Clients with concrete calves are common in clinics across the world. These clients could be active weekend warriors, high heel wearers, concert goers who just spend hours bouncing in a stadium to their favourite band or simply a client that stands all day at a check-out.

 No matter who the client is or what they have done to cause this particular tension level. 

One thing is true: clients with concrete calves are very taxing on a massage therapist’s hands. The muscle is solid, in fact, it feels just like concrete. When this tissue tension state develops within the muscles of the lower leg and calf, it can be even more taxing on the therapist’s body. Unfortunately, there is a deeper problem which can have a sinister cyclical effect on a therapist’s wellbeing, which I have named the Concrete Client Cycle.

The client with concrete calves presents a certain addictive challenge to a massage therapist; the tissue itself has a weird ability to hook the therapist into spending a lot of the treatment time focused there. 

I am sure you can relate to the satisfying feeling when that concrete tissue starts to change – finally.

I am aware of many therapists that can easily spend 20 minutes plus on each lower leg, then have to rush in order to deliver a completion to the treatment. Or, in the words of one of my students “to make the client feel massaged” in the remaining treatment time, which often leads to the therapist running over time in the session. 

No big deal – or is it?

The cost of the concrete client is this cycle. You get slowed down and ‘stuck’ on the concrete areas. You want to give a rounded treatment to your client, so you go over time – and then justify it by saying to yourself “it’s ok this once – I want them to feel like they got value from their massage”. 

This breach in boundaries ultimately gives away your time for free. The time you had earmarked for writing clients’ notes, taking a break, eating and preparing for the next client.

The danger is you run late for the next client and the next all day long, hungry, tired and then, you have to work late to catch up on your notes. 

Imagine what happens when we get a couple of these ‘concrete clients’ in a day or a few in a week or worst case scenario: a caseload full of them, day after day, week in, week out, for months and even years.

Is it a surprise we end up with sore hands and tired bodies, especially if we are using techniques that are heavy on our hands?

So what can we do? 

You could refuse to treat these clients – usually, you don’t know until they are on the table mid-massage.

Or you could use a powerful natural tool to cut through that concrete in record time. 

A tool that saves your hands.

A tool that is safe and feels good.

You could use Cold Stones.

Cold is impressively fast and effective for reducing muscle tension and pain. It is a natural analgesic and is incredibly safe for clients with complex pain conditions.

I love using it for concrete muscles, especially for clients’ calves. I can actually feel the concrete tension melt away through the cold stone and the most surprising part of this is the speed at which this happens especially when I combine cold and hot stones together.

Cold stones are often not used because psychologically, lots of therapists don’t want to use them because they themselves are not a fan of cold. However, with the growing popularity of ice baths and cryotherapy now is a perfect environment for introducing the concept of cold stones to our clients.

Cold holds many remarkable benefits for our wonderful clients. It is useful in the treatment of repetitive strain injuries and headaches as well as treating trigger points. Dr Janet Travell is a huge advocate for the use of cold. She developed her vapo coolant spray and stretch techniques that is still used today.

Cold stones energises and clears brain fog which can be a great boost to certain client groups, such as those who are going through menopause or are those that are pregnant all benefit from the use of cold.

I have been using hot and cold stones all-year-round for over 14 years. Even in Scotland, in the depths of winter the cold stones were still popular for treatment of pain and extreme muscle tension.

Once I moved to Australia, I was amazed to discover that my clients loved receiving hot and cold stones all year round, no matter what the weather was doing. 

Now, as I teach other therapists Stone therapy techniques, I am delighted to her feedback and amazement at the effective and fast results they are getting too.

Here’s a clip of one of our Graduates Catherine Dore giving feedback on how cold is a game changer!

What Graduate Catherine Says:

Thank you,

Christine