Yesterday was my deep tissue Thai massage and it was very good and my whole health, for want of a better description, feels better for it. I go primarily for circulation improvement because this was something that bugged my mother in her later life and whilst I don't know that I have it I started taking this massage step some years back to give myself some chance of better health than she had in later life.
I discovered the benefits of good massage some 25 years ago in Morocco when I was persuaded by my Moroccan friend who I was travelling with at the time to take a massage with a young girl who was just starting out on her career and had few clients. I shrugged and went along and was immediately hooked. I had had a shoulder ache for the whole of my adult life since learning to type and thought it was something I had to live with and unavoidable as a typist until that first massage which cured it. It was as if a miracle had occurred. I was so blown away by it that I went back to the girl a second time in that one week. We were unable to communicate verbally because she only spoke Arabic and I spoke only English and I had not indicated any aches or pains to her.
Over time I have discovered that a good masseur does not need to be told where problems exist, they will find them.
A few years after the Moroccan massage I visited a Sports Clinic in the Republic of North Macedonia when I had my first knee problems. A coach driver seeing me limping had recommended a clinic run by his friend in a back street of Skopje and I missed a day of abc (another bloody church as the tour saying went) to visit the clinic one afternoon. I had been on an NHS waiting list for physio for months and had never been told what my knee problem was. Walking into the clinic the man pointed to my knee and a chart on the wall and said "ligament" before I even had my jeans off. He spoke little or no English but managed to communicate to me that the injury would heal in six months but he would give me massage anyway. (He was right, it did heal itself in six months). I paid him in Euros and ended up having a full body massage, strictly professional, and good value for money. He was running a small sports clinic and I had seen a client wearing a football kit coming out before me so felt safe enough.
I am wondering if I will find a massage in Azerbaijan to add to my list.
Today I am off to see a Bollywood movie.
You have a very interesting massage history, Rachel! Mine is totally banal - I was born with scoliosis (although I was in my late 20s when I first heard the term) and have always had some degree of pain in my back and shoulders, especially during growth spurts as a teenager and later when I started work that involved a lot of time spent first at typewriters and later at computers. I had physio therapy on and off, some including massage, others focusing more on exercises, and in my mid-thirties my orthopaedic doctor booked me into a rehab clinic for three weeks, were I learnt the exercises I still do regularly, and had all sorts of treatment, massage among them.
ReplyDeleteAt spa hotels, I've had very good and very lame massage sessions. As you say, a good masseur finds the problems with his or her hands, or can even spot them when you walk in. But I still think it's a good idea to ask if you have never massaged that particular person before; especially if there have been recent operations (although the person should mention that anyway) that could be relevant for the masseur doing their job.
The sports clinic in Macedonia sounds great! I had a similar experience years ago when I was still running regularly. Needing new running shoes, I went to a specialist shop in town. Walking in and most of the length of the shop to where the shoes were, a young sales person observed me. When I stated what I was looking for, he said "yes, and your right hip is slightly pointing backwards, and your left foot takes the weight differently" and so on - he had seen all that simply by observing my gait. He was spot on, because those (among others) were exactly the problems with my skeleton's static. (My orthopaedic doctor once said that if I were a building, I'd have collapsed long ago.) I was deeply impressed and ended up buying the running shoes the young man recommended, and they really served me well for years.
You're planning a trip to Azerbaijan?
Enjoy the movie!
I agree that sometimes it is necessary to tell of important things like an operation or an on-going treatment regime to the masseur. Most will ask, or present you with a questionnaire, before starting. As I am operation and treatment free I am able to quickly complete questionnaires and/or have nothing else to tell the masseur.
DeleteAs long term readers will know I have quite a catalogue of massage/hammam stories from my travelling. I try to go to places that local people will use is my basic criterion.
It is always reassuring when one finds "a specialist" as the one you describe in the shoe shop, when going to anywhere new.
I am hoping to go on a trip to Azerbaijan next year, yes.