Is Deep Tissue Massage Good for Tension? Neck Pain Instant Relief! Massage Therapy Techniques

this video is made possible by our loyal patreon supporters visit patreon.com truth hello welcome today I'm going to be doing a deep tissue neck massage for the lovely Holly let's go ahead and get started if you don't have time to watch this video right now go ahead and save to your watch later and just watch whenever you get a chance so for deep tissue neck massage I do like to start with something a little more relaxing and I did get a good amount of oil because I'm going to do some e Strokes along the arms and um it's just a way to help your client relax a little more and it's also a little trick if you grab too much oil you can just get rid of the extra on the arms it's really important that you keep your hands and fingers nice and relaxed when you are doing this upward stroke especially along the neck and I really like to focus on upper traps before anything else and it's really good to walk these shoulders out a little bit anytime that the there's an exaggerated rounding of the shoulders there's automatically more tightness and pressure on the sub oxital muscles which is going to make everything else in the neck Tighter and just this simple walking out of the shoulders can help the neck relax sub oxital muscles relax I will do several passes like this over the neck just this is great soft tissue work to do before trying anything deeper and if your fingers are tense you're not going to feel as in flow and right now I'm just feeling from right to left seeing which side feels Tighter and often you'll notice um certain imbalances from side to side so if the sem on the left is really tight you might notice that the trap on the right side side is really tight and I'm going to start to focus on the suboccipitals and I'm just going to cut Paul's head and start to do some circular movements around the base of the skull and as I'm doing this deeper neck work I like to encourage my clients to relax their tongue and the lower part of their mouth and just let their jaw relax kind of helps the neck to let go a little more and just making sure that my arms are supported and I'm doing this kind of work I'm not wasting my energy and just pay close attention to cues from your client if Hol is starting to kind of furrow her brow or round her shoulders more you might be going too deep too fast just staying in tune with your client and the longer that you spend a the subpals the clearer things will become you can start to work with a little more detail and just the longer that you spend along this occipital Ridge the more trigger points you're likely going to find can start to work with a little more detail and areas of higher tension are going to respond better to you know using more finesse really just easing into the deeper work kind of start to um do more more um compressive holds as I start to notice these trigger points I'm actually noticing more on this left side but just for filming purposes I'm going to turn his head and we're going to start to just focus on this right side a little more I really like working with a broader surface area as I work on these suboccipital muscles um just cuz I think it helps these muscles to relax a little more I'll sometimes use my thumb but if these muscles feel especially tight I'll usually try and work a little more broadly also if I sense that my client you know doesn't have as much energy or is a little more stressed then I'm just a little more delicate in how I approach the deeper work CU you can definitely offer a therapeutic type massage and have your client walking out feeling like relaxed and good too really taking my time along this occipital Ridge finding plenty of um plenty of tightness in here I'm going to start to move into some eage Strokes or the neck and just kind of working into the next phase of we're going to do today so whenever I do deeper work in one area I like to just break it up with some e strokes and it helps me to relax a little bit mentally too cuz that more detailed work definitely takes focus and I'm just starting to work on this a little bit more and this might not look super exciting or technical but it's a fantastic way to work on the SCM muscle technically this is eage and just nice and slow and I do pass over the sub oipal as well that upward stroke and just going in with my thumb this um sternomastoid muscle is a more superficial muscle and so just keep in mind that you don't have to like dig around for it like it's right there ha and keep you know be mindful of that because you can go too deep sometimes too quickly and there's no need to go you know to overdo it with this muscle but you also want to offer um deep tissue getting into those deeper layers of tissue within the muscle and this is especially good for someone that has had a whiplash or headaches if you feel like you're sliding off of that muscle fiber you might it might be as simple as using too much oil and with these deeper holds I'll hold for maybe maybe 5 to 10 and I will throw in a few half Strokes just to kind of break up that deep tissue work and I'm going to land on this mastoid process really great spot to work if you notice the SCM muscle is not responding that well you can land on this attachment site and just kind of help that muscle relax from where it connects and if all else feels if you're working on someone that has had trauma in the neck like Whiplash or whatever and is just really sensitive but wants you know a more therapeutic type massage you can really focus continue to focus along the occipital Ridge and really take your time here because it's amazing how when you do good work along the occipital Ridge it can really positively impact the rest of the neck and really good to focus on that upper trap as well I like to just slow this upward stroke way down and get into that upper trap as it Narrows in the neck I like to pass over those sub oipal as well just be careful that you're not um straining your the joints and your fingers you can also use a soft Fist and making sure that Holly's head is nice and supported and you can bring this stroke into the neck more laterally if you want and I always like to end with an eage stroke for both sides of the neck just to help everything feel a little more balanced I can feel really good to offer just a little stretch scooping the base of the skull and pulling a little bit and that is all for today thank you for joining me today I enjoyed spending this time with you and I look forward to seeing you next time [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter]