Effleurage, a French word meaning "to skim" or "to touch lightly on", is a series of
massage
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In E ...
strokes used in
Swedish massage to warm up the
muscle before deep
tissue work using
petrissage
Petrissage () is a massage technique that applies deep pressure to the underlying muscles. Kneading, wringing, skin rolling and pick-up-and-squeeze are the petrissage movements. They are all performed with the padded palmar surface of the hand, ...
.
This is a soothing, stroking movement used at the beginning and the end of the facial and/or body massage. It is also used as a linking move between the different strokes and movements. Effleurage is basically a form of massage involving a circular stroking movement made with the palm of the hand.
Effleurage can be firm or light without dragging the skin, and is performed using either the padded parts of the finger tips or the palmar surface of the hands. Lotion may or may not be used.
The process works as a mechanical pump on the body to encourage venous and lymphatic return by starting at the bottom of the limb and pushing back towards the heart. This will have more success with this once all the muscles in the area are warmed up and loose. It consists of four sub-categories:
# Ethereal or aura strokes
# Feathering, or nerve-stroking
# Superficial effleurage
# Deeper effleurage
See also
*
Massage
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In E ...
*
Gua sha
''Gua sha'' (), or ''kerokan'' (in Indonesia), is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practice in which a tool is used to scrape people's skin in order to produce light petechiae. Practitioners believe that ''gua sha'' releases unhealthy bodily ...
*
Petrissage
Petrissage () is a massage technique that applies deep pressure to the underlying muscles. Kneading, wringing, skin rolling and pick-up-and-squeeze are the petrissage movements. They are all performed with the padded palmar surface of the hand, ...
*
Tapotement
Tapotement is a specific technique used in Swedish massage. It is a rhythmic percussion, most frequently administered with the edge of the hand, a cupped hand or the tips of the fingers. There are five types of tapotement including Beating (clos ...
References
Manual therapy
{{treatment-stub