I took a much needed day off from work on my birthday. It was well-timed. I did not look forward to a scheduled meeting with the entire group that day, one where I suspected one of the directors was going to try to crucify (not literally) my direct manager. Leaving a couple of spies to attend in my absence, I went ahead on my day of hooky.
One of the things I've always wanted to try, but never have had a chance to, is Thai Massage. Thai Massage is well known for its intensity. It is also well known for stretching one into pretzel-like positions. This was perfect for me, since I have lingering, deep knots in my shoulders, have a high massage pain threshold, and love stretching. So, for my birthday, I booked myself a 90 minute appointment at Suchada Thai Massage.
After taking off my shoes and changing into a loose fitting tank top and pajama bottoms I was directed to my room. The room wasn't exactly a room, per se, rather it was a space that was divided from the other rooms with curtains. I could hear the other massages that were going on elsewhere, and at one point heard one lady complaining loudly that she wanted a quieter room.
Right away, I was struck by the enormous pressure Wan (my massage therapist) exerted on my body with her hands, elbows, forearms, knees and feet. At one point, Wan got on all fours on my back. Her knees applied pressure to my butt cheeks, particularly along the Iliac crest (the top of the pelvis). This was a delicious feeling. Later, she walked on my back, taking some of her weight off me by hanging onto a rope hanging from the ceiling. She put one foot on my sacrum and the other foot on my shoulder, and then pushed her feet apart giving my back an intense diagonal stretch.
Later on, she used her various limbs to pull me into different stretches. The strangest posture I experienced was having my leg lifted up while I was on my stomach, and having my leg pulled over to the opposite side of my body (see top picture). This turned out to be a great Psoas muscle stretch, which is not the most pleasant muscle to stretch on one's own, and not easy to do either, and so ends up being neglected a lot (see above right picture for position of Psoas muscles). My most favorite stretch, however, was when I was seated cross legged, and my head was bent down to one side, and she used her forearm to massage along the side of my neck. This ended up accessing my levator scapulae muscles in a way I've never experienced before. These muscles are so deeply knotted, that I have difficulty finding the strength to massage them on my own.
All in all, I winced quite a few times during the massage, which means that I got as much pressure as I needed, and then some. Most of the times, therapists are too scared for fear of bruising my muscles. In the day that followed I had a only a little soreness in my shoulder, and no bruising. I didn't experience as much relief around my neck and shoulder as I expected after such a pounding, but I believe that such chronic conditions things take more than one session.
When I got home, I was itching to try some Thai massage moves on my husband, Mark. He is not a big fan of massage, but I enjoy trying it on him, because I enjoy seeing the pain on his face (I know, I'm such a masochist). I pulled him into some of the pretzel stretches I endured, and Mark, quite predictably, did not enjoy them very much. I also had new found respect for my massage therapist, because after two minutes of stretching my inert and heavy husband, I was sweating and out of breath, and needed a massage myself.
All in all, I think I would definitely repeat the experience, although I think that Thai massage is more therapeutic than relaxing. If you feel stressed and want to feel pampered, I would recommend the usual deep-tissue massage. However, if you have deep, chronic knots that nothing has provided relief for, I would recommend Thai Massage.
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| Thai Massage Stretch |
(As a side note, my sister-in-law, who is a professional massage therapist, says that Asians, like myself, tend to prefer more intense massages than Caucasians. She attributes this to the fact that us Asians seem to have have denser muscle tissue.)
Suchada Thai Massage is probably the highest-rated Thai massage place in the San Francisco Bay area on Yelp.com. They've staffed the place with authentic massage practitioners from Thailand. However, unlike in Thailand, where the massage setting is usually clinical, Suchada has a spa-like setting. Also, upon entry, you are directed to indicate where on a diagram of a body you would like extra attention. In Thailand, or so I've read, massage proceeds like choreography, without any customization for individual areas. My advice to anyone thinking of visiting is: be careful what you ask for, for you will receive a pounding.
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| Psoas Muscles |
After taking off my shoes and changing into a loose fitting tank top and pajama bottoms I was directed to my room. The room wasn't exactly a room, per se, rather it was a space that was divided from the other rooms with curtains. I could hear the other massages that were going on elsewhere, and at one point heard one lady complaining loudly that she wanted a quieter room.
Right away, I was struck by the enormous pressure Wan (my massage therapist) exerted on my body with her hands, elbows, forearms, knees and feet. At one point, Wan got on all fours on my back. Her knees applied pressure to my butt cheeks, particularly along the Iliac crest (the top of the pelvis). This was a delicious feeling. Later, she walked on my back, taking some of her weight off me by hanging onto a rope hanging from the ceiling. She put one foot on my sacrum and the other foot on my shoulder, and then pushed her feet apart giving my back an intense diagonal stretch.
 |
| Levator Scapulae |
All in all, I winced quite a few times during the massage, which means that I got as much pressure as I needed, and then some. Most of the times, therapists are too scared for fear of bruising my muscles. In the day that followed I had a only a little soreness in my shoulder, and no bruising. I didn't experience as much relief around my neck and shoulder as I expected after such a pounding, but I believe that such chronic conditions things take more than one session.
When I got home, I was itching to try some Thai massage moves on my husband, Mark. He is not a big fan of massage, but I enjoy trying it on him, because I enjoy seeing the pain on his face (I know, I'm such a masochist). I pulled him into some of the pretzel stretches I endured, and Mark, quite predictably, did not enjoy them very much. I also had new found respect for my massage therapist, because after two minutes of stretching my inert and heavy husband, I was sweating and out of breath, and needed a massage myself.
All in all, I think I would definitely repeat the experience, although I think that Thai massage is more therapeutic than relaxing. If you feel stressed and want to feel pampered, I would recommend the usual deep-tissue massage. However, if you have deep, chronic knots that nothing has provided relief for, I would recommend Thai Massage.
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