Sometimes clients new to massage gush about quality of life improvements that massage has given them. One case in point is a nurse who has suffered from low back pain and sciatica for years. Being on her feet all day, she has tension in her back and legs and figured it was just fatigue from her job, or signs that she was getting older. She redeemed a gift certificate for massage and I gave her my standard half hour relaxation massage which encompasses the back, shoulders, and neck, and sometimes low back if the client mentions a problem there.

After just a cursory massage, she noticed freedom of movement with bending and stooping and reduced pain in her low back, things she thought she'd just have to live with. She booked another session with me to see what I could do for her recurrent sciatic pain. I worked using deep tissue therapy in her low back, trigger point therapy in her gluteal and piriformis muscles and the tensor fascia lata, the muscle which is the origin of the iliotibial band in the leg.

In conclusion to the session, I gave her a sheet with exercises combining yoga and pilates for low back care she could do at home.