Deep Tissue Massage
Good communication is essential to effective massage. The client and practicioner should discuss the type of treatment expected: intention of the massage, goals of the session, areas to be massaged and to be avoided in full body massage, the amount of pressure that is comfortable, preferred techniques and how they affect the body. In the spirit of informed consent, the client's medical history and current physical condition should also be discussed.
Deep muscle massage is widely used to treat many ailments: carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and back pain, headaches, poor circulation, whiplash and more.
It is also great for simply validating the sense that “I’m alive”. I offer half price massage on people’s birthdays, because it is a great way to help people validate themselves and to encourage them to reflect on their existence as infact ‘ecstatic’.
Deep tissue techniques are generally designed for more focused massage work. Working a specific joint, muscle or muscle group, the practitioner can access deeper layers of the soft tissue. Starting superficially and easing into the depth of the muscle slowly often allows more movement and less resistance to having the muscle worked. This is the recommended approach in this modality since each person experiences pressure differently. If the pressure is applied too deeply or too quickly, the muscle may tighten to protect that area, and unnecessary damage or inflammation can be induced. Very little lubricant is used as the pressure doesn't travel much over the skin.
Effleurage from the French effleurer, 'to skim over', consists of long, flowing or gliding strokes, performed with open hands. In many massage sessions, effleurage is used as the initial type of work, as it has a calming effect when performed slowly. Effleurage is usually performed in the direction of the heart to promote circulation and lymphatic drainage.
Petrissage (from the French pétrir, 'to knead') is one of the five basic strokes of a Swedish massage. It is performed with kneading movement with the whole palm or finger tips, wringing, skin rolling, compress and lifting. Petrissage is usually applied vertically to the muscle tissue.
The benefits include the warming of tissue for deeper work, increased circulation, increase of the supply of nutrients and oxygen to muscle, softening of superficial fascia, decreasing muscle tension, and restoring mobility by decreasing adhesion.
Prostate Massage
Prostate massage was once the most popular therapeutic maneuver used to treat prostatitis. Medical prostate massage was done by urologists, who looked for nodules of prostate cancer in men, often as part of a male’s ‘annual checkup’. The method has also been used in conjunction with antibiotics for the treatment of prostate complications.
In the west, in the 70’s, prostate massage was abandoned as a “primary therapy” by western medical practitioners, replaced by drugs and surgery methods, which incur other complications’ and do not seem to provide much of a positive prognosis towards restoring optimal health, if the prostate complications are far reaching.
Continuing research in published articles in non-medical circles and anecdotal evidence on the internet shows however that there is still interest in the technique as alternative therapy. In China, as recently as 2008, in a survey of 627 urologists it was found that prostate massage was used prevalently as a nonpharmacological therapy for chronic prostatitis. It is interesting that in a country that requires ‘low tech’ approaches to treatments which have been replaced in the west, while healthcare costs continue to spiral in North America, Chinese healing methods continue to gain more and more legitimacy. Perhaps the trend will revert back to these ‘low tech’ methods here, before long.
Without resorting to drugs or surgery, there are a number of basic daily regiments that can enhance your prostate health and reduce the risk of prostate cancer, prostatitis, and benign prostate hypertrophy. Prostate massage is one of them.
There is also an important point here to advance the importance of ‘prevention’. A good analogy to use here is the following. “If there was a bridge that was washed out ahead of you on the road and you were driving down the road at 60 miles an hour, and I had already driven down that road and found that the bridge was washed out. And if you went off the edge of it, you were going to fall 200 feet to the bottom of the canyon. If I was heading back the other way, would you want me to try and waive my hand at you and tell you to “STOP”, don’t drive off that cliff? Or would you rather have me waiting for you at the bottom of the canyon when you got there?
The allopathic medical model essentially espouses the role of waiting at the bottom of the canyon for people who have already fallen over the cliff. The approach is to treat “symptoms”, not root causes, often in an environment of chaos, overwork, exhaustion, burnout, competition for limited resources, ego, medical errors, increased demand, diminishing returns on health, etc.
Conversely, the holistic or integral model of healing is ‘root based’ and designed to detect any warning signs that the mind/body is sending out that something could be amiss ‘up the road’ EARLY ON, and to offer the option of ‘not going over the cliff’. By contrast, holistic practioncers work in an environment of balance, positive regard, client empowerment and relaxation.
Often the ‘warning signs of prostate complications are easy to detect. A knowledgeable practitioner can help to explain the various treatments available, and discuss the dietary, lifestyle, environmental, psychological and emotional factors that can contribute to prostate cancer risk. Fortunately, you CAN protect your prostate, and avoid going ‘over the cliff’ You can also enhance your sex life, greatly reduce your risk of developing prostate disease, and have the peace of mind that you can treat existing prostate related conditions without resorting to drugs or surgery or without encountering a washed out bridge while careening over a cliff.
Prostate massage exists as a legitimate alternative therapy.
