In daily life, half of using our hands involves our thumbs, and it’s similar in massage. In fact, the thumbs are the area that massage practitioners most often fatigue or strain, so massaging the thumb muscles is a great way of sustaining your massage career.
The thumb muscle areas
There’s two areas of muscles that work the thumb. The thenar eminence at the base of the thumbs is the ‘wad’ of muscles that primarily moves your thumb towards your other fingers for gripping. There are also muscles on the radial (thumb) side of your forearm (both front and back) that also move your thumb towards and away from your fingers.
This article looks at ways of working on these thumb muscles to relax the tension that builds up there (often without us being aware of it). You probably already have ways of calling on your massage experience to work on these areas. The techniques presented here are all designed to SAVE YOUR THUMBS (to avoid having to use one thumb to massage the other thumb).
Massaging the thenar eminence
It’s easy to ‘massage’ the thenar eminence by pressing it on a small rubber ball (e.g. a squash ball). Place the ball on a solid surface. Use your other hand on top to apply comfortable pressure and to move your underneath hand around on the ball – by rolling the ball. Be careful to avoid pressing on your thumb bone.
Note: You can also use this rolling ball pressure for the thumb muscles on the front of your forearm.
It’s also useful to move the ball around to massage over your palm and the base of your fingers – these hard-working areas will enjoy it too.
Massaging the thumb muscles at the front of the forearm
It’s fairly easy to use deep tissue slides (from your wrist towards your elbow) which are effective for releasing tension here. Use the ‘knuckles’ at the base of your index and middle fingers (with lightly curled fingers – not clenched) to slide down these muscles. (you will probably also be working on some of your wrist and finger muscles too, which they will enjoy).
Note: You can also work in a similar way into the thenar eminence muscles with one or both of these ‘knuckles’ (being careful of your thumb bone).
Massaging the thumb muscles at the back of the forearm
It’s harder to work on the muscles at the back of the forearm. Use your fingers or your palm to do a series of short stretches, squeezes or kneading across your forearm. Apply a little pressure and then move the tissue around; you may need to use just a little oil.
Playing with these techniques
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 working.