Apart from your hands and the training you have received, the massage table is the most important piece of equipment for maintaining your livelihood.

Size:

One of the most important choices you need to consider is the size of the table. It should be wide enough to accommodate a broad range of clients yet narrow enough to ensure good body positioning on your behalf. Make sure you can get close enough to the table so you can pivot at the waist and have your shoulders squared up to the clients hips, with your hands parallel to the clients spine.

As a rule of thumb, the most popular and ergonomic choices are table widths of 70-76 centimeters (27.5 - 30 inches).

The length of the massage table is also important for your client. Standard length is 185cm (73inches) but many prefer an extra long length of 195cm (77inches). If your table comes with an extra headrest attachment, this will add approximately 30cm (12inches) to the table length.

Adjustable height:

Nowadays, almost all portable massage couches come with height adjustable legs. A table should come with a 25cm (10") height range to accommodate all size of therapists and cater for a broad range of therapies. A common height range of massage tables is 58-86cm (23-33 inches) and should cater for almost anybody.

You should be able to adjust the height of a table in a maximum of about 3 minutes. There are 2 types of height adjustments found on modern tables.

1) Twist knob adjustments found only on wooden massage tables.

I'm sure you've all been unfortunate enough to have had a crutch at some stage or at least used one! The way you raise the height on the crutch is similar to raising the height of an aluminum table. It takes seconds and simply requires you to press in a button and adjust the height accordingly by slotting the button into a new hole.

Weight of table:

The weight of portable massage tables generally ranges from 12-21Kg's. The weight should be a primary concern if you intend on making regular call outs or visits to clients in their homes or business. If this is the case, then try to aim for a table of 15kg's or under. If you are a home or clinic based therapist, anything up to 21 kgs should be fine.

You can get tables as light as 8kg's, but in my opinion, if you can afford them at around £800, then you don’t need to earn an income from being a therapist!!

Lighter tables are usually made of aluminum as it is a lighter material than wood. But this also pushes up the cost of the table as aluminum as a raw material is much more expensive than wood.

If you find a heavier table that you like, you can overcome its weight a little by investing a massage table trolley to wheel your table around in. They are a fairly new product to the UK and as of yet I have yet to test one out but I have heard from friends that they come in handy on outcalls.

Wood or aluminum?:

This is a common question I get asked. Many instructors advise their students to get wooden tables because that is what they have used and aluminum tables are a fairly recent innovation (circa 5 years).

My current table for outcalls is aluminum and I must say I prefer it to my wooden tables. It is stronger yet lighter. I think aesthetically speaking, wooden tables can be easier on the eye.

For more strenuous therapies such as sports massage I would personally recommend an aluminum table. Some tables have wooden legs but have an aluminum frame, which is a compromise in weight reduction.

At the end of the day it's a personal choice which you will have to make with both options having pros and cons. Firstly because I feel they stand dup to greater abuse and secondly they will be light enough to take to games and matches on a regular basis.

Working weight:

Working weight of the table is the amount of weight a table can take spread out evenly or proportioned evenly across the surface of the table, during normal treatments.

Standard working weights are around the 450lb mark with some offering up to 500lbs. Bear in mind that the client weights that you would regularly come into contact range from 120-250lbs and you will never really need to use the higher end of the 450lbs working weight.

A word of caution, when I first started out many years ago I broke the base board of one of my tables. It was actually my client, but I say I broke it because I should have instructed or helped the guy to turn.

When a client is prone for some time and turns supine they are often a bit weary and turn in a quick and jerky movement. I am sure you’ve experienced this yourself when receiving a treatment. During the quick turn, if the momentum of the client turning is driven through a small area of the body such as the elbow or knee it creates a lot of force through one point. The recommended working weight should be spread out evenly across the table. I hope this info helps prevent what happened to me, happening to you.

Static weight:

I have done some research into this recently by contacting retailers and manufacturers and found that tables are tested on average to the tune of 2000lbs. This means 2000lbs is placed on the table to test the strength of the model. But in no means can it take this weight during table work, not that you'll ever be massaging zoo animals!!

Foam thickness:

The foam on your table is important for two reasons. Firstly, the client's level of comfort is naturally very important. Secondly, the long term wear and appearance of your table is affected by the density of the foam. The higher the density, the greater the substance between the air pockets of the foam. Over time a higher density foam will not sag or flatten creating a longer life for your massage table. Cheap tables such as those found on eBay these days tend to have thin foam.

I was on a weekend break away just before Christmas and popped into a massage therapist in the town I was visiting. I got on the table and it felt very unsafe, I didn't tell the woman that I was also a massage therapist as I didn't want to make her feel too conscious of what she was doing. The foam was just so thin I was starting to hurt in places. I asked her where she got the table and she told me she got it from eBay.

It really did baffle me. How can you expect to hold on to clients if you create a bad experience for them, and then they wonder why business is slow? Madness!!

Anyways, I digress. Standard foam thickness is 5cms and is more than adequate. You will find some tables have up to 8cms foam and these are very nice but 5cms will do fine. Make sure you are buying high density foam though. You can test by pressing into the foam and if it takes too long to return to its original consistency then it may not be high density foam.

Upholstery:

The upholstery on your massage table is usually made of either PU leather or PVC leather. I have seen certain websites advertise "ecological" PU leather and "PU leather, oil and water resistant" both of which is utter Bull**** and is very misleading. Here is an explanation of the two, it is really very simple:

PVC Vinyl leather is generally the norm and is synthetic leather. It is similar to what you would find on many imitation leather couches and sofas. It is strong, durable and oil and water proof. It can be wiped clean very easily.

PU Leather is as close as possible to leather that you can get synthetically. It is very soft and feels very nice against the bare skin and is also very strong. But it is not oil and water resistant like some websites may lead you to believe.

Couch covers and protective coverings have become very cheap nowadays so it is economical to have several different covers which can be washed and reused time and time again. This makes the choice of upholstery less important a factor in choosing a massage table.

Cable system:

This is a feature I recommend all tables have and wouldn’t recommend you buy a massage table without this feature. It is fairly commonplace nowadays anyway. Also known as a tensor cable support system provides much more strength and stability to a portable massage table. It also prevents the table from rocking forwards or backwards.

Retailer:

Your choice of retailer is important. Personally, I think its best to buy from retailers who have therapists working there. They know what they are talking about, they will have tried the tables so they can recommend what they think is best for you and also they generally don't have a quick sell attitude because there job is to advise and they have been in your situation before so they know what it's like!

Guarantee:

Make sure your purchase comes with a guarantee or warranty. 1 year is standard and anything above this is great! I have seen websites advertising 5 and 10 year guarantees. I would be very skeptical about these retailers as it is likely to be a sales pitch to get you to buy from them with no intention of following up on the guarantee after a year or so.

Hopefully by now you have a good idea of what you need to look for in a table and everything is a bit clearer. When you buy the table, make sure you look after it well as outlined in my caring for your couch link above. Happy shopping

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