Massage can be an extremely useful and beneficial form of therapy. If it were not for cost, time and availability issues most practitioners would probably have their patients receive more. If not for those issues again patients could make far better usage of massage for general health and well-being. Supplementary home massage, where patients use our massagers at home under professional advice removes these restrictions making a huge number of benefits possible.
The basics
- Relax the part to be massaged
- Try and position the part to be massaged to be horizontal. By doing this you do not have to support the weight of the machine, and the weight helps apply pressure
- Allow the massager to finish penetrating one and massaging one spot before moving to the next
The Massager Contact
To get the maximum penetration the head of the massager should sit flat on the part to be massaged. At moderate speeds the weight of the machine should be enough to maintain contact. However, as speed increases the massager head will have a tendency to patter (bounce up and down). When this happens either slow the machine down or apply a moderate amount of pressure until the head stops pattering.
Duration
Judgement should develop with usage. As a starting point try:
- A moderate speed
- 30 seconds for a moderate trigger point (60 for chronic deep trigger points such as those in the glutes)
- There may be multiple trigger points in an area, each needing an application of massage
Also, our massagers are sealed units which keep out moisture and dust but keep in heat. Please allow to completely cool after 15 minutes of use.
Professional Advice
We consider our massagers to be serious pieces of equipment designed to provide a genuine therapeutic benefit. We desire that users be safe and get the maximum benefit, that means usage under professional advice. This is especially important if used on an injury or pain syndrome. Such conditions require a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. Because of this all of our marketing material and massager instructions have a strong message instructing to obtain professional advice. We only supply wholesale quantities to those we believe can provide such advice.
Research and Professional Acceptance of Home Massage
To our knowledge when we started building massagers for home use this was not widely prescribed. Some of the reasons were summed up by a study done in the UK (McDonagh, 2005). They found that practitioners did not support home massage for the following reasons:
- The manufacturers of massagers for consumer use were more focused on looks than function
- The instructions provided with such machines were poor, and
- Practitioners preferred to do it themselves
These are the issues we have been trying to address. Gradually among health care professionals things are changing.
Ailsa invested in one of these almost two years ago to use on her patients and we now have them in stock on the request of the patients. Dr Graeme is an Australian who came up with this product and has always been very helpful and friendly to us. He provides a lot of information that he is happy for us to share with our patients. If you would like a brochure or demonstration please feel free to ask.
For more information visit http://www.drgraeme.com/