Effleurage

EFFLEURAGE is a gliding movement over the skin and is a sedative stroke. It initiates each treatment, can aid relaxation and helps in diagnosis of the state of a client’s soft tissue. It is used more than any other stroke.
Description: All of the hand makes contact with the body and contours to the surface it is stroking. The two hands are intertwined at the thumbs and all fingers remain close together as the two hands, in unison, glide up the body. It is used

• To spread the oil
• To accustom the client to the operator's hands.
• It helps you to discover tenderness or tightness in areas of the body.
• If the area you are massaging is extremely sore, effleurage may be the only stroke you can employ.
• It provides a passive stretch to the muscles when performed slowly and deeply.
• It is always employed upwards in the direction of the heart and aids venous return.