Wringing
Wringing is a massage technique in the category of petrissage movements.
In general, petrissage movements involve compressing soft tissues (such as skin and muscle tissue) against each other and/or against the underlying bone or bones.
In the case of wringing, the soft tissues are compressed against their underlying structures before they are lifted. The lifted tissue is then pulled gently away from the underlying structures using the fingers of one hand, while the thumb of the other hand gently pushes the tissue back towards the underlying structures.
In the cases of smaller areas of tissue, only the tips of the therapist's fingers and thumbs need be used to perform wringing movements. The larger the areas to be worked, the more of the therapist's hands are used to wring tissues effectively.
Petrissage movements such as wringing should not be applied in certain circumstances such as:
- to any inflamed areas (incl. abdominal inflammations such as appendicitis)
- in cases of hernia
- during pregnancy, or
- intensively over recent muscle strains or scars.
Note: If in doubt about the safety of a massage movement don't perform it - seek advice from a tutor or other appropriately qualified person.
This section consists of short summaries about the classical massage movements. This list of massage techniques is not exhaustive. For more general information about massage see also:
This page is in the section about massage manipulation techniques.
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