How to Give a Basic Foot Massage

1. Hold the bottom of the foot with both hands. Begin

rubbing the top of the foot, slowly working your way down
to the sole of the foot. Apply more pressure as you get
closer to the sole. Reverse directions and rub the foot
moving slowly towards the top, reducing pressure as you
go.
2. Rub the heel of the foot.
Use your thumbs for this,
making small circles with
medium to heavy pressure.
Work your way around the
entire heel. Repeat this
action on the ball of the foot.

3. Use cross-fiber friction on the heels of the feet. This

means you use your thumbs to push up and down on the
heel. While one thumb is pushing up, the other should be
pushing down.

4. Massage around the ankle bone. Use both hands to

rub in a circular motion around the bone on either side,
and gently rub your fingers over the top of the bone.

5. Use a fist to massage the arch of the foot. With your

hand closed in a fist, use the tops of your fingers to apply
pressure to the arch. Roll your hand back and forth to
knead the skin gently.

6. Massage the toes. Spend time on each individual toe

Go to each toe and gently pull on it. This may

cause the joint to pop, but unless it causes the
person discomfort, continue to do this to each toe.
Slide your index finger in the gap between each
toe. Spend time moving it back and forth, rubbing
the base of each toe with your index and thumb if
desired.

Other Techniques in Foot Massage

1. Apply the milking stroke. To do this, hold the foot in
both hands and give ten short, strong pulls on one side
and then the other. Imagine the pulling motion of milking a
cow while doing this.

the foot with both thumbs

of the arch. Move your
you were wringing out a wet
movement of the foot while

2. Use the Indian rub

technique. Hold the side of
placed on the inside center
hands back and forth as if
towel. Allow a lot of
applying this technique.

3. Try petrissage on the achilles tendon and lower

foot. Petrissage is a type of massage that involves lifting
and squeezing muscles to stimulate them.

Starting at the back of the heel and ankle around the

achilles tendon, use one hand to gently squeeze and
pull the foot. Start softly, but apply more pressure and
speed the longer you do it.

 Push the muscles starting at the achilles tendon and

working towards the toes. Doing this will lift the
muscles of the foot, helping to work out impurities.

4. Massage the long muscle of the foot. The long

muscle begins near the achilles tendon and ends at the
knee, and is closely tied to muscle movements in the foot.

Have your partner straighten their leg vertically, and

use your forearm to apply pressure downward into the
foot. Slowly move your arm so as to use your elbow to
apply more pressure into the foot.
5. Perform ankle rotations. Hold the foot up, and use one
hand to rotate the foot around
the ankle. Move the foot in
circles ten times in one
direction, and then ten times
in the opposite direction. The
ankle joints may pop, but unless this causes the person
any discomfort there is no need to stop.