Sports massage with or without oil?

I use 2 of the best oils and balms on the market, Neom and Songbird naturals. These are 2 very different products, which I’ve managed to use either in combination or individually, and they are both premium quality products. The Neom oils are very popular with a lot of customers to my clinic, simply because they smell nice and feel nice on the skin, and they have a good quality ‘feel’, which is important. The Songbird sports massage balm/wax is a semi solid oil that melts when in contact with the skin, and the reason this product is superb for sports massage treatments is it allows the practitioner to glide smoothly over an area, but it’s not as slippery as a thin liquified type of oil, and it’s important when doing some deeper, or very deep tissue massage that the pressure can be applied without suddenly slipping because of the oil that has been used. 

 

It’s also possible to give a great deal of therapeutic benefit to the customer by placing a towel over the area to be treated and not actually using any oil at all. This allows the practitioner to get a very good ‘grip’ when applying pressure to a specific area, and on occasions where a lot of oil has been used, this simply isn’t as effective, so deeper targeted pressure can be applied to an area most effectively without any oil at all. 

 

When I treat people I actually use a combination of oils and some deeper work through the towel and I feel this gives the best results both for the customer and from my own perspective on things, and it’s also important to remember that some customers aren’t always comfortable having to remove some of their clothing, so actually doing deep tissue massage through the towel without any oil can be good for people both physically, therapeutically, but also for their own personal comfort as well.