Tag Archives: rancho cucamonga

The Massage felt great…….but now I’m hurting!

Posted on by
Reply

My Massage felt wonderful, but now,  a day later, I don’t feel well at all. What happened? They told me it wasn’t going to hurt.  So why do I feel so yucky, sore and tired?

Chances are, this was your first Massage,  or you have not had a Massage for a long time. When you receive regular body work, the aftermath leaves you feeling great. Ask any friend who is a regular to Massage;  they will tell you the same. The benefits are cumulative! Okay, then why am I hurting?

By the time you showed up for your Massage appointment,  you were months if not years overdue, right? Maybe you’re  just a human ball of tension. You’re going to need a Massage deep enough to begin the healing process, or you’re just wanting  a few hours of relief.  You’re  at a  Therapeutic Crossroads, and need to make a decision. Long or short term solution? The quick fix has limited value. Perhaps you have a test tomorrow and just want to relax, maybe it will help you score higher on the exam. But taking this approach can get pretty expensive.  Ultimately, it makes sense to improve the underlying condition. You opt for the more permanent solution.

It’s the day after, you probably forgot about your Therapist’s  suggestion to drink lots of water after the Massage. If your Massage was anything but superficial, you will be sore,  the body work  itself causes some level of inflammation. Do you remember those knots that felt like they were melting away under your Therapist’s loving hands? Breaking those up caused some changes to occur in your body. For one, those knots in your muscles contained lactic acid, which was released into circulation as your Therapist was working. This acid is basically waste material which is an irritant to your body’s tissues. That burning and or itchy sensation may well be the lactic acid coming out. That’s a good thing.

Also, during the Massage, toxins and other substances are released from fatty or other connective tissues  into your bloodstream and are  heading  out of your body via the  organs of elimination. This can leave you feeling sickly, weak and  irritable. All of these events are your body cleaning itself internally. A good thing.

When you drink lots of water,  it helps the body rid these substances faster. This is the reason your Therapist told you to drink all the H2O in the first place.

Additionally, you may be pro inflammatory, which means your body reacts more extremely to the Massage. Usually, poor diets  high in acid- forming foods and lacking in essential fatty acids make your body pro inflammatory.  Eating less meat and dairy and more plant- based food helps reverse this condition.  Even taking cool or cold showers reduces the acidity of your body and brings inflammation down.

Does Massage Hurt?

Posted on by
1

Popeye2_455567aDoes Massage hurt? What would seem like a simple question, requires more reflection then many Massage Therapists are likely to give before they answer. Maybe a better question is what do you hope to achieve during your session and beyond?

The biggest factor to consider your goal or your expectation for the massage. Do you want a relaxing massage or a therapeutic session? Just remember when you ask for  relaxation work, what you receive will be superficial (at least on the physical plane),  so if you have deep seated muscular/ tension issues, you won’t benefit much in the long run and won’t be getting your monies worth. On the other hand, if you only rarely receive massage but you expect that it will solve all you health challenges, in just one session, then your putting way to much stress on your therapist.

Many Therapist’s tell their potential clients that massage absolutely should not hurt,  going on to suggest that if it does hurt the Therapist is doing something wrong. While there is  truth to that notion, sometimes that answer is more about pandering to a potential client, to get the “business”, then to really inform. For example,  Though something may not be entirely appealing to you, it may well be in your interest. By analogy, you might not like Spinach, but It serves your body well. A fast food burger and fries may taste good going down (not hurt), but will hurt you in the long run.

Let me be clear. During a Massage Session,  the client or patient should tell the Therapist if they are feeling pain. Some Therapists use a scale of 1-10 pain level,  ask  the massage recipient what  number they are feeling?  1 being the least , 10 being the  highest level of pain.The Therapist adjusts his Massage to fit the 7-8 pain range.  The problem is that this is all a bit subjective.To one person 7 can’t be felt, to another, 7 feels like a ton of bricks.  But getting feedback puts you in the ball park, at least. There is what the client describes as a “good” hurt, experience suggests, you have found the appropriate level of pressure.

Often a clients ongoing issues are deep set, and to resolve , you have to drop to the level, where the problem exists, to be effective. This does not mean you plow through, full speed ahead..Rome was not built in a day, and your body’s challenge to be healthy will not be resolved in a single day. If, for example, your neck suddenly is stiff as a board,  you get a quality Massage, and It feels a whole lot better, you return in a week for a follow-up, the Therapist has already  identified the source of this acute problem, a spasm in the upper Trapezius  muscle. The good therapist is going to understand  the “problem” is new (acute),  the muscle involved is superficial (near the surface) and that it can be resolved fairly quick and with appropriately lighter pressure. The neck has 7 layers of muscle, the Trapezius muscle being near the surface.

Lets say, another person comes in for help. She is also having neck problems. Her health challenge has been ongoing  chronic , the results of “whiplash” sustained in a car accident years before. By now she has many neck muscles involved, including some of the deepest, like the Multifidus. This person needs a different approach then our first example.  You just can’t go in there and “rip” it out. More visits and more work at progressively deeper levels is what is called for, which may not hurt, but may not be as pleasant experience.

Most often, the real discomfort  a person feels has to do with the aftermath of the Massage. I will cover this issue very soon.

What is Massage

Posted on by
Reply

Massage was known in Europe since the times of Hippocrates, 480 BC. It consisted then, and now, of various applied movements administered with hands upon the skin, tissues, muscles, tendons, ligaments and organs. Using techniques involving friction, kneading, tapping, vibration and more, health could be maintained and more so, restored. In that time, Massage was considered  the “original” Physical Therapy, without all the lights and gadgets. Massage co-existed with exercise…..The ancients saw that combining the two would produce benefits. Take heed,  athletes and weekend warriors.

Among the first recipients of Massage were the Greek and Roman Gladiators, who appreciated it’s positive effects; under severe stress a poor “performance” was often  a final performance.

The modern day Gladiator (business person) grapples with phones, conferences, meetings, presentations, computer screens, and although each exchange is not a matter of life or death, it ought to be reconciled that each little stress-or adds up. Stress can and does kill.