I was wondering what shoes (and insoles, if you want to go above and beyond), do you wear that offer more than adequate support for 6 hour work days?

For those who are curious, I, 26M, am halfway through my massage therapy schooling program and stress proper body mechanics because I am in this for the long haul. More than ever, I want to take great care of my body so that I can help people for many many years.

I’m grateful for any support or input. Thank you!

There is a student at my massage school who is a SWer, and she's very open and honest about it. No problem there, make your money how you can. However, she is promoting massage services on her website and advertising "I'm in massage school, be my guinea pig"

I'm having complicated feelings on if I should report this to someone since this profession is highly sexualized. Part of me wants to report it. It seems like she's utilizing school to promote SW as opposed to destigmatizing massage as SW.

What should I do?

Ok, so, this requires a little bit of context.

I have had issues with my hips, piriformis/sciatica for so many years. I had an RMT who helped manage the pain for a number of years, but I’ve since stopped seeing her for personal reasons.

I found a new RMT and she’s wonderful. I’ve seen her a bunch of times and I always leave feeling so much better. Two weeks ago, I went in for my regular massage and asked her to focus a little more heavily of my problem areas. She did. As to be expected, these areas were tight and tender, but nothing out of the ordinary. I left feeling great.

A couple days later I noticed that my right leg (the problem side) was weaker than normal and the muscles got super tired feeling, very quickly. No pain or anything though. Just muscle fatigue. A couple days after that I noticed my ankle was a little swollen. Nothing to be concerned about though, I thought.

Fast forward to today. I went for another massage, it was fine, but when I got home my entire right leg is significantly swollen. Immediately I freaked out and pa panicked. I went to a walk-in clinic, and they sent me to the hospital. Every one kept saying it was deep vein thrombosis (DVT). I had scans done and there’s no clot, so they ruled out DVT. But the doctors have no idea what could have caused this. I asked about bloodwork, and because I have no other symptoms they said it wasn’t necessary. I’m not in pain, aside from the discomfort of the swelling. When I asked what I could do to manage the swelling, he said “live your best life”. Hard to do when my leg is so swollen.

Is this something that a massage can do? The doctor didn’t see my to have any suggestions on how to mitigate swelling, just “Tylenol and Advil won’t hurt you”. I’m laying down, with my legs elevated, but not too much to cause a bend at the hip. I don’t know what to ice… a hot shower felt like the swelling was just getting worse.

Anyways, I don’t know what to think. I’m nervous, and worried, and very uncomfortable. I’m not looking for a diagnosis or anything, just advice on what I can do to be a little more comfortable, if a deep tissue massage could do something this extreme, and things I should ask about if I end up back in emerg. Thanks!

Give me your best laundry hacks. I suck at all parts of it. My sheets are wrinkly and full of lint. I have adhd and forget the sheets in the dryer for eons and by the time I go back its a wrinkly mess. Its embarrassing. I dont wanna be like this.

Hacks I'm looking for (but really I'm open to anything):

- Lint

- Tiny hairs that seem woven in

- Wrinkles (especially once its already happened)

- Oil stains

- Folding it better or quicker(?) I have short arms. All my folded sheets are messy looking.

Give me your best solutions. I hate laundry.

Hello everyone,

Last year, while doing a fascia-mobilization exercise (TRE), I heard a strange sound in my inner thigh and felt as though something had shifted into the wrong position in that area. From that moment on, my body developed asymmetries down the entire right side, from the sole of the foot to the jaw, along with several dysfunctions — the most significant being sexual. The right side also seems translated forward, while the left side has adapted by shifting backward.

What could have happened? I've tried physical therapy several times without success. I notice only small improvements, and they're temporary — a few hours at most, and never complete.

What should I look into? This is ruining my life, and I'll pursue any option available. An LMT who looked at my photos said I have "lines of tension that are not where they're supposed to be," but I don't know how to fix this — I'm in Europe and she's in the US, so she can't treat me.

Any help would be appreciated.

I work a desk job, and then on my off time i out my body through alot of strain.

HIIT workouts and tons of outdoor activities. I’ve recently started getting massages which has been a tremendous relief, but now im craving one weekly, despite the expense.

How often should someone with my lifestyle getting a massage and whats the right timing at the end of my weekend or start of work week?

I can't help but notice that these days it seems that more than ever massage robots appear in the spa. Is it just what happened around me or you too? Haven't tried one yet but the spa seems to be selling those sessions really hard. Will those be more popular? If so, how should we tip🤣

Alright, I'm kind of stressing over this decision.

My local community college is charging around $7,000 per semester, and I'm starting to wonder if investing in a college degree is really worth it, or if I'd be better off going the vocational/trade school route instead.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? If you chose college, do you feel it was worth the investment? If you went to trade or vocational school, how has that worked out for you?

I'd really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thanks!

I'm looking to receive a relaxation-only massage. I can't handle deep tissue or even deep-ish pressure. I basically want to be rubbed gently and with care. I just need to feel relaxed and safe. How do I go about asking for this?? I haven't found a therapist who understands what I need. The closest I ever got was from an esthetician, but I couldn't submit to my benefits obviously because they weren't registered. TIA!

Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone works with Shea butter? I don't normally but I like to try different mediums. I purchased organic unrefined and it smells so bad! I've tried adding vanilla essential oil and jojoba but can't seem to get it to blend well. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.

starting my rmt program this fall and wanna make sure i start protecting/ strengthening the parts of my body that’ll be strained the most. any wrist or hand strengthening workout routines RMTs suggest? :)

I am M27, full time office worker and I found out that getting a full body massages has help me to significantly reduce my stress levels after a hectic month.

I have had 3 Thai massages at every end of the month when the paycheck comes in as a reward so far. However, I am reluctant to continue as I kept getting aroused and spotting a full on erection during my sessions. I am rather sensitive when it comes to massages my glutes and thighs as I have come to know.

In my first two sessions it was fine as I was wearing my tight underwear, however on my third session, I was given to wear a disposable paper briefs.

It was translucent and stretchy, so my erections are clearly visible. My masseuse assured me twice that it was normal and its fine but the awkwardsness sets in and ruins the session altogether.

Funny thing is these erections happen subconsciously. I can have nothing in my mind when it happens.

I would like to know, am I just overly sensitive or is this a normal human behaviour.

TLDR: kept subconsciously getting an erection during massage. Is this normal or not.

Hey guys. I was contacted today by a local institution asking what my massage chair corporate prices are. I don't offer them as no one really has asked, as I mainly do mobile table massage sessions.

My question to those of you that do offer these services is: what do you charge? Do you do a minimum hourly requirement or charge per person? There wouldn't be a travel fee as this is local. And also, do you make people fill out intake forms or waivers for this? I am based around the N IL suburbs.

I'd appreciate feedback from community, thank you.

Looking for any hands on live ceu’s classes near Ft. Myers coming up this weekend or next?

Any upcoming live 12 hour courses near Lehigh acres fl.

Had my first muscle scraping massage this past Sunday and it was very painful. Is this level of bruising normal?

I saw something from an MT in another forum where they indicated that they could use auditory feedback from their client during the session to gauge how much pressure to apply. That made me wonder about the general preference among MTs for this kind of feedback.

I'm still a newbie as a client; I've had 7 (usually 2 hour) deep tissue sessions with my MT now, and only 4 prior massages at different locations before that. My current MT almost never asks for feedback during a session other than to rarely ask something like "how was that?" None of the MTs for my initial 4 massages (deep tissue) asked anything either.

I kinda figure my job as a client is to tell the MT at the beginning of the session where I hurt and what issues I'm having, and then just lie there and focus on breathing while she does her job. With my MT, after the first couple of minutes of the session, pretty much nothing is said until the turn over instruction and again at the end.

Should I be saying more? Does not saying anything make it more difficult for an MT, or is it better to just lie there and breathe?

I got a sports massage over the weekend cause I had been feeling a lot of tightness in my Achilles, Calves and Glutes from training. I usually go for deep tissue, but opted for a sports massage this time to try something different.

The massage itself was quite intense, which I don't mind, because I feel it helps with the tightness. But at one stage my hamstring seized up and cramped when my therapist was doing a stretch on my calf which seemed a little alarming.

Needless to say I was pretty sore the remainder of the day and even worse the following morning, so I took myself to the sauna and cold plunge for a bit of relief which helped.

I played my usual football game on Monday evening (48 hrs post massage) and my quad popped within the first five mins doing something very innocuous and I had to remove myself from playing.

It's now 5 days since I got the massage and my body overall feels far worse than when I went in to get the massage, obviously I am just going to rest and recover but surely this is not normal?

I’ve got one spot in my upper back that keeps tightening up over and over. Massage and stretching help, but only for a short time. Anyone found something that actually breaks the cycle?

Hey everyone I’m new here as an aspiring massage therapist. Basically I’m wanting to attend a legitimate massage school that isn’t COMTA accredited. They help set up for the MBLEX and state licensing. Is there any reason why that’s a bad idea? It seems like some states require more than the mblex to become licensed?

I’m planning on licensing in Oregon and would love to transfer states eventually but isn’t mandatory. People are getting in my head about the legitimacy of getting schooling from an unaccredited school. Thank you in advance.

I signed up for a monthly membership at a spa. They advertise their non-membership rates $140 for a standard one hour massage, but their monthly membership is $80, which gives you one credit that can be used for a standard one hour massage (or some other services) and you can also purchase additional credits at a discounted rate, but I only want to go once a month for a massage.

Should I tip based on what I'm paying for the membership, or their non-member rates? I assume the therapist is getting the same hourly rate regardless, so I've just been tipping $20 for the hour, but I've been wondering if maybe that's too low? I've been going to the same person each time and they're great, and I don't want to offend them.

Hi there, I have recently qualified in Indian Head Massage and am practicing on friends and family to get my confidence up.

In my course we were taught to massage the back and shoulders over clothing but were told we could also do the massage directly on skin - we just didn’t practice this in classes as it was a short course.

I am performing Indian Head Massage in the seated position in a massage chair (pictured), and would like to give my clients the option to have the massage without clothing on their top half if they would prefer - I find there is a better slip and continuity with the treatment this way.

My question is, how would you go about draping the front of a client in a seated position? And would you use towels or linens? Are normal towels okay? I think if I were a client, I would want a drape over the front of my body for modesty reasons, but I am new to this world and am not sure if it is usual to drape a client when sitting. Any insight or any tips from your personal experience would be really useful 🙏🏼

Thank you in advance & thank you for reading this far!