How to Measure Your Pressure in Deep Tissue Massage

by Selena Belisle, Founder/Instructor, CE Institute LLC

Massage Magazine has published our latest article, How to Measure Your Pressure in Deep Tissue Massage.  To view this article on the Massage Magazine website, please click HERE.

Do you know how many pounds of pressure you are applying with your elbow during your deep tissue massage? It is easy to learn this number if you do not know it. Simply place a bathroom s on a massage table or desk. Now, stand over the scale similar to how you would stand over a client. Place your elbow on top of the scale, similar to how you would apply your elbow on a client’s tissue. Next, push inferiorly downward onto the scale with the same amount of pressure you would apply to a client with your elbow. Then, look at the number on the scale.

That is how you can determine how many pounds of pressure you are applying with your elbow during your deep tissue massage. (We advise placing a towel or small pillow between your elbow and the scale during this measurement to protect your elbow.)

While this bathroom-scale method could be used to measure pressure applied with your fist, forearm and more, it assumes you are using your elbow to apply deeper pressure. Using elbows with proper training is an efficient method to achieve significant amounts of pressure in deep tissue massage.

Knowing how much pressure you are applying during deep tissue massage will enable therapists to determine when their client is improving, digressing or unchanged from one treatment to the next.  It will also allow therapists to share clients within the same practice, when they can view better detailed notes of how many pounds of pressure was applied from their last treatment.  Knowing how many pounds of pressure was applied will enable a client to say if they'd like the same, more or less pressure than their last appointment. 

To learn more, please register for quality, affordable, professional training at: https://ceinstitute.com/

Read and learn more within our deep tissue article at Massage Magazine:

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