What is it about a stuck shoulder blade that we just cannot resist? Sore elbows, achy arches, we can ignore these if the client has asked us to work elsewhere but if we find a stuck shoulder blade, it almost takes divine intervention to get us to pass it by.
I'm just back from a 2-week vacation in northern California. I arrived in San Francisco with two goals: check out a practice I'd heard great things of and get some relief for my aching upper body. I must have been doing something terribly wrong with my body mechanics lately because I hurt in my fingers, my wrists, my elbows, my biceps, and my mid-back. I knew my neck and traps were tight but they didn't hurt so they didn't make the A-list. I scheduled a 90-minute massage.
I was upfront about being an MT and explained where I hurt and why. I was particularly concerned about my right elbow. I couldn't seem to get any improvement working on it myself. My MT asked a few questions and then had me get on the table, prone.
He started, as many of us do, with the back. Couple of warming strokes and he discovered that my scapulae were glued tight to my ribcage. Not surprised but, remember, they didn't hurt so they weren't on my A list. He couldn't resist. He spent easily half of the session (successfully) getting them un-stuck. Yeah!
But that meant he only had half a session left for everything else, including the stuff I'd said was important to me. So he couldn't give everything else the full attention it needed.
Did I stop him? Did I speak up? No, because he really was doing good work and I didn't want to micro-manage the session. I also didn't realize how much of the session he'd spent on the scapulae. I have been in his shoes, encountering a body part so stuck / dense / whatever that I dove in without really paying attention to the time or my session plan.
In my practice, at the end of an intake I outline how I'm going to approach the session with the client, especially if we need to prioritize some aches/pains/issues over others. The client has a chance to re-direct me and to know what to expect. It allows me to be clear on what outcome they're hoping for and reassure myself that my plan will address that outcome. If I encounter something during the session that makes me reconsider my plan, I talk to the client about it and get their OK.
The work I received was good, let be very clear about that. But we owe it to our clients to stick to the plan, unless we get their permission to do otherwise. I had a specific goal for the session – relief of some specific aches and pains. The work on the scapulae did little to alleviate those other areas of discomfort. I don't regret spending the money because I did get solid value for my money but I didn't get what I came in for and that's a shame.
And my elbow still hurts.
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