Should Massage Hurt?

Some go into a massage session with the intent of relaxing, napping, enjoying soothing touch while others may approach sessions with a  “no pain, no gain” mentality. Often, if these expectations aren't met, people feel their session wasn't productive, and rightfully so, their goal wasn’t achieved. 

Let’s start by talking about why massage might hurt to begin with so we can learn to set the right expectation to meet treatment goals.

Pain is like an alarm system for your brain. There's dysfunction somewhere, and it's now increased to a level that things just aren't operating correctly. When needing some help, these tissues send off an S.O.S- calling in the troops, so to speak. 

With muscle tissue, the muscle may be calling for oxygenation, food, or as a signal the muscle is reaching its performance capacity and needs rest. When a muscle is being used in a way which continually burns energy faster than the muscle can refuel, creates more waste than the body can effectively dispose of (like lactic acid), or is being long held in a fatiguing position (usually by posture) it begins to send off messages for help. 

When tissue has been speaking through the communication of pain, and treatment is applied which increases that communication- you may temporarily feel more pain until that vocabulary changes through improved the tissues health and function.

Yes, massage might hurt for these reasons.

However, pain also acts as an alarm for your brain. If the perceived threat is too high, your brain automatically switches into the fight-or-flight mode, activating the stress side of your nervous system. One of the first responses to fight or flight is muscle tension. Treating someone in high pain or discomfort can be counterproductive, as it may trigger guarding behavior, making the treatment less effective. If your brain is constantly told it needs to protect the body during treatment, you may end up with more tension, making it harder to address deeper tissue issues. While relaxation techniques can help mitigate this response, sometimes the body overrides the mind.

Deeper, for most, is better, but harder and more does not always equal deeper. The goal is to work through your tissue top to bottom, improving tissue integrity of all the layers. This is achieved in a different way for everyone. Communication and adjustment of technique is the safest and most effective way to assure your therapist is able to facilitate progressive sessions.

-Rese LMT