Deep Tissue Massage Therapist Training Program

Desert Resorts School of Somatherapy

Deep Tissue Massage Therapist

Course Description ~ Course Requirements

Many therapists want to use advanced techniques to aid their clients, but are afraid of hurting their clients, because of the perception that deep tissue massage must always be painful. Or, therapists are worried about injuring themselves, because of the perception that deep tissue massage is hard work. Well-trained therapists can use deep tissue massage techniques whenever needed, even in relaxing or stress-reduction massage, without damage to themselves or to their clients. In this course, students will learn how to focus (client-centered therapy), how to use pressure and movement appropriately, how to identify soft tissues including muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, how to identify and treat muscle spasm, chronic contracture of fascia, fibrosis and edematous tissue. Students will learn communication techniques to help them work with clients and identify barriers to successful deep tissue massage work. Students will also learn how to correctly use the "tools" of deep tissue massage: fingers and thumbs, fist, elbow, without stress or injury to themselves or their clients.

Course Description

Myofascia is the continuous web of connective tissue (fascia) and muscle cells (myo-) throughout the body. Through fascia, muscles are connected to the skeleton and organs of the body. Adhesions in the myofascia are areas where layers of fascia and muscle are abnormally adhered to each other through scar tissue resulting from injury, stress, poor postural habits, infection, or inflammation. This can cause limitations in movement and posture and chronic pain. Because fascia is a continuous web, restrictions in one area creates tension throughout the myofascia, affecting muscles, organs and the skeleton and resulting in symptoms distant from the actual inhibited area. The purpose of myofascial release is to release adhesions, restoring free movement, improving posture, reducing pain, and balancing the movement of the body. Myofascial release is a manual massage technique for stretching fascia and releasing adhesions between the connective tissue of muscles, organs, integument and skeleton. It can be divided into direct or active and indirect or passive techniques.

Deep Tissue Massage I

Direct or active myofascial release is often generically referred to as deep tissue massage and consists of applying direct pressure and stretch to the areas of adhesion. Deep tissue massage mobilizes tissue by stretching fascia and creating microtears which lengthen the tissue being worked, allowing for greater freedom of movement. Microtears heal in a few days, and as long as the client continues to stretch and use the area, the adhesions likely will not return. Therapists use hands, knuckles, fist, elbow and forearm to apply pressure, slowly working through layers of tissue to reach deep muscles of the body.

Connect with the tissue (touch)
Increase pressure slowly until a barrier is reached
Engage fascia by stretching along the length of the muscle fibers until another barrier is reached, using fingers, thumb, knuckles, hand, fist, forearm or elbow to move slowly along the fibers.
Continue until a release is felt, e.g., heat, the stretch is increased, underlying structures can be felt more clearly, movement is greater, smoother, and freer.
Release slowly.
Repeat moving through tissue layers from superficial to deep.

Myofascial Release

In the indirect or passive method of myofascial release, gentle traction is applied to adhesions in fascia, along the length of muscle fibers. The therapist will hold the stretch until a release is felt, resulting in greater freedom of movement. The key technique is the application of a sustained stretch for a period of time, allowing the tissue to respond and release gradually. Traction can be applied by holding with two hands or by putting a limb into a stretch and holding the stretch.

Connect with the tissue (touch)
Use two hands to stretch adhered tissue gently until a barrier is reached.
Hold the stretch until a release is felt.
Or:
Move a region of the body through a range of motion until a barrier is detected.
Gently stretch the region.
Hold the stretch until a release is felt.

Lymph Drainage Massage

Contained in the continuum of connective tissue in the body is a network of vessels, including blood vessels, lymph vessels and nerve vessels. These vessels are made of connective tissue and smooth muscle cells. Blood and lymph vessels are permeable, and fluid washes in and out of these vessels, bringing nutrients to tissue cells and taking away waste products and toxins in order to protect the health of the organism. Rather than imagining the body as a set of discrete systems, the muscular system, skeletal system, digestive system, and so on, it is more useful to visualize the body as a continuous web of connective tissue containing groups of cells with specific jobs - muscles and organs and skeleton - and full of fluid that washes freely into and out of vessels, tissues and organs.

Deep tissue massage and myofascial release are only art of the therapeutic picture. Also important is the movement of fluid throughout the body. Adhesions in fascia can also inhibit the circulation of lymph and tissue fluid, creating edema. Deep tissue massage and myofascial release, because they cause microscopic tears in fascia, initiate inflammation which can increase edema. These styles of massage are most effective if combined with lymph drainage massage. Lymph drainage massage is not a completely accurate name. Although the intended purpose of lymph drainage massage is to move tissue fluid into the lymphatic system, draining it away from areas of congestion and thereby reducing edema, it also has the effect of simply moving tissue fluid from areas of congestion to other areas of the body, bypassing blood and lymph vessels altogether. The fluid can then be taken up by blood and lymph vessels in other areas, reducing the load on the congested area.

Anyone who has seen a flash flood in the desert can visualize this easily: the desert is flooded by sudden heavy rain, but in minutes rivulets appear where water creates its own pathways through the sand, and these pathways combine becoming larger and leading to streams and rivers. Tissue fluid makes its own paths through tissue cells, creating rivulets of tissue fluid that move throughout tissues, eventually finding their way into lymph vessels and blood vessels, to be returned to the blood circulatory system.

Course Requirements
Registration Fee	$50.00
Swedish Massage	96 hours	offered every quarter	$795.00
Kinesiology	48 hours	offered every quarter	$490.00
Deep Tissue Massage I	48 hours	offered every quarter except summer	$490.00
Advanced Anatomy	48 hours	continuous enrollment	$245.00.00
Deep Tissue Massage II	48 hours	Summer and Fall	$600.00
Pathology	48 hours	Offered every fall	$490.00
Lymph Drainage Massage I	40 hours	Offered twice a year	$500.00
Myofascial Release	24 hours	Offered twice a year	$245.00
Deep Tissue Massage III	48 hours	Offered twice a year	$490.00
Lab	52 hours	no charge
Totals	500 hours	$4395.00
For more information, contact the Registrar at 760-323-5806 or 800-270-1175.