The Sauna/Cold Water Effect

[starlight]

This is probably stupid, and only tangentially relates to massage therapy, so please delete if you don't think it fits this forum.

Ever since I was little I have enjoyed having my skin drawn on with a ballpoint pen. Sometimes I would draw on my arms, and sometimes I would get a classmate to draw on my hands. If you take a pen and lightly trace across your skin you'll discover it is a stimulating counterpoint to the muscle relaxation of massage. When someone does this after being in a hot tub or being massaged it's the same as the effect derived from taking your body from a sauna to cold water.

What I was wondering is if massage therapists ever do anything to stimulate the skin and muscles after relaxing them.

 

[dieownhi5x3]

Welcome Arcros to MassagePlanetL! We hope you enjoy our forum.
To answer your question, yes, there is a technique similar to what you describe called Skin Rolling. The theory is rolling the skin breaks up the facia just below the skin and on top of the muscle layers. (Facia is a connective tissue that covers the entire body from head to toe.) It can also break up scar tissue over time, but usually the scar tissue can be painful with this technique. Some people really like the technique, others aren't so thrilled, this is due to the facia being so tight which can be more painful. Areas of the body that have had more trauma or damage tend to be more painful than those that have not. Also if one tends not to drink enough water, the facia frequently becomes very tight due to dehydration. Hope this answers your question!

 

[Jamie]

The Sauna/Cold Water Effect

What I was wondering is if massage therapists ever do anything to stimulate the skin and muscles after relaxing them.

Tapotment, which means tapping (it can look like quick karate chops or beating with loose fists etc), is a way to stimulate the skin and muscles...it's often done at the end of a massage