deep-tissue work). This is an area that deals with how we sit at our computers, when we read, and what we carry, too. I am asked about my hands quite a bit. I have very small hands, and clients are mesmerized by how I can do so well in my massages without hurting my hands. My response is that I am a professional massage therapist and have been taught how to be proper with my body mechanics while doing massage. I am excited about my career and just love my work. My hope is to continue this work for many, many more years. Taking care of myself is a priority, which I take very seriously. DEEANNA RODIGER SALEM, OREGON Warm rice bags are relaxing, and I regularly receive therapeutic massage! AUDREY POWELL COLFAX HEALING ARTS, INC., CALIFORNIA I spent fi ve months this year working for USA Cycling's Elite Development Program in the Netherlands as a soigneur—the pro cycling team's combination massage therapist, medic, nutritionist, chef, sports psychologist, chauffeur, and all-around caretaker. We routinely worked 12–15-hour days, frequently with 5–8 hours of massage a day. The combination of long hours of deep-tissue sports massage, cramped working conditions without room for proper body mechanics, and assorted (often heavy) manual labor made good hand care essential, and I was regularly found late at night with my hands stuck in the ice coolers during a major racing campaign! By the end of the season, I was suffering from a torn rotator cuff sustained when I didn't let go quickly enough of a bottle grabbed by a cyclist passing at 30 mph, as well as numbness in my hands related to the shoulder injury and repetitive stress. The biggest things that have saved my hands: relentless dedication to isolated exercise, adherence to excellent body mechanics, and beginning piano lessons again for the fi rst time since childhood—it is as much emotional release as it is physical therapy for all the fi ne muscles of the hand. Now, if only I can bring my piano with me to bike races! SARA CLAWSON GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Two words: paraffi n bath. THERAPY WITH DESTINY SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN What's your best phrasing Upcoming therapeutic massage! COLFAX HEALING ARTS, INC., GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA