20 years as a massage therapist - there are areas of the neck to be cautious of and there is never any excuse to do anything with force or speed to anything associated with the neck or spine. “No pain no gain” approaches in manual therapy (and expectations from clients) needs to die. That approach is abusive to both parties.
There are many ways to provide touch that are both safe and therapeutic. I currently work with hospice patients (you don’t get much more fragile and complicated than that) but when I was teaching the bottom line I gave my students - if the skin is intact and you’re allowed to touch the area with the type of contact to bathe, then there are ways to provide touch for comfort with a positive outcome. Massage can take many forms and it should never hurt or create a threat.
20 years as a massage therapist - there are areas of the neck to be cautious of and there is never any excuse to do anything with force or speed to anything associated with the neck or spine. “No pain no gain” approaches in manual therapy (and expectations from clients) needs to die. That approach is abusive to both parties.
There are many ways to provide touch that are both safe and therapeutic. I currently work with hospice patients (you don’t get much more fragile and complicated than that) but when I was teaching the bottom line I gave my students - if the skin is intact and you’re allowed to touch the area with the type of contact to bathe, then there are ways to provide touch for comfort with a positive outcome. Massage can take many forms and it should never hurt or create a threat.