Transcript Superficial Reflex Techniques

Objectives
At the end of this presentation, you will have the
information needed to:
• Describe 3 superficial reflex massage techniques
• Explain the outcomes they produce
• Know when to avoid them or modify their use
• Begin manual practice
Definitions
• Superficial: pertaining to or situated near the
surface
• Reflex: an involuntary reaction in response to a
stimulus applied to the periphery and transmitted
to the nervous centers in the brain or spinal cord
©2009 LWW
Reflex Effects of Massage
• Are mediated by the nervous system
• Peripheral receptors send impulses to centers in the
brain or spinal cord, which then cause a local or
systemic response.
• E.g., stroking a person’s hand at the right rate and
rhythm can cause drowsiness.
Mechanical Effects of Massage
• Are caused by physically moving tissues, by:
– Compressing
– Stretching
– Shearing
– Bending
– Twisting
• E.g., stretching scar tissue causes it to lengthen.
Superficial Reflex Techniques
• Engage the skin and affect level of arousal,
autonomic balance, or perception of pain.
• Include:
– Static contact
– Superficial stroking
– Fine vibration
Static Contact
• Motionless contact of the therapist’s hands with the
client’s body, performed with minimal force
• The least mechanically forceful of the massage
techniques
• An important part of systems such as Therapeutic
Touch, Reiki, and Polarity Therapy
Static Contact: Outcomes and Uses
• Increases rapport
• Decreases anxiety, improves relaxation
• Analgesia
• May improve growth of premature infants
• Is used to assist with client education
• May affect client’s electromagnetic field
Static Contact: Contraindications and
Cautions
• Contraindicated in areas of acute inflammation
because of pain
• Clients who have much pain or distress may not
tolerate touch at all.
• Be sensitive to the needs of frail, high-risk, or
terminally ill clients.
• Even though static contact causes minimal
mechanical effects, it can give rise to complex
physical and emotional responses, including touchtriggered memory.
Performing Static Contact
• Use a relaxed upright posture and fully relaxed
hands.
• Breathe using your diaphragm.
• Encourage relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing
in your client.
• Observe client for signs of relaxation.
• For a relaxation response, try applying static
contact to the client’s occiput, sacrum, face, hands,
or feet.
Static Contact Applied to the Occiput
Static Contact Used to Teach Breathing
Superficial Stroking
• Gliding over the client’s skin with minimal
deformation of subcutaneous tissues
• Usually applied unidirectionally over large areas of
the client’s body
• Often used at the beginning or end of a region or
intervention
Superficial Stroking: Outcomes and
Uses
• Reduces pain
• Improves mood and reduces anxiety
• Changes level of arousal (alertness)
• Improves growth of premature infants
• May alter level of neuromuscular tone
Superficial Stroking: Contraindications
and Cautions
• Contraindicated in areas of acute inflammation
because of pain
• Clients who have much pain or distress may not
tolerate touch at all.
• Be sensitive to the needs of frail, high-risk, or
terminally ill clients.
• Recent myocardial infarction
• With bypass surgery, wait 48 hours.
• Ticklishness: use a broader contact, more lubricant,
or more pressure
Performing Sedative Stroking
• Use:
– Relaxed contact with the entire palmar surface
– Slow, stable rate
– Caudal direction (down limbs and back)
Performing Stimulating Stroking
• Use:
– Fingertip contact
– Fast irregular rate
– Multidirectional strokes
Superficial Stroking of the Face
Superficial Palmar Stroking of the
Back
Fine Vibration
• Fast oscillating or trembling movement produced on
the client’s skin with minimal deformation of
subcutaneous tissues
• Manual technique is hard to perform long enough to
be effective.
• Perform using a machine that vibrates at 100 Hz
Fine Vibration: Outcomes and Uses
• Analgesia for both acute pain and chronic pain
• Improves ability of clients with neurologic problems
to perform exercise (through temporarily raised
neuromuscular tone)
Fine Vibration: Contraindications and
Cautions
• When pain is due to acute inflammation, the weight
of a hand or of a machine may not be tolerated
locally
Performing Fine Vibration
• Analgesia is much greater when:
– Vibration is applied continuously for longer than
30 minutes
– Rate is 100+ Hz
• So use a machine! You can attach it to the client,
freeing your hands to perform other manual
techniques.
Using a Fine Vibration Machine
References
• The references for the material in this PowerPoint
presentation are found in Chapter 7: Superficial
Reflex Techniques.