Massage Therapist Can Pick Your Profession by Your Aches and Pains

As a qualified massage therapist, we are often interested, and of course, concerned at how different types of aches and pains may be associated with certain types of professions.

With the simple question to a client, "what type of work do you do" we can predict with a high degree of accuracy where the customer is probably experiencing aches and pains in their body.

The professional office worker - The professional office worker will often have issues relating to one or even both sides of their neck. Even the ear they hold the phone up to can be predicted by the associated neck pain around it that side of the neck. We know who's using an ergonomic phone or ear piece and who's not. The massage would then focus on stretching the cramped neck out. The massage would also often need to extend down to that side of the shoulder. In addition, the muscles that extend up into the skull around that ear and side of the neck would often need attention too.

A male office worker will also often have issues with their calves. The massage therapist then has to focus on stretching out extremely tight calves. This can take several time and even several sessions. This interests me as a massage therapist, because often the customer job often involves sitting for long period of time - yet their calves are as tight as one would expect to find on a long distance runner. I have a theory that the body pushes stress to the furthest point away from the heart as possible to protect the heart.

So for office workers, it's the two extremes; the neck and the calves.

Trades people - The trades person often complain of pain in the mid section; from the legs, the glute muscles and the lower back. Often these physical roles involve bending, lifting heavy equipment and machinery so the mid body is strained. The massage therapist then usually focuses on stretching the back muscles which then results in improved blood flow to the area and relief.

It interests me as a massage therapist, that my massage technique is so dependent on the type of work my clients does.

Men are from Mars - The difference between men and women when it comes to massage needs is that women tend to be 'pamper driven' and enjoy all over massage. Men seem to be driven to solve aches and pain in their body and often have certain points around their body that they like the massage therapist to focus on.

Overall, its important to understand the impact one's profession has on their body. Pay attention to aches and pains and seek a resolution. There are few nicer ways to resolve pain than a massage.