How to do Circular Hand Movements in Massage Therapy Correctly

Just like the fan stroke movement with discussed in an earlier article, this particular massage therapy movement is designed to not apply to much pressure to the person’s body. Instead it is there to help them feel more relaxed and prepare them for when you carry out the movements which are used to manipulate the much deeper muscles in the body. With the circular hand movement you will need to make semi circular or circular motions on the person’s body. Although this move is simple to carry out it is important that you alternate the direction in which the circular motion is done. This feels good to the person who is having the massage as the points where pressure is being applied on their body is very subtly changing when the movement is carried out. But below are the steps to ensure that you carry out the circular hand movements correctly during a massage therapy session.

Step 1

You first need to place the flat part of your right hand on the lower part of the person’s back and it should be at right angles to their spine. This will then place your fingers along the left side of their body.

Step 2

You now need to move this hand in a counter clockwise direction (so that it is moving towards the person’s spine), very slowly whilst pressing down using a semi circular movement. It is important however that you do not turn your hands and this will ensure that your fingers are pointing the same direction as the movement is made.

Step 3

Once you have found that you right hand has moved over a few inches, you need to very quickly and as effortlessly as possible replace it with the left one. The best way to achieve this is by placing the left hand on to the edge of the right and this will cause it to rest very lightly on the right hand and also on the body. Once the left hand is in the right position you can then remove the right one and the left hand is then over to take over from where the right one was. You then need to carry out the same movement with the left hand as you did with the right and after it has moved about 2 inches you then need to replace it with your right hand once more.

Step 4

When carrying out the above movements you should do them slowly and as firmly as well as smoothly as you possibly can. Also by the time you have completed the movement using both hands, your left one should now be on the left side of the person’s body still at right angles to their spine. Plus the hand should have now reached a position which is about half way up their back.

You should then carry on doing this movement until you have covered all areas of the person’s back. Unfortunately unlike the other kinds of hand movements used during massage therapy this is not one of the most versatile and so can only be used on a few areas of the body, mainly the back, stomach, upper part of the chest and a person’s shoulders. But after getting use to using the circular hand movement during a massage therapy session you should be able to vary the speed at which you carry it out.