This is the third in a series of articles extracted from a forthcoming book on Dynamic Bodyuse for Effective Strain-free Massage which is designed to promote good bodyuse as an integral part of doing massage. It presents guidelines on how to reduce the poor working habits that take a cumulative toll on the massage practitioner’s body. The previous article focused on protecting your thumbs. This and the next articles will focus on how to look after the other common ‘tools’ used to deliver massages - your knuckles, fist, forearm and elbow. Future articles will then cover using the rest of your body to back up those working ‘tools’.

This article looks at the commonest risks to your fingers in massage, and how to minimise these when you can’t avoid using your fingers. Bear in mind that if you are stiffening or straining with your hands, you are probably also tensing your shoulders. Conversely, being tight in your shoulders, which is an unconscious habit for many of us, will impede the transfer of power from your trunk to your hands. If the power for the massage is not coming from the rest of your body (the subject of future articles), then you are likely to be overusing your shoulder and arm muscles, and your hands are not likely to be relaxed. And, if you are using your wrists awkwardly (which is the subject of the next article), you will have to work harder than necessary with your hands.

Caution - fingers at risk!

The fingers and thumbs are the most overused parts of the hand in massage, and are often strained in the process. People with small hands and those with long, slender fingers are most at risk and need to take special care of their fingers (and thumbs).

Try to avoid the following practices, which put pressure on your fingers, especially if you use them regularly:

• putting too much pressure through your fingers;
• bending them back (hyperextending them) when pressing;
• not supporting your fingers when pressing with them;
• using your fingers when it would be better to use a larger part of your hand to apply pressure.

 
‘Feathering’ strokes with the fingertips

 So, using just the fingertips is fine for light ‘feathering’ strokes (figure 1), but is not good for applying pressure

Figure 1 - Relaxing the rest of your hand

Saving your Fingers

The fingertips have a sensitivity that is unsurpassed for initially palpating tissues. Although it is often appropriate to use the fingertips for massaging sensitive areas such as the face or for palpating in order to gain maximum information, they are also the most delicate parts of the hand and too easily overused.

As well as focusing directly on how you use your fingers, it’s important to keep the non-working parts of your hands as relaxed as possible. Many massage beginners, for example, stiffen their thumbs when using their fingers (figure 2). This uses unnecessary extra effort. It is also quite likely to lead to tensing your hand, which, in turn, will cloud your ability to palpate the client’s responses. It takes time and practice to teach yourself to monitor your whole hand, not just the part that you are using, but it is important in helping you to look after your fingers.

Figure 2 - Tensing the thumb when using the fingers

Putting pressure on the fingers

Hyperextending your fingers (bending them back) when applying pressure is the WORST way of using them (figure 3). It puts considerable strain on them. It is also not very effective in transmitting the power from your arms to the client.

Figure 3- Hyperextending the fingers when applying pressure

Keeping the fingers straight

Keeping your fingers relatively straight when pressing with them is better
(figure 4).

Figure 4 - Straight, unsupported fingers when applying pressure

Supporting your fingers

However, even with your fingers straight, there is another potential strain on them. When your only contact with your client’s body is through your fingers, they will be taking the pressure of maintaining stability as well as doing the actual massage. Some easy ways of supporting your working fingers to reduce this pressure are described below.

Squeezing or kneading an area with your fingers can be hard work. Reduce the workload on your fingers by using your other hand to support your working hand (figure 5). This is even more important when you are squeezing larger muscles such as those of the thigh.

Whether you are pressing on one point or sliding the pressure, rest your working hand on your other hand (figure 6) or forearm (figure 7) whenever possible to take some of this pressure off your fingers.

Figure 5 - Supporting your working hand in squeezing

Figure 6 - Resting the working hand on the other hand

Figure 7 - Resting the working hand on the other forearm

Conserving your fingers

It’s always useful to consider whether there is another larger and stronger part of your hand or forearm that could be appropriately used in order to avoid overusing your vulnerable fingers (and thumb).

The outside edge of your hand is useful for sliding strokes on narrow areas, such as under the scapula (figure 8). You can increase the pressure by pressing down on it with your other hand.

Figure 8 - Using the outside edge of your hand

The back of the hand (figure 9) is underused in massage. It provides a much stronger massage ‘tool’ than your fingers for firm sliding strokes. It’s particularly effective when you press on it with the other hand to increase the depth and pressure of the stroke (figure 10).

Another good substitute is your knuckles. Using them and your fist, forearm and elbow to give your fingers a rest are the subjects of future articles.

Bear in mind, too, that varying your techniques can be very helpful in reducing the strain on any one area of your hands. Techniques such as pulling, dragging and stretching, for example, can be applied in a way that stretches your fingers out rather than compressing them.

Figure 9 - Using the back of the hand

Figure 10 - With the other hand on to increase the pressure

Conclusion

This article presents three ways of reducing the strain on your fingers in massage:

• keeping your hands as relaxed as possible, particularly making sure that you are relaxing those parts that are not actively involved in the massage stroke;
• using your other hand to support your fingers when you are using them to apply pressure;
• using other parts of your hand to reduce your reliance on your fingers.

However this information is only the beginning of the story. You, the practitioner, need to apply these ideas at the massage table - observing your habits, experimenting with new ways of working and incorporating those that seem least stressful and most effective. I hope you find this process fruitful.

Contact details for Darien Pritchard:
T: 029 2045 4506
W: www.dynamicmassage.co.uk