What is skin rolling?

Skin rolling is a massage technique where the skin is lifted up and rolled between the fingers, releasing adhered areas that may be found in the superficial fascia.  In his book The Balanced Body, Donald W. Scheumann calls it fascial lift and roll technique.   

Skin rolling is one of those things we learn in massage therapy school and then (in my experience) it's discarded because "many people just don't like the feel of it."  Well, that's what I was warned. Certainly, if it's something people don't usually like, then why go there, right?  After all, it isn't the soothing and gliding one imagines when thinking of a relaxing massage.  Nor is it the satisfyingly deep pressure of trigger point therapy others seek out when getting massage. In fact, it can be pinching and uncomfortable, especially when the therapist hasn't practiced it very much!  

Skin rolling isn't something I would have thought I'd have the opportunity to explore and learn to do well.  At least not until a client told me that she really liked skin rolling. Since this client likes it and she get massage every week, I've had the chance to really use the technique and play around with it.  At first I would only skin roll her back before getting to the effleurage and deep tissue work.  Then one day she said, oh, you can just do skin rolling on the back.  Then as I got more comfortable working with her and using skin rolling, I became inspired.  She enjoyed it so much, that I started using it on the neck and arms.  One day as I was massaging her face, I was moved to skin roll her cheeks and she smiled, she loved it!  My skin rolling has gotten quite good.  Often it turns into muscle rolling as well.  For this client, skin rolling causes positive changes in her body.  A painful hip issue was relieved when I skin rolled her quads. Rolling the skin above the pelvic crest on the back of the body, causes a pulling in the tissues in the gluteus muscles, releasing tightness there.

Have you ever experienced skin rolling?  If you think you would like to try it, just ask your therapist.

Chronic Pain, Are you bravely putting up with it?

Many people have aches and pains, much of it chronic pain, often debilitating pain. Maybe this pain is tolerable. Maybe this pain means you take ibuprofen daily or some other medication to mask it. Often people will have an injury. That injury could have occurred from an accident or from repetitive use! We may note that new pain, try to ice it, or medicate it. Whatever we do we have to continue with our day right? So we tolerate it. It becomes a part of us. It means we don't run up those stairs anymore... we have to go on with our life right? So we limit our movements so we don't feel that pain anymore, or as much. This limited movement becomes our "New Normal." How many times do you hear someone say something to the affect of "oh I can't do that anymore" with a resigned sigh. "It's just the way I am now."

Living with this "new normal" - walking more carefully or with a limp, asking someone to help you reach up to get something because your shoulder doesn't reach anymore - actually increases your chance of more injury, leading to more pain and then more limited use of your body! The initial injury get worse, just by holding it. The holding is a tightening, a contracting of the muscles. This cuts off a flow of blood to the area, which causes more pain and so the cycle continues. (I'm talking about chronic pain here, if its a new acute injury, holding it and limiting movement can be necessary)

Tolerating chronic pain can adversely affect your life in other ways. I know when I have pain, I am NOT gaily going about my daily activity. It's a struggle. I move more slowly, I sigh, I don't think as clearly, I don't enjoy. It affects my ability to think creatively. It affects my relationships, it affects how productive I can be in a day. And that is because the pain is trying to grab my attention, taking a little bit away from my mental ability and emotional stability. Even if I don't feel the pain because of medication - it's still there trying to get attention.

So, how does one stop this cycle? Pain is the way your physical body communicates with you. Rather than masking it or ignoring it, listen to it! find out what it is telling you. Maybe an injury needs to be healed. Maybe a contracted muscle needs to be released, maybe you need to stop doing that repetitive motion or do something in a different way. Massage can help. Not only will a massage work to release the contracted muscles or tight fascia and bring a blood flow back to the area to decrease the pain and increase the healing in your body, but a good MT will listen to you and help you make changes in how you do something to cut down on repetitive use injury.

Ok, Now I've gone and done it.

I've opened up a new can of worms! I can't even type well right now I'm shaking from nervousness and excitement! (that is often a sign for me that I've hit on something important) So, let's see, where to start. I have been a massage therapist for a year. My practice is small. It is just starting to bloom. I love it! and yet, already I'm feeling the need to delve deeper into a related but connected area.

I have been, lately, thinking of a name for my business. Currently I am just Ellie Calhoun, Licensed Massage Therapist. I keep thinking it should be a more interesting name, or at least something connected to where I practice, but nothing is really calling to me. I figured my vision must not be clear in my mind. So, sitting down this morning I started to write about my interest, where I want to go with things. I realize that I want to do massage sessions that not only just help with a current issue and relaxation, but actually help make lasting change for a person. I know that I need that. Why do I get the same aches and pains after they have been relieved by bodywork? Why do they keep coming back? I want to do work with people not only giving massage, but helping with movement, stretching, connecting with their bodies.

Now, I have also always been interested in movement. dance, tai chi, movement for emotional release. I love to move! I remembered that I had done a paper in school on the Feldenkrais Method. So I looked it up. It is a huge time commitment to become a practitioner!! Yikes! and the location is not local. But, I did find a few practitioners in the area and they run classes. there is a class starting up next Monday (how timely is that!) Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement, a 6 week class - should give me a good introduction. Looking through the website, it says "...we are never too old to create new connections in the brain." and here I was thinking maybe I'm too old to start another new thing - didn't I just start a new thing 2 years ago? but, it says right there - never too old!

So, I contacted the instructor and may be starting a new class next week!