Swedish Massage
Swedish Massage is a massage therapy modality that utilizes five primary massage techniques for healing. The five techniques are:
- Effleurage
- Petrissage
- Friction
- Vibration
- Tapotement
Swedish Massage begins with a set of stroking movements known as effleurage. Effleurage is a French word that means to lightly touch or to skim. This technique consists of a series of long, gliding or circular massage strokes that is applied using different degrees of pressure.
After the muscles have been warmed up with the effleurage strokes, the next technique that follows is petrissage. Petrissage comes from the French word pétrir, which means “to knead.” The technique generally applied by manually compressing soft tissues of an area through rhythmic kneading, squeezing, and/or rolling.
