Is Your Massage Table TOO Comfortable?

Using the correct massage therapy equipment is essential to the comfort of patients and therapists.  The ideal surface has enough padding to be comfortable for clients to rest on, but is still firm so that therapists receive feedback from their actions while they work.  Excessively padded massage tables absorb too much pressure, numbing the feedback the therapists receive and making it difficult for them to gauge how much force they are using, leading to pressure being over- or under-applied.  The softness of padding is difficult to accurately determine simply by looking at the foam depth, as the composition of foams vary between manufacturers, but tables with 2-3 inches of foam typically have the appropriate amount.

A hands-on test for determining whether your massage table has too much padding:

Find a hard surface, such as a countertop.  Using your hands, apply pressure to it as if it were your client.  First, apply a lot of pressure, as if you were giving Shiatsu massage.   Remove all the pressure, then apply just a little less pressure than before.  Continue with this system of removing all pressure and then applying slightly less than the previous time, until you are only applying as much pressure as you would in a light Swedish stroke.  While you were doing this, you probably didn't even have to think about how much force to use, the firm feedback from the countertop allowed your body to automatically apply the correct amount of pressure. 

Now, try it again using the massage table.  It's still easy to feel the difference between the highest and lowest amounts of pressure, but therapists with an over padded massage table will be having to concentrate in order to complete the task. If you're having a tough time, it's reasonable to expect that your therapy table is affecting the quality of your service by causing you to over-apply or under-apply pressure.  Don't let the wrong massage equipment damage your business.