Wednesday, June 2, 2010

So Ping.FM updates almost all of my services. Everything except my Movable Type blog and my BlogCFM. Oh well. Good for Status updates at least.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Give a Back Massage - wikiHow

Give a Back Massage - wikiHow


How to Give a Back Massage


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

A good back massage can relieve pain, anxiety, and stress, as well as increase physical intimacy, if desired. The following techniques will help you learn how to give a good back massage. Finding a volunteer to practice on shouldn't be too hard!

Steps



Setting Up
  1. Place a pillow or cushion where the person's chest will be.
  2. Spread the sheet over to catch any excess oil.
  3. Have the person prepare by loosening or removing their pants (so that the lower back can be reached) and taking off their top. If privacy is a concern, step out of the room and have them wrap a towel around their chest (just underneath the arms) so that the ends are at the back.
  4. Have them lie face down, with the pillow underneath the breast bone.
  5. Fold one of the towels and place it underneath the forehead to keep the person's neck straight.
  6. Fold one of the towels and place it underneath the ankles to support the person's lower back.
  7. If the person is wearing a towel around their chest, unfold the ends to expose the back.
  8. If the person is wearing pants, spread another towel over them and tuck the towel into the waistline to prevent the oil from staining them.


The Massage
  1. Tell the person you are about to begin, and to let you know if anything you are doing is painful or uncomfortable.
  2. Place massage oil in a cupped hand, and warm it by rubbing it between your hands.
  3. Spread the oil around the person's back with light strokes. Don't forget the shoulders and neck area.
  4. Palm circles. Place one hand on the lower back and put your other hand over it. With arms extended, begin making small circles, going up the back and down again. Staying on one side of the spine, repeat 2-3 times.
    • The movement should come from the waist, rather than from the shoulders.

  5. Muscle lifting. Move up and down the back, 2-3 times. It'll take some practice for this to become a smooth, confident rhythm:
    • Make one hand into a "lobster claw" or "L" shape.
    • Move your hand in the direction of your thumb, applying pressure and gradually closing the gap between your thumb and forefinger.
    • As you finish the stroke, twist the wrist to achieve a lifting motion on the muscle. As you bring your thumb and forefinger together, the outside of your hand (along the little finger) should be running along the back.
    • Keep alternating hands with a windshield wiper type of motion.

  6. Knuckling. Repeat 2-3 times. Do not apply pressure on the lower back, and remember to avoid the spine.
    • Form the hands into loose fists. With your arms straight and your knuckles and fingers in contact with the back, slide up and continue up and over the shoulders.
    • Then lightly drag the knuckles back.

  7. On the last knuckling, instead of coming back down, you can use muscle lifting on the trapezius, which is the muscle that connects the neck to the shoulders. Continue rubbing as you move around the head.
  8. Repeat the palm circles, muscle lifting, and knuckling on the other side of the back.
  9. Stand above the head. Use an extended thumb to make upward strokes between the shoulder blade and the backbone (from the hips, towards the head). As one thumb slides off, the other one begins its stroke upwards.
    • Gradually move over and continue on the other side. Do not do this directly on the spine.

  10. Bring both thumbs to the upper back, on either side of the spine.
    • With constant pressure, slowly begin to slide your thumbs down the back. Remember to be careful over the lower back, where there are no ribs protecting internal organs.
    • When you reach the top of the hips, allow your thumbs to linger there with steady pressure before beginning a new stroke.
    • Slide the hands back up and repeat two more times, each time moving a bit farther to the sides (away from the spine).

  11. Twists. Come back around to the person's side. Reach around the far hip with one hand, while the other hand rests on the near hip. With a fluid motion, pull one hand towards you as the other one pushes away; in the middle, they should slide against each other, in opposite directions. Repeat this stroke up the back until you reach the shoulder area, then come back down. Repeat 3 times.
  12. Spread the fingers of both hands. Draw the fingertips of one hand down the back, lifting off at the top of the hips as the other hand begins at the shoulders. Repeat several times, and slowly allow the pressure to lighten until your hands float off.


Video



Tips


  • Make sure the room is warm.

  • Everyone has a different tolerance to pressure. Be sure to ask for feedback when introducing deeper strokes and as necessary. A good sign you may be going too deep is when the muscle contracts as you press. If the client confirms that the stroke isn't painful, encourage them to relax so to avoid injury to the muscle. Never force a stroke on the body.

  • Many massage tables include a cushioned face cradle. If you have one, drape it with a pillow case or small towel leaving a hole for the mouth and nose, and set it at a comfortable level. You can usually forgo the cushion under the chest if you have a face cradle (an exception would be a client with an extreme thoracic curve).


Warnings


  • Always be gentle when applying pressure on the lower back. Remember that there are no ribs to protect the internal organs from the pressure of your hands.
  • There are some cases in which massages can aggravate a medical condition. A person should consult with a doctor before receiving a massage if they have any of the following issues/conditions:[1]
    • Deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a deep vein, usually in the legs)
    • Spinal injuries or damage, such as herniated disk, etc.
    • A bleeding disorder or taking blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin
    • Damaged blood vessels
    • Weakened bones from osteoporosis, a recent fracture, or cancer
    • A fever
    • Any of the following in an area that would be massaged: open or healing wound, tumor, damaged nerves, an infection or acute inflammation, inflammation from radiation treatment
    • Pregnancy
    • Cancer
    • Fragile skin, as from diabetes or a healing scar
    • Heart problems



Things You'll Need


  • a massage table, mattress, or mat
  • a sheet
  • massage oil
  • 3 towels
  • a pillow or cushion


Related wikiHows




Sources and Citations



  1. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/massage/#5



Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Give a Back Massage. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

My Views

My Views:

A) I dont care what color you are.
B) I dont care what religion you are.
C) I dont care about your ethic background.

What I do care about is the way you treat others and yourself.
A black man who treats himself as a black man is racist.
A black man who treats himself as a white man is racist.
A white man who treats himself as a white man is racist.
A white man who treats himself as a black man is racist.
A man who treats himself as equal to any other man is a good man.

Race, Color, Religion, Age, Sex, Handicap are issues that should never be brought up in a politcal situation when talking about the canidates. But it always is brought up. We have a Woman and a Black Man running for president, when it should just be two people, two canidates running for president.

Sadly these issues will never, and I do mean never, go away. People will always look at each other as black, white, hispanic, asian, jewish, catholic, christian, muslim, male, female, old, young and any other way that sterotypes another. I feel that this will ONLY change when people stop looking at themselves in these ways. If you say "i'm white" or "i'm black" people will look at you that way with all their racist and sterotypical views already applied.

I am a person. I am an individual. I am whatever I say I am. Nothing anyone else can say will ever change who I am and what I am.

(Repost from one of my other blogs: http://adrian.haager.net/blog/archives/000754.php)

Monday, March 3, 2008

To Screen Watch, or not to Screen Watch, that is the question...

Texas Instruments' Dual View: Look Ma, No Split Screen

The technology built into new DLP TV to allow for 3D viewing of movies has had an interesting side effect. Whether it was originally planned or not, I don't know, but it's very exciting for gamers such as myself.


First, some background on the 3D portion. Original 3D Movies showed two images at the same time on the screen with some red/blue color variations. Using special 3D glasses you could see the composite image and enjoy having a rampaging dinosaur or something look like its about to chew your face off.

These new 3D TVs have a similar technology but instead of showing two images on the screen at the same time it very rapidly, 120hhz/fps, alternates between full screen images of slightly different images. Using special glasses that alternate which eye is looking at the screen at a given moment you can see the wonderful 3d effect.

If you can alternate which eye is looking at the screen at a given moment, why not use both eyes and have two different images on the screen. That is exactly how this technology applies to gaming. You can have player 1's screen and player 2's screen showing full screen at the same time and, using the glasses can only see your screen, preventing the "cheat" known as Screen Watching.

Another less explored side of this technology is being able to watch two completely different movies at the same time. Or watching a movie and playing a game at the same time. This last one would be nice because then I could be in the living room playing games, while my wife sits and watches her favorite show/movie whatever on the same TV. Then the only problem is independent sound, but i'm sure they have that figured out too.

Check out the link or do a search for "Texas Instruments Dual View". It's getting to be an exciting world out there.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

How easy is it, really?

How easy is it to post to Blogger? So far I have essentially clicked two things. One being the link to take me to my Blogger dashboard. The other I clicked on the link to "add post". And now i'm typing. So posting is pretty easy, but then again so was MovableType. If I had it remember who I was I could go to the MT "dashboard" then click new post. So posting is about the same on either, but Blogger allows me to do things like bold italic big fonts colored fonts and links pretty easy, whereas with MT, I had to code them all myself, no choice.
It even allows blockquotes which is nice for quoting things and such.
So we shall let the investiagting continue and maybe checkout these labels down here next time.

Edit: too bad the font thing seems to make crazy things happen...and the link thing didnt seem to work

Thursday, April 19, 2007

New Blog?

How many of these do I have? I kinda forget. I pretty sure I only have 2 public ones. Maybe 3, working on trying to recover the 3rd one at the moment. Eventually I'll settle on just one. When that will be, I have no idea.