by David Palmer | Jan 7, 2014 | Chair Massage, History, Videos
[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FFlwzIZusY&feature=share&list=PL1mtdjDVOoOpzYNFdLmgAxAaKTzwrOi2z” title=”David%20Palmer%20-%20Inventor” fs=”1″]Sometime around 2008, New York-based photographer David Friedman flew out to San Francisco to include me in an
online series of portraits he was doing on inventors. During the photo shoot he also recorded a video interview which recently appeared on a new YouTube Channel called
PBS Digital Studios.
Even though I was having a bad hair day the 3-minute video is well-edited and covers my essential motivations behind the development of the first massage chair. What isn’t specifically mentioned in the piece is the name of best massage chair on the market, the Stronglite Ergo Pro, which I co-developed.
One note about the video. The chair massage being performed was shot at a salon/spa in Brooklyn and has nothing in common with the chair massage approach we teach through TouchPro. Knee in the back? Ouch!
You can also read a more detailed version of the history of the first chair and view a cute video of the original chair. Enjoy!
by David Palmer | Jun 11, 2013 | Chair Massage, Politics, Videos
At the 2013
World Massage Conference (WMC) David debuted his first webinar entitled
The Future of Professional Touch.
After the presentation and discussion, they premiered a video interview that had been shot in April 2012. You can view it here. In it David describes some of the personal experiences that led him to the path of chair massage..
The WMC is unique in the massage world because it is a “virtual conference” streamed over the Internet and provides an easy way to acquire continuing education credits. You register once for each year (this year was the sixth edition) and have access to any of the live presentations in the June and November sessions. You can also review the recorded version of each session to watch at your convenience and still get CE credits.
Check it out and register here.
by David Palmer | Aug 3, 2012 | Chair Massage, Videos
I love to introduce people to massage. I have massaged people in restaurants, on airplanes, at dinner parties and even outdoors in parks. When I go to visit my family on the East Coast, I consider it my pleasure to gift them with massage.
If I want to do a thorough job of it, I like to give a complete upper body massage. But what if I don’t have my massage chair handy? This 3-minute video demonstrates how to position massage recipients over a table top so that they are comfortable and you are able to access all parts with ease.
Of course, the other option for my family was to finally buy a massage chair that stays on the East Coast permanently.
by David Palmer | Jun 4, 2012 | Fitness, Videos
Since I work primarily at home, I spend at least an hour a day in the kitchen. Most of the time I am fixing a meal, but sometimes I am just warming up water or leftovers in the microwave.
The minute or two while I am waiting for the timer to ding is a great time for a fitness moment. Even my relatively tiny kitchen contains all of the essentials tools for a brief workout: a counter and a doorway.
Check out this three-minute video for suggestions about turning your microwave moments into a micro-movement program.
This video that is part of my Fitness Lifestyle approach that I encourage my customers to adopt. Feel free to link the video on the customer resources section of your website.
http://youtu.be/OQriMwP1NY4
by David Palmer | Feb 5, 2012 | Chair Massage, Videos
Click on the picture to view the video demonstration
While there are probably more infectious agents on the doorknob customers touch as they enter your massage space than are on your massage chair, the public nature of chair massage makes a solid hygiene protocol essential. It is a matter both of perception and professionalism.
I have seen potential customers stand in front of a line of massage chairs at an event carefully scrutinizing the hygiene habits of the various practitioners to find the one that best lives up to their standards. As the media continues to spotlight drug-resistant infections and virulent pathogens spreading around the globe, the general public is becoming increasingly germ-phobic.
Since we are trying to reduce stress, rather than increase it, we need to set customer’s minds at ease by being proactive about hygiene. There should never be a concern about customers spreading bugs to one another, or to me, or from me to them.
In terms of liability, having a simple, consistent hygiene protocol makes it easier to explain clearly to customers, health department personnel and lawyers the impossibility of someone, for example, having acquired herpes from sitting in your chair.
Wipe down. Cover up.
The two-step protocol TouchPro recommends starts with a canister of hospital-grade sanitary wipes. We use two sheets, one in each hand, to sanitize the chair at the start of the day as well as between each customer.
At the beginning of the shift, every vinyl surface is wiped, along with the adjustment hardware and any other metal or plastic parts around the face cradle. Between each customer the minimum rule is to wipe down the face cradle, arm rest and any other part of the chair that might have had skin to vinyl contact, typically the leg rests if the previous customer was in a skirt or shorts. The final step is to put the two sanitizer sheets together and wipe your own hands thoroughly.
Here’s a note about the wipe down process. The basic rule is, the juicier the better. The effectiveness of the sanitizers at killing the bugs is directly related to how long the moisture stays on the vinyl or your hands. That’s why we recommend wiping down the chair immediately after a massage, so you don’t have to keep the customer waiting before a massage for the alcohol to evaporate.
After the wipe down, the face cradle should be covered up to prevent the customer’s face from touching vinyl. The preference of the practitioner determines whether paper towels, cut-out or form-fitted disposable covers, or washable cloth covers are used.
Back in 1986, we started with paper towels but quickly moved to the round, disposable nurses caps with a breathing hole or slit cut into the center. When the form-fitted disposable face cradle covers came on the market around 2005, we switched to those and never looked back.
Addition hygiene issues
Obviously, everything you learned in massage school about keeping your fingernails, hands, breath and “pits” clean applies to chair massage, but there are a couple of other issues that should also be considered in your hygiene protocol.
In 2009, during the H1N1 avian flu pandemic scare, the media was in a frenzy over the potential deadly effects of the virus. To allay any fears of our customers, I wanted to advertise that all of the chair massage practitioners in our studio had been vaccinated to prevent them from contracting and/or spreading the virus. Unfortunately, because it was a new strain, the vaccine was rationed to the very young, old, immune-suppressed and front-line healthcare workers. Because of the shortage we were never able make that guarantee but every year since, I get myself vaccinated as early as possible. Annual flu vaccination as part of a chair massage hygiene policy just makes sense.
And, finally, what about those doorknobs? In a chair massage studio, I do disinfect them at the beginning of every day, unless they are brass. Brass doorknobs disinfect themselves in about eight hours, while stainless steel and aluminum knobs never do. It’s called the “oligodynamic effect.”
In summary, have a hygiene policy, write it down, and make sure everyone in your business follows it.
Check out the companion video.
by David Palmer | Jan 3, 2012 | Chair Massage, Videos
Steve Knobles called today from
North Seattle Community Acupuncture clinic. He recently started seating patients in a massage chair because it allowed easy access to their necks, backs and arms for needling and was often more comfortable than lying on a table. However, some of the patients complained of tired shins after sitting in a massage chair for longer than 30 minutes and he wanted to know if there was any way to extend their comfort time.
This is a phenomenon noted soon after the first massage chair came on the market in 1986. While spreading the weight among the seat, leg rest, chest pad and face cradle is great for support, it is not great for fidgeting. And, despite what your 3rd grade teacher may have told you, humans are made to fidget and be in motion, not to “sit still.” Movement creates circulation and, as we all know, circulation is not optional, even when we are asleep. Just check out the nearest napping infant.
Thus, we have always recommended a maximum 30-minute length for a chair massage. Unlike a massage table where people can fidget to their hearts content, in a massage chair using the lower legs as a support prevents movement and having the knees bent can reduce circulation and create discomfort. While it is true that some people can tolerate longer periods in that position, since a significant percentage cannot, the 30-minute rule is the safest compromise.
However, there are a couple of ways to compensate if, for whatever reason, you want to do a longer massage. My suggestion to Steve was simple. Since he was using a Stronglite Ergo Pro massage chair, I told him to remove the leg rests and flatten the seat so that it was parallel to the floor. Voila! No leg rests, no problem. Customers can now squirm to their hearts content.
Removable leg rests are so essential on a massage chair that I am surprised all manufacturers don’t include them. Even if you are only doing short massages, you need them. I would guess that 5% of chair massage customers have knee or leg issues that make leg rests uncomfortable. While putting your legs straddling or in front of the knee rests is the solution used on other chairs, it is less than optimal or professional. [Full disclosure: I helped co-designed the Stronglite chair, of course…]
Another way we got around the 30-minute limit was developed in the TouchPro retail chair massage studio business model. There we offered up to 30-minutes of upper body massage and 10- or 20-minutes of lower leg/foot massage meaning people could receive up to 50-minutes of massage in a chair. However, the catch was that, before the foot massage, the customer had to get up and reverse themselves in the chair, which was adjusted for the massage.
If you want to see how it all works in action, click here to view a video demonstration.
