DeanRedzic Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 Currently i am attending a course to become a qualified massage therapist in Australia, after the course i will be working"fulltime" in the industry. I have closed the number 2 COC and i'm going for the #3. I am curious if any one on here is a practicing therapist and continues grip work? Most of the massage stuff attacks the extensors so hopefully i wont have any trouble. Any stories or insight on juggling grip work and massage profession? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blarg Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 Welcome! I would have guessed the extensors would have it easy, but that shows how much I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 I used to be a professional bodyworker before I got into more serious gripping but always worked out with deadlifts, power cleans, chins and wrist curls plus some rock climbing so got a decent amount of hand strength from those types of exercises. The only problems I encountered were some thumb strain from working on trigger points on big guys and needing to use a foot sander or salt/oil scrubs on my calluses to keep my hands soft enough for massage. Knowing what I know now, I would have done more thumb exercise (pinching, block weights, thick bar, extensions) to strengthen my thumbs and overall grip and switched up between various massage technques more often. If you end up doing 4 to 8 massages a day with limited or faulty techniques, you could easily get overuse injuries to the hands, elbows and shoulders - so, make sure you stay conscious of how efficiently you use your whole body (posture, rhythm, breathing) and learn a variety of techniques utilizing more than just your palms and fingers - learn to use your forearms, elbows, knuckles, fists etc. to spread the workload and prevent overuse problems. And use your grip training and other gym work, including flexibility training, to keep a balance between the muscles you use for massage and the rest of your body. Especially, do not neglect leg and back training and stretching if you want a long, healthy career. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bult Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Hi Dean, I'm a physical therapist from the Netherlands.(physical therapy here means quite a bit of massaging). I'm exactly where you are now. Closed the #2 and working on the #3. I haven't ran into any problems. Only thing I noticed is that I'm really having trouble working the grippers more than two days in a row. Perhaps the work is eating into recovery, but it could be that it's just me. I'm even taking them with me to work at the moment. Just make sure you get the oil off your hands before you use the grippers I have been a bit of a lurker on this board. Dutch recently made me see the light when he got his Coc certification. So I'm on it again with renewed enthousiasm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuTCH Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 thanks buddy, nice to know i got your engine runnin' again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedy Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 I know for a fact that the test is really tuff; my sister is one, and she was studying for months. Currently i am attending a course to become a qualified massage therapist in Australia, after the course i will be working"fulltime" in the industry.I have closed the number 2 COC and i'm going for the #3. I am curious if any one on here is a practicing therapist and continues grip work? Most of the massage stuff attacks the extensors so hopefully i wont have any trouble. Any stories or insight on juggling grip work and massage profession? ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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