Recover quicker with Power Plate – my 3 favourite massages – by John Polley

We love to ‘flush the system’ at my studio. Create blood flow, lymphatic flow, hydration of the tissues and generally nourish the body. Whilst there are many ways to use Power Plate to flush, or massage, different areas of the body, the most well used, and indeed client favourites, come down to three. The back, the pelvis and the calves. Let me tell you why.

Firstly, we have three major joints in our body that want to move; that should move. Often they don’t move well. These are the foot/ankle complex, the hip complex and the thoracic complex. Movement restriction here can often impact other areas like knees, low back and neck/shoulders. This has resonated with every group I’ve taught in the last 8 years.

What you’ll note is that each of these massages targets those complexes. So, secondly, let’s take a look at each one.

THE BACK/THORACIC FLUSH

People are often surprised by this one. It’s putting vibration right through the spine and the rib cage, which many may feel isn’t ‘right’. Indeed, it feels mighty weird too, with the vibration going straight through your lungs making breathing feel just plain odd! However, if you can get past this ‘weirdness’ and your client has no contraindication of course, the ease of breath and space in the thoracic cavity feels wonderful. Whilst an ‘acquired taste’, our clients love the feeling afterwards, if not during!

THE HIPS

Okay, this is a more common sight. Warning – please have an empty bladder before trying this one. It does create unexpected urges to pee! Okay, that aside, this flush is great for tight hips and stressed out souls with knots in their abdomens they don’t even know about. The freedom when they walk away from this one is indescribable.

THE CALVES

Looks lovely doesn’t it? That’s because it is! This is probably the biggest favourite among our clients. You’ll see I have a sandbell on my calves. Any weight, including someone putting downward pressure on your shins, is superb and if I may say, incredibly pleasurable. Our lymphatic system starts at our feet but the first lymph nodes are behind the knees. This flush provides a welcome boost to the process and is so relaxing.

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

Okay, finally apart from the massive physical favour you’re doing for your clients, there’s a huge mental and emotional favour you can do too. With each of these flushes my instruction is “the more relaxed you are, the better this will work”. This is powerful. First, it’s true physically. Secondly, and arguably more importantly, you have just given your client permission to relax. They can’t be anywhere else and if this part of their session is to work best, they HAVE to relax. It may be their only chance to do this in their entire week. Imagine what this means. This is so much more than ‘a quick massage’. Happy flushing! JP