A small sample of my work

I had to write an email to the owner and the manager of my shop because I had a difficult client on Saturday. I decided that after removing all identifying material, it would make a good blog post. So tell me what you think of it, kay?

Heyla,

I was asked to send an email with details of my session, as a countermeasure to anything he may say. Just a few notes before I try to recall as much as possible: IF he's super sore, he totally asked for 'as much pressure as you can give me.' and I complied. I gave as much pressure as I possibly could, and more pressure than I've ever given to a client before, using elbows and knees and knuckles and tools to try to get him that pressure, but he wasn't satisfied. Another note: If he asks for the person I trained with recently (because he asked about my training, and seemed confused because I was initially trained in house, and then went to a workshop on Wednesday) please just tell him the teacher was Randy C* if he wants to contact him for a massage. That seemed to be what he was edging at. 

So when he laid down (prone, for more backwork), I did compressions upward and then focused on the feet. He said I wasn't giving enough pressure, and that he circled a 10 on the pressure preference chart for a reason. At this point I politely excused myself and got a tool to use, because I'd already been using as much pressure as my hands could comfortably maintain. I ran across C doing the same thing on my way back to the room, and we exchanged nods. I settled back down and began to dig in with the tool, and he commented (half surprised, half derogatory) 'Oh, that's a tool!' like I was cheating by using one. I made a vague comment of 'If it gets the job done...' and continued. He seemed content for a few minutes, before he admitted that 'It's not doing anything for me' so I moved on to Gastroc. and Hamstrings. I used a new move from Randy, putting him in figure 4 and digging in with my forearm and elbow around his sacrum and greater trochanter, before going down the leg with my elbows and fists. 

I moved on to the next leg, this time not bothering to do reflexology on his foot, and digging right into the muscles of his feet, gastroc. and hamstrings as I worked my way up and back down using fists, forearms, and elbows. He asked me to move on to his back, so I complied. 

While working on his back, I dug my knees into his gluteals and balanced on knees and elbows to target his erectors and rhomboids, working up and down the back several times, but not feeling the muscles release. At one point I asked about pressure, and he said 'I told you to give me all you got and I meant it. I need the pressure.' I climbed off and tried to ease into the loosening, but he complained that I wasn't using enough pressure, so I pressed with full body weight on my elbows, working up and down the sides of his body. Eventually, my arms began to hurt, so I switched to going up and down his legs with my knees, bringing his shin up to meet the resistance of my knee, and repeating on the other side. Deciding to at least try it, I lightly pressed my knees into his QL, adding pressure when he didn't complain, and then using my knees one at a time (to maintain balance and power) going up and down his back, but felt no change in muscle tissue, so desisted.

After I did all I could with my knees, I stood and used my heels and toes to dig into the shoulders, erectors, QL, Lat Dorsi, glutes, hams, and gastroc, to name a few of my targets. When I was beginning to work on the gastroc., he asked me to come back to his back, that it needed the most work, so I came back up and worked down the other side, this time stopping at the glutes. 

I turned him on his side and dug my heels and toes into his glutes, QL and rhomboids (both sides) before having him lay on his back. I thought some good stretching might help him, but even in stretching, he needed extreme measures. 

I mainly worked on his legs with stretching, though I began with another stretch from Randy's workshop, sustained pulling stretch of the arm, targeting the rotator cuff muscles and the Latissimus Dorsi. I followed that stretch with the traditional Hamstring, Glute, and Hip Opening stretches, but had to stand and balance his foot on my thigh to give enough pressure (essentially a mini-lunge). On the TFL/Gluteus Maximus stretch, I had to anchor his hip with my knee, and reach across his body and put a large amount of my weight on his shoulder to give him the stretch he wanted. I then incorporated another new stretch of the adductors by keep his leg straight, pulling it lateral from his body, and then tilting the foot downward for a good stretch. I repeated on the other side, and sat him up. 

During stretches he asked about why I entered massage (My family is largely supportive of massage, and being away, I missed it), where I learned my Thai (They taught us in-house), and when I got training (Oh, Actually, I just went to a workshop this week, by Randy C*. I learned a lot!). I can see how he was confused about the training thing, based on the conversation flow. 

When I sat him up, I used my elbow to dig into his traps, rhomboids, and erectors (slightly) while holding his hand for sustained pressure and easy access to the muscles (another new treat from Randy). He was unimpressed, so I leant his head forward and stretched his neck with my fingers (Randy's trick again).

I asked if I could get him some tea or water, but he refused, put on his shoes, and walked right out. I shrugged it off and cleaned up. I did everything I possibly could have to satisfy him, so any dissatisfaction he feels is likely from his own issues, not anything I did. It was quite a nice challenge, but today I felt my pressure gauge was a little off (I used a bit much accidentally), so it's not the type of massage I want to do more than once every 6 months or so, you know? 

I hope this report is detailed enough. If you need to ask clarifying questions, I'd be happy to answer. Thank you!