The Massage

TouchPro massage is based Amma, a 1300 year old traditional Japanese table massage. The Amma sequence has been adapted by David Palmer for use on seated, fully clothed clients and comprises 28 acupressure techniques, incorporating 60 acupressure points. The routine covers the head, neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms and hands. It usually takes 20 minutes and enables the client to relax completely, yet feel rejuvenated and clearly focused. It can be adapted for 5, 10, 15 and 30 minutes sessions.

Looking after your body

Practitioners who try to adapt table techniques into a chair massage routine, end up with tired backs, sore hands, and exhaustion. The TouchPro approach is geared towards crating maximum effect with minimum effort.

We pay great attention to body mechanics, and in particular to the use of bodyweight rather than strength. The techniques are carefully choreographed in a sequence that makes it possible to perform many massages a day without fear of injury or exertion.

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About the Trainers

  • Alisdair Burcher
    Alisdair Burcher Managing Director TouchPro UK

    In 1991, after qualifying in holistic massage and on-site chair massage, Alisdair realised that shorter seated sessions were a great way of introducing more people to massage, so he set up StressBusters, the first registered mobile massage company in the UK.
    In 1997, Alisdair was invited to set up TouchPro UK by David Palmer, the founder of the TouchPro Institute in the US. Alisdair is honoured to share David’s work with students from all over Europe.
    Alisdair’s personal experience with bodywork has had a profoundly beneficial effect on his health and wellbeing, allowing him to cope with the demands of being a single parent, and inspiring him to give up an unfulfilling job. He is passionate about helping people to fulfil their own potential.
    He hopes to welcome you to one of our TouchPro courses soon.

  • David Palmer
    David Palmer CEO TouchPro Institute

    In 1997, Massage Magazine hailed David as the “father” of contemporary Chair Massage for the significant role that he has played in the growth of one of the most ubiquitous segments of the bodywork services industry. In 2007, David was inducted into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.

    David began his professional massage career in 1980. Before his teacher, Takashi Nakamura, returned to Japan in 1982, he prepared David to assume operation of The Amma Institute. The Amma Institute was the first school in the United States exclusively devoted to traditional Japanese massage. It was here that David first began experimenting with teaching his graduates to work on clients seated in a chair, rather than lying on a table. In 1989 David stepped down as Director of the school to focus full-time on the development of the Chair Massage industry.

    Developer, the first chair for seated massage

    In 1983, David began work on the first special chair to make seated massage comfortable and convenient for both the customer and the practitioner.

    In 1986, his chair was introduced to the bodywork profession by Living Earth Crafts and has served as the basic model for all subsequent massage chairs. To date there are over fifteen massage chairs and tabletop units on the market that have been sold to hundreds of thousands of practitioners worldwide. David currently works with Stronglite manufacturing company to develop and maintain what we believe to be the best massage chair on the market.