Massage therapy plays a significant part in many pain management approaches. Massage therapy can treat a wide variety of health conditions, with positive results for many.
This is for you whether you want to prevent injuries from occurring or have strained a muscle. It is also appropriate if you live with persistent ongoing pain due to a health condition.
The purpose of massage therapy is to purposefully manipulate the body’s soft tissue. Through a therapeutic approach, we can prevent and reduce pain. Further still calm any spasms, tensions, or stresses the body is experiencing.
Ultimately, it’s about promoting health and wellness to maximize our body’s performance.
Before we go any further, let’s discuss pain.
What is pain?
Pain is a signal in your nervous system that something may be wrong.
It is an unpleasant feeling, such as a prick, tingle, sting, burn, or ache.
Pain may be sharp or dull.
It may come and go, or it may be constant.
Pain is perceived by you.
It is your own interpretation.
There’s no right or wrong around pain.
And it’s not for anyone to say otherwise… if you feel something, then you feel something.
It’s our job (together) to interpret the pain. To learn how to manage it, calm it down, and live a pain-free life where possible.
Categories of Pain
We can further categorise your pain into four:
- Acute – pain lasts between 1 day and up to 4 weeks with a total resolution of symptoms. This could be a strain or sprain.
- Sub-Acute – pain that persists beyond 4 weeks but less than 12 weeks. The outcome of a total resolution of symptoms. This could be a runner’s knee or low back pain.
- Chronic – pain lasting beyond 12 weeks with more signs and symptoms occurring. This could be a medical condition such as back pain, chronic fatigue, or post-surgery.
- Recurrent-Acute – acute pain occurring 3 or more times per year. A resolution of symptoms between bouts of pain. This could be low back pain, crooked neck, or shoulder injury for example.
Regardless, living with pain is tough. The longer any pain persists the body’s stress levels rise. The body tries hard to avoid pain and in doing so the body learns to compensate.
This compensation could be:
- Reducing activity
- Favoring one side of the body more
- Avoiding specific tasks
- Changing how we do certain things
- Pushing through the pain
As the body avoids pain, we start to overuse some muscles and underuse others. Which in time brings about more pain, called secondary pain.
All too often a client will see me for low back pain and further tell me about their knee pain or shoulder pain.
How Massage Therapy Can Help You?
Massage therapy is an effective strategy to alleviate all types of pain.
More so, it’s a great tool to address all the compensatory approaches you may have. It also helps put a stop to the triggers and causes of your pain for good.
There are many different types of massage therapy.
For many, deep massage, remedial or sports massage is the preferred option. In all honestly, there’s not a great deal of difference between these approaches.
I believe all the various massage techniques should be intertwined.
Seeing them all as one big toolbox.
It’s more about me using the right tool, at the right time based on what pain is being presented.
The benefits of all techniques cross over, including;
- Decreased pain
- Decreased muscle tension
- Improved joint and muscle range of movement
- Increased muscle flexibility
- Improved recovery
- Improved circulation
- Increased blood flow
- Relaxation of muscles
- Speeding up recovery
- and maximising performance
Ultimately, massage therapy restores the body’s ability to move pain-free.
Massage Therapy In Summary
Massage therapy can be used to treat your pain whether that is through injury or illness. It uses a range of techniques to relieve muscular tension and decrease pain.
Massage stimulates the body’s natural painkiller. Which in turn masks pain, improves mood, and reduces anxiety and stress.
To help you right now here are 2 actions to help you become pain-free.
1. Book a free consultation here.
We can arrange a short phone call to see how I can help you.
2. Read this blog: When to see a doctor for back pain – READ NOW
Looking forward to getting you pain-free
Neale
Sports Massage Therapy in Newquay
