It’s very easy to build up tension in your shoulders as you massage, by working hard with your arms and hands , and by tensing your shoulders (often unconsciously) as you apply pressure. So this is a common area of fatigue or soreness for massage practitioners.
It’s not easy to massage your shoulders without tensing them to use your hands. So this article covers four other ways of getting release in your shoulders.
Upper trapezius stretch
Let’s start with a quick, easy way of stretch the upper trapezius (the muscle that forms the top of each shoulder). Do one side at a time.
Reach across to place your hand on top of your opposite shoulder (e.g. your left hand on your right shoulder). Then turn your head away (to the left). Keeping it turned away, tilt your head to look up, and let your hand press your (right) shoulder down to take up the slack. Then, keeping your shoulder down with your hand, look down, and feel the stretch in your (right) upper trapezius.
Mobilising your shoulders
Many people know the simplest way of mobilising them. Take your shoulders
- forward and back
- up and down
- around in a circle or oval that encompasses those four directions.
Try to keep your arms dangling as much as you can as you do this, so that you know that you’re moving your shoulders, not just your arms. You can do this with one shoulder at a time, or both together.
Stretching your shoulders by stretching your arms
It’s worth noting that we do a large percentage of life’s activities (including massage) with our arms forward to get our hands in front of our abdomen or lower chest. So it’s useful to do stretches that get our shoulders moving into positions that counterbalance this – above and behind your head, and low down behind your back.
It’s natural, when you’ve been hunched over for awhile, to yawn and give yourself a big stretch back over your head. You can extend this stretch by interlocking your fingers and seeing if you can take your hands in a circle above your head. Don’t force beyond what’s comfortable, but see if you can nudge a little extra stretch if you do this regularly.
You can also take your arms behind your back and interlock your fingers there. Then, with your arms straight (but not rigid), begin to move your hands around behind your back in a circle/oval within a comfortable range.
‘Massaging’ your shoulders with a tennis ball
An easy way of ‘massaging’ these muscles is by pressing on a tennis ball.
Place the ball on the wall and then position yourself so that the ball is behind one shoulder. Then move up and down like a bear scratching its back on a tree. Control the pressure by how much you lean on the ball, keeping it within your level of comfort. Don’t let the ball cross your spine or the edge of your scapula with any pressure.
Spend extra time on the tighter areas. Most people like working between the shoulder blades (rhomboids and thoracic erectors), just above the top inside corner of the shoulder blade (levator scapulae) and out along the top of shoulder above the scapula (upper trapezius).
There’s two variations that you might try. One is to do this lying down (e.g. on a yoga/camping mat), and moving your body on the ball by pushing from your feet.
You can also use two tennis balls at once, one under each side of your back. This is tricky to do standing up – keeping the balls from either falling down – but works well when you’re on the floor.
Playing with these movements
I hope you find these suggestions helpful. Please don’t apply them too rigidly. Play with them to find out how they work best for you, or how you might adapt them or blend them with more familiar ways of stretching and releasing.
Darien Pritchard has been a massage trainer since 1982, and has served on the General Council for Massage Therapy. He wrote the career-maintenance book Dynamic Bodyuse for Effective Strain-Free Massage (2008), and the student text Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for Massage (2nd ed, 2023). For three decades, Darien has pioneered a focus on how massage practitioners can look after their hands and body while using them most effectively, including developing the Original Hands-Free Massage training – the skilful, sensitive use of the forearm and elbow to save the hands.
dynamicmassage.co.uk handsfreemassage.com