Massage in a sauna and bath: benefits, contraindications, basic techniques

Massage in a bathhouse and sauna is, perhaps, one of the mandatory procedures. Along with visiting the steam room and whipping each other with brooms, kneading the steamed (and therefore maximally relaxed and elastic) muscles and ligaments brings great pleasure.

And yet, not every one of us knows all the secrets of bath massage. Below we will try to give some tips that will be useful to you and will help you achieve the best effect from this procedure, even if you have not encountered it before.

You can not only take a steam bath, but also stretch your muscles

Proper preparation

As in any business, it is very important to prepare properly.

A bath massage will be useful in almost any case, but for the most noticeable results you should follow a few simple recommendations:

For massage you need even, but not strong heat.

• The bathhouse needs to be heated in advance. If massage procedures are planned, then too high a temperature in the steam room will only be a hindrance - and so the body works at the limit of endurance, and then the muscles will begin to flex...
• If the doctor did not recommend that you visit the steam room, then massage will be even more contraindicated. The maximum you can afford is to warm up a little in the sauna, and then carry out all the manipulations in the dressing room or a separate massage room.
• You should enter the steam room no earlier than two hours after eating (but not on an empty stomach!). Drinking alcohol is also undesirable, as it can lead to unforeseen consequences.

Advice! In general, a massage in a Russian bathhouse is an event that is little compatible with traditional festivities with a steam room, cold beer, roach and jumping into an ice hole. It’s better not to mix wellness with extreme entertainment!

• Before starting the procedure, you should wash with warm water without detergents. The first entry into the steam room should be short, no more than 10-15 minutes, after which you should rest in the dressing room.
• If you have oily skin, then after the first steaming it is best to wash your skin with baby or special bath soap. For normal and dry skin, this precaution will be unnecessary: ​​if you do not overheat the body, then natural elasticity will be quite enough to effectively knead the muscles.

Well, the main advice is that you should not plan a long procedure. In the steam room, all the muscles and ligaments relax quite well, so a massage or self-massage session lasting 15 minutes is enough, which is called “for the eyes.”

Full procedures should be carried out not in the steam room, but after it

Sauna where massage is done in Moscow

Relaxing in the sauna is not just relaxation, but also healing.
But the main condition for an effective healing effect is an integrated approach. The main components of an effective holiday: steaming, contrast procedures and massage. A sauna where massage is performed is always in demand, as it is a great way to recharge your batteries, get rid of the feeling of heaviness, gain ease of movement and good health. There are many types of massage: relaxing, therapeutic massage, acupressure, hygienic, hardware and many others. Massage has good healing properties, the skin after the procedure becomes more elastic and toned, the subcutaneous glands are activated, metabolic processes are accelerated, and a person’s emotional state is normalized. Performing a massage after a steam room doubles the effectiveness of the massage. A sauna where massage is performed is a great place for healing the whole body.

We use a broom

Steaming technology

The ideal device for a bath massage is, of course, a broom. Brooms are made from birch, oak, willow, alder, nettle, wormwood, and other materials.

Note! Birch brooms are used in a bathhouse no more than twice, oak brooms - two or three times. Herbal varieties are almost exclusively disposable, as intense rubbing and whipping quickly degrades them.

Brooms can be used both fresh and dry (stored for future use). There is no hassle in preparing fresh ones - just rinse the branches in warm water.

But you need to deal with dry ones:

• We carry out quick steaming according to the following scheme: soak the broom for 5 minutes in cold water, 5-10 minutes in warm water, and 5-10 minutes in boiling water. It is advisable that the container in which the soaking is carried out be covered with a lid to retain steam.

Advice! You should not keep a dry broom in boiling water for too long - the leaves can stick together and if they come into contact with the body, they will cause discomfort and burns.

• Also, when express steaming, you can skip the soaking procedure in boiling water and heat the rods directly over the sauna heater.
• For a more effective massage using a broom, a long method is used. Place dry branches in cold water for 5-10 hours. Immediately before going to the bathhouse, remove the broom from the water, wrap it in a damp cloth and place it on the bottom shelf in the steam room of the bathhouse. By the time the massage begins, the leaves will be soft and very fragrant.
• A nettle broom, which is very effective in treating skin, requires special preparation, otherwise we are guaranteed burns. To get rid of thorns, you need to alternately place nettle shoots in cold or hot water two or three times, keeping them in the container for 5 minutes.

It’s better to prepare in advance - then the effect will be maximum.

As a result, we should get soft and flexible rods from which the leaves will not fly off even under intense impact. With such a broom you can start massage procedures.

We work correctly

Proper use of a broom on the skin and muscles is the basis of a successful massage. You should not hit with all your might - it will not bring any effect, but bruises and red stripes may well remain.

Processing with brooms

Advice! If the temperature in the steam room is above 700 C, movements must be smooth, otherwise burns from drops of boiling water and hot steam cannot be avoided.

Mastering the technique of working with a broom is quite simple; the instructions below will help you with this:

• The main technique is stroking and massaging. In this case, the rods move along the skin, having a slight effect on the subcutaneous layers. This technique of work increases the intensity of blood circulation, and the biologically active substances contained in the leaves enter the skin.
• Massaging is best done together. During treatment, the broom passes from the legs to the head and back several times, lingering on the thighs, calf muscles and back.

Advice! To make the work easier, you should wear mittens, otherwise within a few minutes the person holding the broom will develop painful blisters.

• After stroking, apply a compress. Raise the broom to the ceiling, capture hot air with steam and lower it onto your back or lower back, pressing for a few seconds. For each part of the body, it is worth applying no more than 5-6 compresses, periodically washing the leaves with cool water, since redness and blistering are possible in the future.

The compress should be applied from above - as shown in the photo

• If the temperature in the steam room is too high, it is important not to overdo it: if the “victim” of the massage is too hot, you should not lift the broom to the ceiling, but just lower it onto the skin.
• Whipping is the most popular and favorite massage technique by many. The treatment is carried out with the flexible end parts of the rods for one to two minutes. As in the previous case, you need to very carefully monitor your partner’s sensations, and if the blows are too painful, reduce the intensity of the treatment.

Advice! By alternating whipping with a compress, you can achieve maximum effect.

• At the final stage, it is worth using a technique such as rubbing. At the same time, we hold the broom with one hand by the handle, and with the other we rub the leafy part into the skin: the back, chest and stomach - in a circle, arms and legs - lengthwise. The higher the temperature in the bath, the less intense the rubbing should be.

Trituration

You can work with a broom with your own hands, but it is better to turn to a friend for help. This way you can completely relax and enjoy the contact of your skin with steamed branches and leaves.

Classic massage

Basic Techniques

In addition to treatment with a broom in the bath, you can also perform a classic massage. In this case, rubbing and kneading is carried out both in the steam room itself (less intensely) and in the dressing room (more thoroughly).

Some massage techniques

Of course, it is best to use the services of a professional massage therapist, but the price of such pleasure is very high.

So we will try to master the technique by which massage is performed in baths on our own:

• We place the partner on the shelves in the most relaxed position. Arms should be extended along the body, head turned to the side.
• Apply massage oil or soap to your hands. Since steamed skin is very sensitive to the effects of essential oils, it is better to choose mixtures that are as neutral as possible.
• We begin the treatment by intensively stroking the body with our palms. We rub the skin for two to three minutes, pressing the entire surface of the hand tightly against it, but without pressing, so as not to touch the lower layers that have not yet been heated.

Advice! When stroking, one palm should follow the other without repeating its movements. For example, with our left hand we describe circles, then our right hand should go in a zigzag and vice versa.

• Next, we increase the intensity of the impact by squeezing. Squeezing can be done with the edge of the palm, hand, fist or even forearm. At the same time, we move across the muscle being treated, redistributing blood and toning the muscles.

Actions for kneading and rubbing

• Kneading is a technique that includes not only a bath treatment, but also a full massage after the bath. When kneading, it is important to direct all forces under the skin, influencing the deeper layers. There are several kneading techniques, but they will be quite difficult for a beginner to master. So you should limit yourself to simply rotating movements along the muscles being treated.

The impact must be strictly dosed in strength

• Rubbing is typically used at high heat intensity, i.e. where other methods of treatment would be unnecessarily painful. When rubbing, you can use not only the palm, but also the phalanges of the fingers and even the fist comb.
• Another technique involves shaking the limbs. However, you should not use this technique directly in the bathhouse or immediately after the steam room. The thing is that without proper experience it is difficult to dose the force, and if the intensity is too intense, the hand can simply fly out of the joint - the ligaments are steamed and elastic. But 5-10 minutes after leaving the steam room, you definitely need to shake your arms and legs!

Self-massage techniques

A separate category of techniques is the so-called self-massage. At the same time, we independently knead and rub all the muscles that we can reach. On the one hand, this is quite troublesome, but on the other hand, we can control the intensity of the impact and avoid pain.

Useful tips

To avoid unpleasant consequences, you need to follow some fairly simple tips:

• When performing a massage, we carefully listen to the signals of our body. The sensations should be pleasant, albeit somewhat painful. At the slightest manifestation of discomfort, it is worth reducing the intensity of pressure.
• After completing the procedure, you need to calm your breathing. To do this, it is best to use brooms: moisten them in cool water and apply them to the chest and face.
• Immediately after the massage, you should not dive into a pond or jump into a snowdrift. It’s better to go to the dressing room, rest a little, then warm up again - and only then move on to hardening.

After the procedure, we rest in the dressing room and steam again

• After completing all the procedures, you should not immediately sit down at the table, but rather wait at least an hour. The same applies to alcohol and smoking - a couple of hours without bad habits will not only not harm you, but will also help to consolidate the healing effect.

Are there any contraindications to massage?

Without a doubt, massage in a bathhouse is a very useful and effective practice of bathing leisure, but it has some contraindications.

Such procedures are not recommended if you have:

• epilepsy;
• serious heart pathologies;
• problems with blood circulation;
• oncology;
• benign neoplasms;
• pathologies of the liver and kidneys;
• fungal diseases;
• tuberculosis;
• AIDS and HIV infection.

You should avoid visiting a steam room with a massage in the following cases:

• alcohol and drug intoxication;
• nausea and vomiting;
• high temperature;
• internal bleeding;
• allergic reactions;
• influenza and acute respiratory viral infections;
• postoperative recovery;
• pregnancy and breastfeeding.

If there are no problems with well-being and health, then visiting a steam room is the best way to relax and improve your health.

Conclusion

Bath and massage are procedures that organically complement each other. The body, warmed up in the steam room, perceives all massage effects in the best possible way, so it is worth taking the moment to achieve the effect. Almost everyone can master the technique of working with brooms or the basic techniques of classical massage, so we are guaranteed health improvement when visiting a steam room.

The video in this article contains additional information on this topic, so we recommend that you study it carefully first if you decide to take up massage yourself.

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