PNF

[Veronica Salmon]

Hi Everyone,

I have my first massage evaluation at school tomorrow night - a 5 min massage on a body part picked out of a hat. For the evaluation we have to include a PNF stretch. I am comfortable doing it on the legs and neck and have a fairly good idea how to do it on the back (we got a demo on that last night), but I'm still a bit confused as to what is a good one to do on the arms.
If anyone has helpful hints, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Zachary]

Oh there's lots of great stuff for the arms. Stand to the right or left of the person:

Lets say starting on the right: wrap your right hand around the persons right wrist, then your left hand just above the
elbow joint, and with the arm resting straight down along the other person's body give a gentle pull along-side & down toward the feet. Release the stretch, & swing the arm
upward about 30 degrees and sweep it back down & around toward the table, then repeat a couple more times.
(this moves the shoulder girdle around in a counterclockwise
rotation at the same time) You can also reverse then and do this so the shoulder girdle is moving in a clockwise direction.

But wait, there's more:

Move to the head of the table now & place the right arm is up and over the top end of the table and allow the arm to rest on your left forearm or hand, and again gently now, stretch the whole arm over the persons head. Take a little lotion or oil and apply to your hands and take a long sweeping glide down the entire right side of the body coming back up slightly underneath all the way up into the arm.

Next:

Bring the arm back down, crossing it over the chest with their hand resting up around the left shoulder. Move yourself around to the left side of the table and leaning over
from the hips extend your right arm/hand wrapping it around their right side shoulder & up under the whole scapula region. Put in some pressure here & glide your hand up between the upper thoracics & the medial scapula and bring it up & over the traps....Bring the left hand/arm around to the top of the traps and down the same path & alternate back and forth a couple of times.

Still want more ?

If you're tall & strong enough, & please use good leverage Take care with your own body on this one:

Use that last motion to pull the person over onto their left side, LEAN IN - and use your own body weight to support the person so they won't feel they're about to fall off the table - (I tell my folks to think of me as the Great Wall of China when I do this one !) Then with your left hand on the shoulder, wrap the right hand around the upper arm, usually just below the bicep region or slightly above the elbow works to, pull the arm toward the floor. You can then leave them in that position and do more work around the shoulder & neck area with the hands or gentle forearm work.

You really want to practice all this a few times with your massage buddies, but its great stuff. The only major contraindication, I'd say to watch for is if you have someone with either rotator problems or hypermobility in the shoulder joints and be conscious of any issues they may have with the elbows too.

Also check out this on youtube.com:

How to Give a Massage: Techniques of Sports Massage Therapy : Arm Muscles: Sports Massage Therapy & PNF Stretching Techniques - It's by Expert Village (they have great stuff on there) Check out other videos there for more techniques if you have to use specific PNF techniques, involving your victim/client/fellow massage buddy giving back varying degrees of resistance as you hold the specific
body parts you're working on...


Happy experimenting ! And good luck with your evaluation.

 

[Tazzer]

Thanks

and WOW..i'm going to have to print this out and go over it with a classmate.
Thanks so much.

 

[Bender]

Here's one more youtube video to check out with the same practitioner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIs3ypRTRNU&feature=related

How to Give a Massage: Techniques of Sports Massage Therapy : Wrist & Elbow: Sports Massage Therapy & PNF Stretching Techniques

And you're welcome Robin!

 

[aqua_galkayak]

excellent - I love the videos. thank you so much again. i'll let you know how the evaluation goes.

 

[aaron m]

Just did a quick MassagePlanetL search under PNF and picked this out of one of Jason's posts:


My most-recommend books on stretching include:
Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method by Aaron Mattes
Specific Stretching for Everyone by Aaron Mattes
Overcoming Back & Neck Pain by Kit Laughlin
Stretching & Flexibility by Kit Laughlin
Scientific Stretching (4th ed. or later) by Thomas Kurz (better for trainers than therapists)


I personally took one of Aaron Mattes's classes a few years ago & was blown away by how great his techniques are. If you ever have the chance to take a class of his go for it !!!
His books are very detailed and have every possible stretch you can think of, so you may want to put them on your wish list as well as some of the others listed here. I love getting stretched both on the table or with Thai Yoga Massage on the floor, so you just happened to have asked questions about techniques I like doing & recieving. Hope you get to incorporate lots of these tools for the toolbag as I like to call them. And good luck with your future in the massage world too.

 

[Hiya]

I will certainly add those books to my wish list. I want to be very comfortable with PNF since I am interested in going into sports massage and working with dancers. So again, thank you so much for your time and the amazing tips. I feel very inspired now!

 

[Zahra]

All of the tips are excellent. Whichever one you select (or a combination), just remember to take your time - don't rush through it. Palpate the tissues first and then slowly go into the stretch. If you're able, incorporate the client's breath while do the stretch (exhaling into the stretch). For example, have the client take three deep breaths. On the third breath have the person hold it as long as comfortable. As the client exhales carry the stretch a little further. Good luck. Hope all of this helps.

 

[rockin JC]

Thank you Gaspen. Going slow was something all my classmates and I were talking about since we notice we tend to go too fast, and I"m sure with the extra added nerves of doing the massage on a teacher while the rest of the class is watching will make me want to go faster! Directing the client's breathing into the stretch will help me slow down and stay focused, so thanks for that tip.

 

[dreamer]

Don't forget to breathe, while helping your clients do the same.

When you get time, you may also want to watch videos on rolfing/structural integration work since you want to do sports massage, as it would be a nice compliment to the sessions you'll be doing too.

 

[William Y]

shout out to Robin

How did your evaluation go :?:

Hope it was great & you're feeling confident about all those
new skills you've been learning.

 

[loh m]

I have the evaluation tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. I feel pretty good about it, just got to make sure I don't let the fact that I'm massaging a teacher (the best teacher/massage therapist in the school in my opinion) and that the rest of the class will be watching get the best of my nerves. As long as I can breathe through that I will be fine.

Thanks again for all your help. And I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[jak.]

Just did a quick MassagePlanetL search under PNF and picked this out of one of Jason's posts:


My most-recommend books on stretching include:
Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method by Aaron Mattes
Specific Stretching for Everyone by Aaron Mattes
Overcoming Back & Neck Pain by Kit Laughlin
Stretching & Flexibility by Kit Laughlin
Scientific Stretching (4th ed. or later) by Thomas Kurz (better for trainers than therapists)


I personally took one of Aaron Mattes's classes a few years ago & was blown away by how great his techniques are. If you ever have the chance to take a class of his go for it !!!
His books are very detailed and have every possible stretch you can think of, so you may want to put them on your wish list as well as some of the others listed here. I love getting stretched both on the table or with Thai Yoga Massage on the floor, so you just happened to have asked questions about techniques I like doing & recieving. Hope you get to incorporate lots of these tools for the toolbag as I like to call them. And good luck with your future in the massage world too.

Hey - I'd forgotten about that post! :

For PNF stretching the Kit Laughlin books are excellent. He also includes some good stuff on client (self-)assessment.

Active Isolated Stretching is very different from PNF, and it really helps to get hands on instruction. The Aaron Mattes seminar I attended was great! Learned a ton, and my clients have really benefited. Some day I'll actually post some client case studies as examples. One thing I particularly liked: Aaron provided lots of extra commentary on the stretches in his books, including modifications and variations for specific situations. He generously permitted photography and short video clips so participants could better remember the details.

Active Isolated Stretching and Strengthening and PNF complement each other well, as they utilize the nervous system in different ways to facilitate release. Sometimes I also incorporate fascial work, but I prefer active stretching methods (AIS, PNF, yoga) when teaching clients how to help themselves.

It's a rare day when I suggest any form of passive static or active ballistic stretching.

 

[lolly]

Well I survived my first tech evaluation. I was nervous and I did feel that I didn't do my best work, but the evaluation was positive. The teacher said I was very focused and collected, made beautiful initial contact and that my approach was versatile and creative. She told me I just need to watch out for a tendency to slightly lock my knees.

As for the PNF - The teacher loved how I did it. I ended up working on the arms and I chose a simple Reciprocal Inhibition on the biceps by crossing the arm over the front of the body to stretch out the triceps and then bringing it back to have the client contract the biceps by pressing up into my hands. For my first evaluation I needed to go with clear and simple, so this one worked for me. I am definitely going to continue practicing the stretch technique from the first post as this kind of work is something I want to get more comfortable with.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions - I greatly appreciate it.

 

[chmacqueen]

:dancingparty:

Knew you could do it ! Congrats Robin, have fun playing
around with the different moves as you go, and keep up the good work