Massage Tables and Childhood Memories

By the time I had decided to start a retail business, selling massage equipment and supplies, I was the mother of 3 kids.  My daughter, Kylie, was only a year old when I began researching and planning and she was with me throughout the whole process, right through the painting and shelf-building and setting up of the store.  For some reason, it wasn't until the minute I turned the key to open the store on the first day, that I realized I now had a business AND a 2 year old!  I don't know why it had not occurred to me that she would be going to work with me every day, but now it was the reality of the situation.

We figured out how to make it work.  I set up a play area for her with a little table and chairs, a toy box and we had music and movies.  She would make forts out of large boxes, like the ones the massage chairs came in.  In the beginning, when we didn't have a lot of customers, it was easy.   A year or so later, it became a bit more challenging.  I can remember one time, when I was helping customers, Kylie had fun by removing the shredded paper packing material from a box of massage oil and spreading it all over the store!  Ugh...that was not fun to clean up.

Thinking back now, I can imagine how it all looked to Kylie.  She could barely see over the tops of the massage tables that were set up.  She spent a lot of time playing underneath them, and also taking naps on them.  That was normal for her.  I didn't realize, at the time, that these would be her childhood memories.

Last week, I purchased a new massage table for my practice.  I was really excited about it and opened it up immediately when it was delivered.  After checking it out I folded it and put it in the corner of the living room.  Later that day, something happened that I just didn't see coming.  Kylie (now 14 years old) arrived home from school, as usual, but as soon as she was in the door, she headed right for the living room and stopped at the entrance.  I was in another room, but heard her say to herself, "oh, I love that new massage table smell"!  The next thing I knew, she was setting up the table like a pro (I didn't even know she knew how to do it), and proceeded to jump on it, press her face into the upholstery and take a deep breath in.  She relaxed for a minute there, and then, "Mom, can you give me a massage"?  LOL...that one I definitely saw coming!

Best regards,

Laura

Massage Tables - The right tool for the right job.

When I began selling massage tables in 1998, the only experience I had with them was working with the tables we had in massage school and then purchasing my own for my practice.  I chose my table out of a catalog, after comparing tables in catalogs I had obtained from 5 or 6 manufacturers. I can barely remember back that far, to a time when I couldn't just go online and type "massage tables" into the search bar and get a million listings.  However, just because you can get all your massage table choices in an instant, doesn't mean you will be any better informed as to the pros and cons of each than I was, looking at a catalog.  
What most students and professional therapists don't realize, is that massage tables are not all created equal.  I learned this from the dedicated representatives of each of the manufacturers of the tables I carried.  It served their best interests to educate me about the features of each table in their product line-up.  Over time I came to know each table by name and before long, I could rattle off the options of each off the top of my head; the weight, height range, working weight, length, hinge type, materials, type of padding, upholstery choices and colors, etc.. I carried tables from 5 or 6 of the top U.S. manufacturers, so that was a lot of options.  However, here's the rub (haha), unless the student or therapist interested in buying a table, understands the pros and cons of each option or feature, this information is of little value in helping them make the correct choice to suit their individual needs.  And, some might ask, why do they make all of those options available anyway?  It's a massage table, not a car!  Well, I'll tell you why; because the people who started these reputable table manufacturing companies 30 years ago or so, knew that the massage table is an extension of the therapist's on body, and not all therapist's bodies are the same.  Also, therapists provide many different types of bodywork and there is not one table that is suited to all these styles.  Most importantly, they understood that the right table will assist the therapist with the work, and contribute to it, but the wrong one can and does lead to therapists' injuries such as back strain, shoulder and wrist pain as well as burn-out caused by over-exertion during treatments.  
The massage table is not, as common misconception seems to suggest, just a comfy place for a client to be while they get a massage.  False! The massage table is a tool, a critical tool, for the practitioner.  In subsequent posts, I will discuss the various choices of options and different features available on popular table models on the market today, and what they mean for the practitioner as well as the client.