One part of the body which causes tension in the whole body is by no means the neck. There are several conditions which can cause neck pain: bad posture, stress, drafts, and poor working conditions. Even the weight of the head itself can cause your neck to ache as with chest and shoulder massage, work standing or kneeling behind your partners head. This means that people need neck massage from time to time.

Side stroking

Your patient lies on the floor on a shiatsu mat or futon on his back. Use your both hands to stroke on side of the base of the patient’s neck.

Move your body slightly toward the side of the neck you are working on, and using one hand make stroking movements from the shoulder up the neck to the base of the skull. Change your hands as your hand reaches the patients ear, and with the other hand follow the movement.

Make sure that the strokes are smooth and your patient shouldn’t feel when one stroke finishes and the other begins. To maintain this kind of sequence lift off your first hand and put it back to the shoulder until your other hand continues the stroke the patients neck.

Side stretch

Cup one of your hands over one of your partner’s shoulders, and your other hand around the base of the skull on the same side. Begin slowly pushing the shoulder down but keep the head in the same position. This technique has a good effect on the muscles which are situated in the neck area. Repeat this gentle stretch to the neck muscles on the other side of the body too.

When you do a side stretch of the neck, take care to make slow moves and avoid hard, quick moves. Pulling too roughly while stretching the neck could cause more pain in the neck that the patient had before the treatment.

Pressures

Before starting the neck massage you can use some pressure techniques on the base of the shoulders.

Smoothly move your hands down to the base of the neck. Make small, firm and circular pressures on the both sides of the spin using the middle fingers of your both hands. Repeat this technique moving slowly up to the neck, then press into the hollow at the of the spine and the indentations on either side of the base of the skull.

Return to the base of the skull and continue with slow firm circular pressures. This region is tense and pressure techniques helps stimulate the blood flow and relax the muscles in this region.

You might want to visit the shiatsu training page to see more.