Ever wonder what you can use with your feet aside from walking, running and standing up? There is a form of bodywork that uses not only the hands but also makes good use of the feet to help relieve pain, aid in the faster recovery from injury, soothe and relax the body, and to improve the overall wellness of a patient.

Fijan massage therapy incorporates the use of both hands and feet during the massage therapy. However, there are practices that remove the use of the hands during the therapy. This type of massage is a newer form of deep therapeutic massage which was only introduced to the public in the late 1990s.

Lolita Knight was a regular tourist in the Fiji Islands before she ever had the knowledge and education regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of Fijan massage therapy. Her love for the place and people made her attached to the island where she decided to stay for a while. During her stay at a remote village, she saw the primitive lifestyle of the villagers which includes the daily walking on mountains, climbing of trees and the rough manual labor in the fields. She also found out that there were village healers who practiced Fijan massage and are capable of servicing the people for more than any regular massage therapist can endure. This made her study the native massage technique which she later modified and improved to fit the needs of every individual all over the world.

The idea of using the feet instead of the hands is to avoid stressing and straining the hands of the therapist in order to provide the patient better quality massage therapies. The natives of the Fiji Islands were the original users of this modern therapeutic massage which was solely used in the remote villages to treat all sorts of chronic pain, injuries and damaged parts of the body, as well as common ailments. Although the methods may vary from island to island, each technique has the same objective of using the hands and feet in improving the total wellness of a person in need of medical treatment.

Although the feet are not capable of massaging all areas of the body, most of the areas it massages are vital for the improvement of the health. This is where the use for hand massage comes in, although some practitioners don’t include the hand techniques in a Fijan massage.

During a Fijan massage barefoot technique, the therapist works with her toes, medial and lateral edge of the foot, the ball of foot, and the base and edge of heel. Specific areas of the foot are used on specific areas of the body.

Fijan massage therapist does not walk on the back of the patient during the therapy, instead they use gliding and kneading massage techniques to remove and treat back pain. Body balancing is important for Fijan massage therapists as they need to be sure of giving the right amount of pressure on the body of a patient to avoid damaging the muscle tissues of the body.

Author Bio: I write for TIR Massage Stone, the leading hot stones supplies provider. They carry products such as basalt stones, as well as many other accessories for hot and cold stone therapy.

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