What comes to mind when you think of massage therapy? Is it soothing music and zen vibes for days? Or do you picture painfully good elbows in glutes and some oh so good aided stretching? Or maybe you have never tried it out. Massage therapy can be interpreted in many different ways but the end goals are usually the same – to manipulate soft tissues to decrease your pain, increase your range of motion and increasing relaxation by acting on your nervous system.
I often get asked if massage therapy works or will it help with my posture? My pain? My squat technique? Should I get massage regularly? If so, how often? does it even do anything?? Other times I get questions about specific techniques or styles – what’s the difference between sports massage and deep tissue massage? Is pregnancy massage safe? (Hint – Yes!!) What the hell is a trigger point?! And with all these questions, there isn’t a one size fits all answer.
Obviously I am biased in saying that massage therapy is AWESOME and I would love to say it is the bees knees of all the therapies but the reality is, it is a fantastic compliment to an overall healthy lifestyle in helping you be mobile, active and pain free but just like any other therapy it is not for everyone and in the case of massage the research available on its efficacy is unfortunately limited.
While it is difficult to answer the question of “why massage therapy?” as I really can’t say that massage therapy will benefit every single person that gives it a try. There is growing research that supports the use of massage therapy as an additional therapy to your injury prevention or injury recovery program.
There is low to moderate evidence to suggest that massage therapy is effective in decreasing pain when massage therapy is combined with exercises and education around pain and treatment. Some studies state that massage may contribute to increasing the pain threshold via endorphin release, affect your mood and pain perception, increase blood circulation and lymphatic flow and improve muscle flexibility – that’s a lot of things!
Although there are studies out there the research is often not clear as it is hard to control for the many variables that contribute to a massage treatment and most of the data is self reported or qualitative but overall it is accepted to be a generally safe and effective therapy with few risks or negative effects.
It is generally accepted that massage therapy can:
- Increase blood flow to an area which in turn helps the healing process
- Decrease restrictions in joints, muscles and fascia
- Increase range of motion
- Decrease chronic pain
- Aid in lymphatic drainage
- Improve mood and decrease anxiety through an increase in parasympathetic (the rest and digest side of your nervous system) nervous activity.
Why and when do is massage helpful:
- To help increase range of motion and mobility to allow you to reach your strength/fitness goals – limited mobility and muscle imbalances can affect the way you move in space and use your body which may lead to an increase risk of injury under load.
- If you always feel great after a massage and it helps you manage your injuries then a monthly massage may benefit you in the long run.
- To address chronically tight muscles, to give you some help in enabling them to be more pliable in your stretching routine.
- To encourage you to slow down, relax and to become more aware of your body so you can better take care of your overall health.
Are there any risks?
Whilst adverse effects are few, the main unwanted responses after a massage could be bruising, an increase in pain/muscle soreness, stiffness and possibly dizziness. I would say many people experience some muscles soreness post treatment but it usually disappears within 24 hours and is followed by an increased feeling of relief, if anyone experiences pain for more than a day or two that indicates to me that the treatment was likely too deep/intense and the treatment plan should be adjusted for the next session.
Overall, I recommend massage therapy to compliment your lifestyle if you are looking to address postural concerns, recover from injury or surgery, prevent injury, increase range of motion in your joints and to feel overall more relaxed because we all need that these days!
It is important that you try it for yourself and see how you feel, if you don’t think you got much out of it, that’s ok, there are other therapies that may better suit your body and your needs
I believe that depending on our current situation with regards to injuries, daily stressors or fitness routine there may be times where massage feels like just the thing you need and other times where you may want to seek an alternative treatment.
Your registered massage therapist (RMT) is also trained to guide you in exercises to better help the effects of massage therapy last, to retrain movement patterns and to enable you to create stability, strength and mobility in your body to help you achieve your chosen goals.
If you are not happy with the treatment from your RMT or you feel you didn’t get your needs addressed, talk to them. Your RMT will likely suggest a treatment plan and give you reasons for why they think it is the best approach, if you are not happy with this you can absolutely voice your concerns and come to an agreement on something that feels best for you – it is YOUR treatment. Your RMT has knowledge on how to approach many different injuries, pains and concerns but you have to be comfortable with the proposed treatment.
How can you get the same effect at home?
It can be difficult to get the same effect on your own as you do in an hour session with your RMT but there are thing you can do daily to help keep your body feeling mobile, pain free and relaxed such as:
- Massage ball
- Foam roller
- Hydrotherapy – heat, cold or both via baths, pool/sauna, heat/cold packs
- Breathing exercises
- Mobility routine
At the end of the day, if you try it and it works for you – then it works!
