Save Your Hands!: Injury Prevention for Massage Therapists [Paperback]

Lauriann Greene (Author), Robert A. Greene (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1995

Save Your Hands! is the complete guide to injury prevention and self-care for massage therapists. Purchased by hundreds of massage schools across the U.S. and Canada for their students, the book has been the leading self-care manual for massage professionals and students in 7 countries for over 10 years. This ground-breaking, critically-acclaimed book has helped tens of thousands of massage therapists to understand the risk of massage-related injury and learn how to protect their most important tools - their hands - throughout a long, healthy massage career. All massage practitioners, from those first learning techniques to the most experienced therapists, can benefit from the practical, medically-sound advice provided in Save Your Hands.

Massage therapy is a physically demanding career with a very high injury rate. Over 3/4's of practising massage therapists experience symptoms of injury at some point in their careers. Burn-out rates are so high that the average career in massage lasts only 7 years. Burnout and injury ARE preventable, if you know how to recognize the warning signs, change techniques and work habits, and seek early treatment. Save Your Hands will show you how to work smart instead of hard, to manage stress and pressure in the workplace and stay in shape to do this physical work, so you CAN have a long, successful massage career.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The massage therapy profession needs to practice the preventive medicine it preaches to clients. After clapping their hands in applauding the publication of this common-sense book, massage therapists (especially those who are burned out trying to rescue others) owe it a careful reading." -- Rafael Tuburan, former Editor in Chief, Massage Therapy Journal, 1995

"This text is deep in its information and rich in its suggestions for prevention and treatment of massage-related injuries. Lauriann Greene has successfully addressed all aspects of upper extremity injury from a holistic perspective . . . I urge all massage students and professionals to read this book." -- Diana L. Thompson, L.M.P., author of Hands Heal: Documentation for Massage Therapy, President, Massage Therapy Foundation, 1995. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

You can prevent career-threatening injuries.

Don't let nagging symptoms turn into injuries that can interfere with your massage therapy career. Save Your Hands offers massage students and professionals practical, medically sound information on how to recognize, prevent and treat injuries that are common among massage therapists. In fact, any bodyworker or manual therapist can benefit from the real-life tips and suggestions in Save Your Hands!

In a clear, easy-to-read, illustrated format, Save Your Hands!
- presents stress-reducing alternative massage techniques and approaches
- discusses how to use proper body mechanics to massage with less stress to your upper extremities
- gives you a strengthening and stretching routine designed for massage therapists
- tells you how to keep the demands of school and work from getting you injured
- provides treatment options, both traditional and alternative.

If you have ever had pain or discomfort from doing massage, Save Your Hands! is a sourcebook you can turn to for answers to your questions: Why am I getting these symptoms? What kind of healthcare practitioner should I see and at what point should I seek treatment? How can I schedule my clients so I can keep a manageable work schedule? Save Your Hands will give you clear guidelines to help you answer these questions and more. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Gilded Age Press/Body of Work Books; 1st edition (December 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883195039
• ISBN-13: 978-1883195038
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,709,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who are you listening to?, July 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Save Your Hands! Injury Prevention for Massage Therapists (Paperback)

This book was written by a woman who injured herself in massage school and then, instead of becoming a massage therapist, wrote this book and now makes her living teaching seminars and selling books. So she may be an expert in what caused HER injury, but does not appear to have any experience actually being a healthy therapist. If your school did not teach anything at all about body mechanics, technique adjustment, or hand safety, you may need this book - but if your school is even the least bit responsible in teaching these skills this book is just an introduction to the concepts. If you need advanced ideas, you won't find them here. Big print, low-quality photos, and self-congratulation seem to be the hallmarks of the book, and I'm glad I was able to leaf through it and not waste my money buying it.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vital knowledge for the massage therapist/bodyworker, September 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Save Your Hands!: Injury Prevention for Massage Therapists (Paperback)

Massage therapy schools can be lacking when it comes to teaching developing therapists how to prevent injuries as they develop their skills and clientele. This book gives valuable information, exercises, and instructions to fill in this vitally important area . I strongly recommend it for anyone who wishes to have a long and pain-free career in the massage therapy field.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good book, well written, practical info, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Save Your Hands!: Injury Prevention for Massage Therapists (Paperback)

As a first trimester massage therapy student, I am already seeing several of my classmates with wrist & hand injuries that could easily become serious. This book should be a required textbook for students beginning massage school. The information is easy to understand, and the exercises are quite effective. Thank you, Ms. Greene.