Escape Your Desk with Seated Massage

American seated massage done in a special chair with compressions, trigger point work and direct myofascial release to do a quick debug on the areas that suffer most from sitting at a desk. You've probably seen it at airports or trade shows.

For seated massage simply have a seat on my special massage chair, and I can work on you right through your clothes. (I don't use oil with this style, so there is no concern with staining.) This is a great work or study break, focusing on the head, neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands.

Seated massage evolved out of a Japanese technique called anma (related to shiatsu). It has spread from San Francisco, where the first special chair was created in 1986.

Since that time it has become quite popular. You may have seen this form of massage being done at trade shows or airports.

The style is tailor-made to help ease the daily strain that many office workers feel from sitting behind a desk all day staring at a computer screen. This can lead to back pain, neck stiffness, tense shoulders, aching wrists, mental fogginess, decreased energy and sluggish circulation. Chair massage increases the body’s circulation once again, restoring energy and helping to limit any office related repetitive-stress injuries.

When you are kneeling on the chair, your spine is in a supported position, allowing the muscles of your back and neck to relax. I can work on your neck, shoulders, and low back quite easily. (What the chair makes more difficult is access to the face and legs.) My own take on this style of massage is to check with you on where you are feeling most tight (e.g. neck and shoulders or low back) and use compressive, trigger point and myofascial release strokes to open that area up. This is accompanied by general compression and kneading to the rest of your back, arms and hands. Rather than giving exactly the same massage to every person, the massage is customized to your needs.

Treat yourself to a great lunch break, and come back to work refreshed. Or, find three people in your office who want chair massage within the same hour, and I can come to you.