How to Massage Arms

Your arms carry a lot of tension in your body. Get expert tips and advice on massage and other treatments in this video.

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Use a generous amounts of oil
Use firm pressure
Apply pressure with the thumb

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Malu works for Retreat Massage Therapy as a massage therapist. She is well versed in techniques that are particularly helpful for athletes.

MALU LUJAN: Okay, so we're going top put a little oil on the arm. We're going to be massaging the arm now. So I'm just putting a little oil in my hand. You want to use kind of a generous amount if you're using--if you're doing the arms or the legs, because it's a lot of surface area. And we're going to do an effleurage, which is one long stroke and just kind of get oil on that area. And you're actually going to use a fairly firm pressure again, and I'm putting my thumb into her bicep, which is this muscle right here, and that feels real good. And then I go into the crease of the shoulder and under the arm. You can use pretty firm pressure. I'm using--I'm squeezing and I'm using my thumb tips. This area right here is great to use a little thumb pressure on, right just above the elbow. See the elbow right there? That gets real tight if their shoulders are bothering them. And again, an effleurage is a good basic stroke to do the arm. The forearm has two bones that run lengthwise like this, the ulna and the radius. And what you want to do, ideally, is put your thumb or put your pressure that you're applying in between those two bones. If somebody's been working really hard, maybe biking really hard on those--holding the handle bars, that's going to feel great. So I'm right in between those two bones with my thumb. The front of the arm, again, you can just use your thumb and your palm. Wrists are great to work on, so I'm rubbing the bottom of her wrists and the top of her wrists. And the hands, you can just massage each finger. And that feels great.

How to Massage Arms Video

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