Hot stone massage can help alleviate pain, increase mobility, reduce stress, improve skin condition and provide other health benefits. In addition, it is a pleasure to have done. The technique combines a Swedish massage with heated basalt stones that are slowly glided over a lightly oiled body. If done properly, your client will virtually melt into the table. The key technique is the pressure you apply as the massage therapist.
Techniques
There is no single way of doing a hot stone massage. Every therapist will put his own spin on a session. (LaStone massage is a trademarked technique and requires certification to perform as it has a specific routine that also uses frozen stones.)
You can begin by having your client lie face down. Then with an aromatherapy massage oil, use sweeping "effleurage," or light, strokes up the body and then down the arms and legs. Spread the oil lightly over your client's body to make the stones glide. Then place heated stones in your hands and work up the back and the scapula, applying circular strokes, then up and around the neck and down the arms.
Then begin the deep-tissue, or "petrissage," technique on the arms and legs. Replace stones as they lose their heat. Keeping the pressure comfortable is very important, so the best technique is ongoing communication with the client.
During the massage, also place stones along the sides of the client's spine, between the toes and fingers, and also in the palms and on the soles of the feet. Add a few stones to the face while your client is in the supine position.
Cautions
If health conditions dictate avoiding regular massage, then you should also avoid hot stone massage. Any nerve damaged areas where you cannot feel heat should not be worked on and neither should areas that were recently operated on. If you are thin-skinned or elderly, the heated stones may burn you, and if you are pregnant, hot stone massage should also be avoided.
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