A massage can feel even better if you add hot rice packs.
You don't need to be a licensed massage therapist to give a loved one a stress-relieving massage. Most people know give a soothing back and neck rub, and rub your spouse's feet at the end of a long, trying day. Adding hot rice packs to your next massage can gently pull even more stress from the body. With a little extra effort on your part, you can use these little pillows to ease tense muscles and help your partner relax.
Instructions
1. Start on a specific area of the body. You can start on your partner's lower back, for example, and slowly follow the contours of his muscles with your hands. Be generous with your massage oil or lotion so as to not irritate the skin and to allow your hands to glide smoothly along the muscles. If you find a particularly tight muscle knot, stop and prepare a hot rice pack.
2. Heat the rice pack. Place a rice pack on a clean plate in your microwave oven and heat on high for 45 seconds. Check the temperature of the rice pack; it should be hot, but not hot enough to burn skin. If it's too cool, heat for an additional 30 seconds and check again.
3. Place the rice pack on the muscle knot. Place a layer of plastic cling wrap on your subject's skin before laying the hot rice pack on a specific muscle knot. This will prevent the oil and lotion from soaking into the fabric cover of the pack. Allow the pack to sit until it cools to just above room temperature, remove and continue massaging as before. While you're letting the pack cool on the knot, you can massage another area of the body while the hot rice pack works independently to loosen the sore muscle knot in the lower back.
4. Conclude the massage. You can also use multiple rice packs to induce a general feeling of relaxation at the end of the massage. Heat the rice packs and cover the skin with cling wrap as in previous steps and place the packs on spots that can become particularly tense, such as the neck, shoulders, lower back and the bottoms of the feet.
5. Reapply a hot rice pack to extra-tense muscles. If your partner has a tense muscle knot that just doesn't want to relax, reheat a rice pack and reapply.
Tags: rice pack, muscle knot, rice packs, lower back, your partner, area body