9/29/2008

No Pain No Gain

One of my all-time favorite bands is U2. A very powerful line from Mysterious Ways is “To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal…”
“If it doesn’t hurt, I feel like it is not really doing anything.”
“The pressure is perfect.”
“No pain, no gain, right?”
WRONG
A huge misconception with massage is that it has to hurt. It doesn’t have to hurt, but it can hurt in a good way. Let me explain. ;)
I like to call it ‘exquisite pain’. This is what we feel when a therapist is working out a particular stubborn “knot”. It is kinda painful, but not really, it feels oh so good, and just a liiiiitle bit longer and it will all be gone; the pressure as well as the discomfort from before. If you regularly receive deep tissue or neuromuscular massage, you are used to this and know what I am talking about. Like everything in life, there are levels. It is OK to feel a bit of discomfort, but I do not want you uncomfortable on my table. I have various levels of deep pressure that work at different speeds. I can easily adjust my technique so that you can get deep therapeutic work without hurting. If it just plain hurts, you will mostly likely get anxious and tense up. When this happens, your muscles will tighten up and I am not getting any work accomplished. It is counterproductive.
I don’t normally look at a client while I massage them, but if I am working on a Trigger Point, I will look down to make sure you are still breathing and not wincing. The first I can easily remind you to keep taking deep breathes. The latter, I will back off slightly until your face looks serene again. At this point, the client will sigh or take a deep breath and I know we are back to working together.
There is nothing wrong with asking, me to adjust pressure at any time during your session. I am there 100% for you and am more than happy to adjust the pressure for you; after all it is your massage! Even if you would like it adjusted form one muscle group to the next, which is fine. I’d rather you let me know then be disappointed later.

I have also had a few men ask what level of pressure I am using comparatively. It is not more masculine if you can take more pressure, especially since women can take much more pressure than any male counterpart!