Customer Reviews

Deep Tissue Massage, Revised: A Visual Guide to Techniques

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a NY State Licensed and National Board Certified Massage Therapist. Honestly speaking, deep tissue massage is in great demand as people stress out from work and life. About 90% of my clients come for deep tissue massage.

I have most of the reference material for Deep Tissue Massage, including this book and DVD by Art Riggs, Deep Tissue & Neuromuscular Therapy (2 sets) by Sean Riehl, Balanced Body by Donald W. Scheumann, and Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques (Vol 1) by Erik Dalton. Art Riggs' teaching material excels from them all. Furthermore, I appreciated the way how Riggs handled customer complaints. Riggs answered my email complaints personally and have turned a customer complaint into a praise. On the other extreme, I never got any email answer from Erik Dalton regarding my purchase (I did get an order confirmation from his company).

A final word, you will not regret buying the study material from Art Riggs, and don't waste money on the studying material for Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques. Most of the techniques from Myoskeletal Alignment (Vol 1) can be found in Art Riggs' Deep Tissue Massage.

Enjoy your Deep Tissue Massage

I have been teaching deep tissue massage for many years. This is the first really accessible text on deep tissue massage that I have seen. The illustrations are especially helpful and the author's descriptions of techniques very useful and easy to follow. When I first read this book,I could hear my teacher's voice - it is very similar to my original training in deep tissue massage. I would recommend it to all massage therapists who want to improve their massage skills.

I've had the pleasure of teaching deep tissue classes at the McKinnon Institute from a preprint version of this book for several years. I've found it to be a very well organized tool for students to learn from. The combination of pictures with short technique descriptions and of more details given on the text pages plays well for different learning styles. Even better, it's a book that can be used both for a quick technique refresh before working with a client or for a more in depth review of the motivations behind the work. In the short time since the book has been formally published, I've already used it multiple times as a reference for a column I write for Massage Today. It has been and continues to be the book I was looking for long before Art Riggs wrote it.

Great Book!!! It paid for itself several times over in the first week by clients commenting on the new ways I work and then re-booking and sending referrals. I found it helpful to go to the website ([URL]) to see actual pages from the book and to find out about the video that will be out soon. I'll definitely be getting that!

This was the book that convinced me that I could indeed so something more interesting with an LMT license than just "slapping bodies" at a spa. It opened my eyes to a whole range of new possibilities and confirmed ideas and approaches I had suspected but not articulated yet. Excellent articulation of intelligent, sophisticated and sensitive modes of touch and therapy.

As good as the book is, Riggs also offers a 7 DVD compilation of the info in this book that is even more valuable. At the risk of appearing immodest, I have to say that almost everything I've tried for my clients from DTM has (once I fully mastered them) been a huge success and led to repeat business and fulsome praise for my "radically gentle" methods.

Riggs also spends a lot of space and time talking about ways to enhance your business and your practice by distinguishing your approach from your peers. It's common sense stuff, but very useful to go over, and this adds a lot to the worth of the material.
There may indeed be better materials on deep tissue massage available - but I don't know what they are and wouldn't trade my book and DVDs for anything.

This book is easy to understand and highly informative. I used it as a reference when I studied for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. It has all sorts of information on massage techniques, which is important of course for the exam. I was recommended the following from a mentor of mine who passed the National Certification Examination with flying colors from the help of the following:
The Ultimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Key Review Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi
Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3
These 3 study guides were so thorough and completely specific for the National Certification Examination. By using these 3 study guides I had no surprise questions on the test that I was not prepared for. I passed the exam with ease with the help of these study guides. Deep Tissue Massage: A Visual Guide to Techniques helped me with the technical portion of massage on the National Certification Examination and will serve as a reference in my future massage practice for years to come.

Being a professional bodyworker for the past 17 years, I've read many books on how to improve my skills and I have found Art Riggs book to be the most instructive and comprehensive one I've ever had the good fortune to read. It's written in an easy-to -understand format that both long-time and new practitioners can relate to.

In this book, Art has the unique and masterful ability to be able to teach anyone techniques and skills that normally can only be taught in a hands-on classroom situation. The high-quality instructional photographs and anatomical drawings blended with his excellent writing skills make it a book that should, in my opinion, be read by everyone who is serious about improving and growing their practice. This book could well become one of the "Bibles" of the profession.

Kerry Loeb
Oakland,CA

These techniques and theories are extremely helpful to me in my massage practice. I work more efficiently and my clients noticed the more effective results immediately. If you want to integrate deep tissue work and myofascial release techniques into your practice, this is the one book you need.

A masterpiece on deep tissue massage and myofascial release. Art Riggs reveals various techniques for different parts of the body used in structural integration. Art Riggs has excellent narrative style, share not only his techniques but his experience, advice and empathy as a massage therapist. This book is a perfect companion for Riggs' DVD, which is a must.

The technques in this book showed me how to effectively perform deep tissue massage. The writing in the book is quite thorough and effective. The author easily gets his procedures across. It helped me greatly. The pictures in the book make it really easy to follow. It was very helpful reference in school.

For the national board books...If you want to know all the sorts of questions that can be asked on the national certification examinationf of massage, I would get:

"The Ultimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork:
Key Reveiw Questions and Answers"

Volume 1: focuses on anatomy and physiology(tons of questions)
and
Volume 3: gives excellent questions on massage technique.

These two Study Guides gave me a great insight on how and what I was going to be tested. It also contributed to reducing any anxiety before taking the the exam. I actually bought volume 1 & 2. However volume 3, I got from ne my previous classmates.

Art Riggs' book is a must nuy for all upcoming massage therapy students learning deep tissue.