Kinds of Movements
Stroking (efflcurage). This massage movement, which be¬gins practically all massage treatments, consists of light strokings usually toward the trunk or the heart (centripetal movements). According to the part being worked on, it may be done with the tips of the fingers, the thumb, the palm of one or both hands, or, when care is used, with the ulnar (little-finger) side or edge of the hand, or with the backs of the fingers.
The tips ,of the fingers or the last two sections (phalanges) are used principally for stroking around joints because the fingers can conform to the shape of these parts. The thumb is generally used for stroking between muscles, also up the entire arm or leg, though in this case the palm of the hand is employed at the same time, on the opposite side of the extremity. The palm is also used on the neck and the back of the head and on the abdomen. Both palms are employed upon the chest and the back and sometimes on the neck.