Swedish Massage is a massage therapy modality that utilizes five primary massage techniques
for healing. The five techniques are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Effleurage
Petrissage
Friction
Vibration
Tapotement
Swedish Massage begins with a set of stroking movements known as effleurage. This technique
consists of a series of long, gliding or circular massage strokes that is applied using different
degrees of pressure.
Effleurage is applied to a patient’s body to loosen muscular knots and to release tension. It
is performed at the beginning of a massage therapy session to warm-up the muscles and at the
end of it, to soothe them out.
After the muscles have been warmed up with the effleurage strokes, the next technique that
follows is petrissage. The technique generally applied by manually compressing soft tissues of
an area through rhythmic kneading, squeezing, and/or rolling.
These movements are particularly useful for stretching and loosening tense muscles, which
also aids in improving blood circulation and helps to detoxify the body.
Because petrissage can be applied in many ways and with varying degrees of pressure, it offers
many therapeutic benefits to patients with tense or injured muscles. As such, petrissage usually
takes up the majority of the time in a Swedish Massage Therapy session.
In Swedish Massage, Friction refers to a firm and focused rubbing technique that is applied to a
specific area, usually using just the fingers or thumbs. Compression is often applied in a circular
rhythm (Circular Friction) or in perpendicular rhythm (Transverse Friction). The combination of
precision and pressure makes Friction ideal for softening and realigning tense muscle fibers
and for treating particular joints, such the elbow.
As the name suggest, the vibration technique is applied by rhythmically shaking an area of the
body to loosen and relax the body. The intensity and pressure of the technique depend on the
area of the body that is being treating, but it can perform in many ways, such as using both palms
across a large area, such as the back or the fingers on small and sensitive area, such as the face.
It is especially useful for soothing nerves and treating areas with lots of scar tissue.
Tapotement is a French word that means to tap or to drum. This technique consists of applying
rhythmic tapping across patient’s body. The tapping sensations are used to stimulate the flow of
blood and endorphins in body. As such, tapotement is particularly useful for relaxing tight
muscles and for draining lymphatic build up.