How to Massage the Feet

Video Transcript

MALU LUJAN: Okay, so we're going to be massaging the feet. And one thing that's truly good to note about our subject today, Sarah, she's got kind of rough skin on her feet. And so there are things that you can do before you massage someone's feet that will actually make the massage more effective. So putting the feet in a foot bath, a hot foot bath, or taking a hot bath is great. The other thing you can do is to take a dry brush and brush the feet. Or some kind of exfoliating gel is really good and then you just rinse that off and start your massage. Okay, so I'm using a little bit of peppermint lotion, which is really good for revitalizing the skin and is especially good to use on the feet and the hands. It really perks the person up, and it's a little bit cooling in effect. So I'm basically using a technique where I'm stretching her toes. I don't know if you can see that very well, but I'm pressing my thumbs in and pulling her toes toward me. You can hear her joints cracking as I do it. Yeah. And now I'm just rubbing. Thumbs are great. You can make circles. You can use pressure. The balls of the feet are really great to massage. If somebody is spending a lot of time on their feet, it just feels heavenly to work on the balls of the feet. Okay, so we're going to massage the front of the feet now, which is very similar, very simple, just get a little bit of peppermint massage lotion or whatever you have at home that works. Massage the ankles, the full length of the foot. You can do that a bunch of times and massage in between the bones of the foot, and that feels good, rubbing the toes. The other thing that feels wonderful when you massage the feet is to stretch them. So I'm just pushing her little toes down. And now, I'm going to stretch in the other way. Always check in with the person you're working on to make sure any kind of stretching you're doing is within their range of motion and their comfort zone. Okay and we'll just finish up with a little effleurage. Okay and that's massaging the feet.