Ergonomic chair from Massage At Work Inc.

As one of the fun activities for our office party this year, we had a massage practitioner from Massage At Work Inc. come in to give all the court reporters and staff members ten-minute chair massages!

I loved this activity that was organized this year as part of the party (kudos to whoever pitched the idea and made it happen).  Massages are so necessary for us all, especially stenographers who sit long hours at a desk with little control over when we get to have a break to stretch our legs sometimes.  I regularly go to get full body massages (and love them) but had never received a chair massage before.  I was super curious about it.

A blurb about what a chair massage is:

What is “Massage At Work”?

It’s a chair massage …  A clothes-on, oil-free, workplace friendly massage that focuses on key tension areas in your neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands.  The massage is performed by a Massage Practitioner while you sit comfortably in an ergonomic massage chair.

We were all sent an online link prior to the party which had ten-minute slots from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. for us to attend the party and enjoy the free massage.  I was working from home that day and since I knew ahead of time I wasn’t working onsite, I booked the second earliest session which was at 4:40 to receive my chair massage.  I wanted something early enough that I wouldn’t have to keep checking the clock during the party when mingling with the other reporters and also I knew that if the massage practitioner was going to be working all night with no breaks, the peak of her strength might be during the early sessions before she tired out for the night.

I love how the staff stuck a “Spa” sign in front of one of the boardrooms to indicate that was where the chair massage was going to take place.  It was cute.

Inside the designated boardroom, the ergonomic massage chair had been set up in the middle with some classical music playing from the practitioner’s phone and dimmed lights which set the mood.

The practitioner asked me a few questions first as she cleaned the ergonomic chair with antiseptic napkins from the first client.  First question was whether I was suffering from any colds or flu at the moment.  That was a negative.  Second question was if I had any previous injuries she should be aware of.  The next question was if there were any target areas I wanted to focus on.  I told her I had tight shoulders.

She asked me to sit facing forward on the cushioned chair (such a weird but cleverly designed chair) and had me put my legs bent in front of me on the chair where they both comfortably lay during the massage.  My arms were placed in front also on top of the cushioned arm rest.  My face was stuffed into the headrest.  She went to work right away and could tell that my shoulders were very tight.  Unfortunately because our massage was only ten minutes, she said she couldn’t get in too deep as it takes time to work into the muscles slowly.  She did her best though and used her elbow to try to loosen up my neck tension.

It was a very good, super fast, and nice massage.  I wished it was longer than ten minutes the moment it ended promptly.

To my surprise, it was actually so comfortable sitting forward there in that ergonomic chair.  I liked how it was so easy to pop in without the traditional massage routines of changing clothes, putting on oil, which easily takes up to ten minutes every time.  I can see how this “Massage at Work” concept works so well for offices who want to provide their employees with regular massages to lower their stress, relieve muscle pain and tension, and provide a sense of calm during a busy day.

It’s too bad that we roving court reporters don’t work every day at the same location otherwise this concept would be such a great idea.  However, it’s perfect for the average employee who works at a company which is housed in the same office every single day.  It’s completely worth it since I’m sure stress levels tend to be on the rise these days on average as opposed to being on the decline.

It’s such a clever concept, and I’m again so glad that we got to experience this!  I really hope they bring this back next year at our annual holiday party as one of the activities. 😀

(Maybe next year if they do this again, they could extend the amount of time we each receive to 15 or 20 minutes.  This could work if they hire two massage practitioners to be on site, for example.  Haha, wishful thinking, I know.)