Most people associate massage with candles, soft music, and slow, rhythmic pressure to relax the mind and muscles. Yes, that is one form of massage. However, massage can also help you see your body in new ways, making you aware of movement and tension patterns. It can be a frustrating journey at times, but it can also help you move better, achieve fitness goals, alleviate symptoms from injury, and even sleep better.

Massage is designed to facilitate a reaction from your body, and the modality should fit not only the body but also the goal. While muscle tension relief is common, the therapeutic side of massage is gaining popularity. Let’s dive into some of the uses for massage and explore different modalities.

There are over 180 recognized modalities of massage. Here are some of the more common modalities that may be either be in your local community and don't know or you've heard of and have yet to know what it's about.

Intraoral- Massage that treats restriction in the jaw and face from inside the mouth. This can help alleviate pain and dysfunction from jaw tightness, stiffness, TMJ dysfunction, neck pain, and even help to rejuvenate skin and the lower face.

Buccal- Treats the muscles of the face helping to release tightness in the face as well as lymphatic draining from the face and neck. This can help to improve neck pain, head ache pain, jaw pain as well as improve the appearance of lines, wrinkles, sagging skin, and fluid retention in the face. This can be used medically or cosmetically.

Trigger point Therapy- These are a collective of techniques to help improve "knots" in the muscles that have a pain response, movement dysfunction, spasm, cramping, or at times nausea, dizziness and referred pain.

Neuromuscular Technique- A form of trigger point release involving long pressure or fascia release.

Structural Integration- approaches alleviating pain or stress patterns of tension in the body. This modality is intuitive towards how you use your body and helps to improve these patterns through hands-on therapy and education.

Rolfing- A form of structural integration developed by Ida Rolf, aimed at realigning the body to create structural changes for long-lasting relief. This treatment typically involves a series of sessions using deep, slow pressure to release areas of restriction and correct imbalances in the body.

Deep Tissue Massage- This is misconceived by a lot people, even some therapists. Many people think "deep" as "hard". Deep refers to the medical term deep meaning below the surface. This is simply accessing muscle tissue that is not surface level (such as rhomboids that lay under the trapezius). In massage, pressure isn't solely about reaching deeper layers; it's about meeting muscle resistance. If a muscle is guarded, has a long history of remaining contracted, or is trained for endurance, it may require more pressure to exhaust the muscle and facilitate an "unbraiding" of the tissue (muscle shortening resembles a braiding movement of different fiber parts). Pressure should always align with tissue resistance. As I tell my patients, pushing harder is like pressing down on a solid countertop—you're not going to penetrate the tissue more if it's solid and hard. Working through the tissue layer by layer helps us access deeper structures and fully resolve areas of dysfunction.

Check out my blog post on  Should massage hurt.

Integrative Manual Therapies- Practitioners use their hands and tools to systematically treat the body, sensing its internal rhythms and addressing anatomical, physiological, and psychological issues by targeting disruptions across various systems. While treatments may be localized, they often have a broader, more diffuse effect throughout the body.

Lomi-Lomi- Polynesian-rooted massage utilizes deep, flowing strokes, often from heel to head, with a focus on the joints. This technique helps break down blocked energy, improve circulation, and promote the integrity of healthy muscle and connective tissue.

Lymph Drainage Massage- Superficial strokes in specific patterns follow the lymphatic vessel system using hands, brushes, or tools. This technique promotes lymph fluid movement, reducing swelling and fluid retention. The lymphatic system cleanses the body and transports and absorbs fat cells.

Maya Abdominal Massage- Gentle massage focused on the abdomen, lowback and sacrum which helps to reposition displaced organs. This helps to open blood flow, lymph movement and Qi.

Trager Work- Utilizing gentle bouncing, stroking, and elongations to improve the available range of movement in a relaxed playful manner. This work is often in a calm atmosphere helping to insinuate stress-free movement.

Vibration Massage- Muscle tissue is treated with an up-and-down movement or shaking motion with a hand or tool. This helps to create muscle relaxation, promote circulation, or promote recovery from athletic performance. This may be stimulating through faster, more aggressive techniques or calming and soothing through longer, more mild techniques.

Most commonly, repetitive stress injuries such as tendonitis (such as rotator cuff, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel, runners hip, or plantar fasciitis) develop through the continued long-term use of a muscle to the point of fatigue and in most cases, has not been properly strengthened to support these actions or stretched to maintain proper elasticity in the muscle. 

Muscle is capable of shortening, and lengthening. How well a muscle performs these actions heavily depends on what the muscle has been trained to do. Preparing our body to do what we ask of it is a huge part of being successful in keeping an active lifestyle. During dysfunction such as tendonitis, a muscle has been asked to repeatedly shorten to create movement, without proper stretching. Through this the tissue will become more dense and eventually not be able to lengthen and relax- this is how most stress injuries occur. Dysfunctionally tight muscle tissue will start to fray at the point of connection to the bone, causing reoccurring inflammation as your body attempts to grow scar tissue to heal this never-ending injury. 

During complaints like carpal tunnel, a muscle has become too short and dense, putting strain on the tendon which, in turn, crowds the nerve that runs through the same region, or "tunnel" as the tendon. Often you will also find inflammation of the sheath around the tendon (which acts to reduce friction on areas of repetitive use) also creating fluid and inflammation around the nerve. 

With complaints such as runner's hip, overstressed muscles can tighten and then create stress on structures such as bursa or the muscle's attachment site, and begin to change the dynamics through which the joint moves. 

Manual therapy improves these conditions by improving connective tissue (fascia) restrictions in the muscles, reducing dysfunctional trigger points in the tissue that may cause pain, and restoring proper elasticity so the muscle can stretch more naturally, alleviating tension off the point of fraying at the muscle attachment site. 

With mild to moderate injuries, treatment helps the muscle to slowly return to healthier integrity, naturally contracting and stretching. This allows the body's natural healing process to remedy the broken fibers, mature the scar tissue, and eventually stop the inflammation (healing) cycle. 

Common Modalities to Treat:

Myofascial release, dry needling, Graston, gua sha, cupping, functional cupping, positional release, trigger point treatment, neuromuscular technique, pin and stretch, PNF stretching, friction, Kinesio taping.

Prevention:

Strengthen with high and low-rep exercises in the regions of repetitive use as well as the supportive muscle groups. Perform a few minutes of warm-up exercises before starting performance or use. Stretch regularly after activity for a minimum of 30 seconds per region, up to 1 minute. Repeat for 2 to 3 rounds if necessary. Make sure to hydrate and fuel your working muscles! 

Have you experienced an achy neck after driving a while or an hour or so of computer work? Possibly, if you've been standing for a time and your lower back starts to feel tight and tired? Maybe, you even had your lower back give a sudden pain when trying to stand up but you've not had any back issues recently?

These are commonly caused by "bad posture".

I'm not particularly eager to use the term "bad" for things our bodies do. We have functions that are helpful, and functions that, in the short term feel better or easier, but not helpful patterns in the long run. Being human also means we don't do things like a robot. We don't move balanced and symmetrical. Our brain constantly receives millions...if not billions of messages all day from different muscles on different joints- all to complete seemingly thoughtless movements like itching your nose, typing, or getting out of the car.

Often, because our activities don't require balanced and symmetrical use, we end up with 2 groups of muscle: short and overused, long and underused. This results in posture problems! Unless we intentionally diversify our movement a problem brews, increasing with time. Aging doesn't help us much as we become less adventurous and more forward-moving the older we get. The ability to maintain and build strength also slows, not helping the cause much. 

The modern-day lifestyle for many doesn't help out much. All too often we sit in a car, to sit at work and then, sit back in the car to sit at home. We spend more time engaging the front of our bodies than the backside. Our daily tasks involve moving our arms forward rather than pulling back. We forget to engage our core and spend a lot of time looking down at screens, the laundry, the dish, cooking...it just goes on. 

So what do we do?

 The long-term solution is the age-old answer: Exercise. Now that doesn't have to look like going to the gym per se. You can perform targeted exercises to improve specific regions (give a couple of months of consistency with this and you'll be sure to start feeling improvement) However, this can also simply mean participating in an active lifestyle. Walking, jogging, running, for example. Try out some hiking (walking in nature), kayaking, and paddle boarding. Classes like yoga, or step aerobics, dance aerobics- at home (YouTube is a great resource!) or onsite in a locally owned establishment, community center, or gym.  You don't necessarily need to be a "gym rat" to stay active. I prefer passing scenery and some fresh air, if I get exercise while doing this, that's 2 birds with one stone.

Please feel free to look over the diet and exercise tab for some ideas, training videos and resources. Below you will also find some self care videos to get you started!

Secondly, hands-on soft tissue treatment helps expedite this process. Alongside strengthening and increasing use of the long and underused muscles, manual therapy helps to loosen the short and overused muscles, creating less stress on your deactivated muscles (think of a tipped scale restoring equal weight on both sides), helping to reduce dysfunction in these muscles. With improving the integrity of your muscle groups, massage can help to restore more harmony and balance to your posture and movement. Massage alone will not fix these issues, which is why many feel like that aching back or neck only feels better for a week or two between treatments. 

Ultimately most need to participate in some strengthening movements as well as stretching to help restore better posture balance and use. Better behaviors create a better body!

Below you will also be able to find some resources for specific exercises to combat more common stressors we all deal with from time to time.

Connective Tissue. I'm sure we've all heard this term.

It’s tissue that, well, connects. For example, your blood is the most available connective tissue in the body. It connects every tissue in the body.

Fascia is also one of the most wide spread connective tissues. Fascia is relatively the same no matter where in the body you find it- such as around your fat cells, adhering them to your skin. Or in your abdomen holding your organs in place.

For this article's purpose, we're talking specifically about myofascia- muscle fascia.

Muscle Design

To understand the purpose of fascia, we must first understand how a muscle is designed.

A muscle is composed of mostly 2 main parts: the muscle belly  (fibers that shorten and lengthen), and the tendon (the ends of the muscle belly that are dense, strong fibers anchoring the muscle to the bone)

A muscle belly works through a collection of many muscle fibers that contract- shorten to pull a joint. Those fibers also lengthen to allow a joint to move in the opposing direction.

If you touch your nose, one of the muscles shortening to perform this action is the bicep. When you raise your arm to touch your nose most of the fibers of the bicep work together to shorten and pull the elbow into flexion. Then, to put your arm back down, the shortened bicep has to lengthen for your elbow to move into extension.

Without fascia wrapping around each part of the muscle, muscle fibers would be loose, independent moving fibers in the muscle belly, and would only be gathered at the ends, where the belly turns to tendon.

Imagine 100 elastic chords gathered at both ends. If you were to move the 2 ends closer together and pull them away, the bands would not stay in sync with each other. Each band would move rather independently. Now, if you were to apply an elastic adhesive to each of those bands, grouping them together but still allowing flexible movement, when you bring the two ends towards and away from each other, each band would then be moving alongside the others, as a collective cohesive group. This is what fascia does for muscle fibers. Fascia is strong, semi elastic tissue that covers each layer of a muscle, keeping all the moving parts working together.

If we dive into a muscle layer by layer we see how integral fascia is:

The outermost layer of each muscle is fascia surrounding the belly and tendon.

      The muscle belly itself is then wrapped in a layer of fascia.

             >The belly is comprised of many muscle fascicles.

                  > Each muscle fascicle is wrapped in fascia 

                        > Inside each fascicle are many muscle fibers.

                                >Each muscle fiber is wrapped in fascia

Fascia is the glue that holds all these moving parts together, layer by layer.

If you wanna dive deeper- heres a great link. If you're lost, it also has a great visual. If you're not that invested, keep scrolling.

Fascia Dysfunction

Fascia is an integral part of muscle makeup. However, it can also be the root of some problems too.

If you're experienced with massage therapy, muscle pain or have been reading some of my content, you at least know of the word "trigger point". Yep, thats rooted in fascia dysfunction. Have you ever rubbed your skin and it feels gravely or crunchy? Yep, that's fascia "adhesion" too. 

Back when I was in school they said we would "know it's fascia when it feels like bubble wrap or rice crispies under the skin". Superficial fascia restrictions can feel like this as fascia lays in sheets, like plastic wrap. It's strong and a bit clingy, capable of shortening, wrinkling and adhering different muscle fibers, skin, and fat to one another. 

Trigger Point and Muscle Dysfunction

The center of a muscle "knot" is often held together by shortened fascia. 

Muscle tissue takes orders from the brain. The brain says were going to itch our nose, and the muscles say "yes captain, moving towards the target at this speed and velocity". The brains and muscles are in constant relay to make sure we lightly itch our nose and not smack ourselves in the face.

However, if we itch our nose and never lengthen our arm back out, after a while (we're talking weeks to months) those muscles would adopt that behavior as "normal" and that will become the status pro quo. The muscle would become incapable of behavior outside it's current range of use. As your muscle stays short, the fascia will also shorten and gather, adhering to itself and any surrounding tissues.

As muscles take orders from the brain. You would be able to train these muscles to lengthen back out again, and slowly over time, would be able to develop different behaviors and capabilities. Fascia however, doesn't take orders. It simply goes with the muscle and joint movement. It is possible for fascia can act as a restrictive force, pulling on different layers of a muscle and holding it to a shortened position. 

Now many would ask "wouldnt lengthening the muscle eventually lengthen the fascia out?".

Yes... and no.

Broad and more superficial sheets of fascia will most likely stretch and gain length as your muscle and joint develop the capability. It is very likely, though, to have some remaining sections of shortened fascia throughout each muscle belly, adhering segments of muscle fibers together- making trigger points or "knots" in the muscle.

Although you may get the majority of fascia to lengthen, it can still cause tension through your chain of movement. More superficial sheets of fascia are widespread, such as a plane of fascia that reaches from the jaw, down the neck, through the chest and down the arm to the fingers. I've heard from many patients, not realizing how much fascia was creating tension patterns, comment on how loose and "free" they feel after solely treating fascia restriction. 

As a therapist, treating common restrictive fascia patterns is one of the first points in session for anyone dealing with tight aching muscles, postural complaints or movement dysfunction. 

How's your fascia doing?

Contributing Factors to Fascia Dysfuntion

Patients often ask me "what causes this" fascia issue. I jokingly tell them "everything". So here's the semi-official list:

• age
• dehydration
• repetitive motions (like hammering)
• serious lack of movement or exercise
• poor posture
• sitting in awkward positions for long periods
• muscle weakness
• working in or living in a cold environment or intensely cooling muscles like sleeping in front of an air conditioner
• emotional stress 
• nerve impingement or compression
• metabolic or hormonal issues like thyroid disease or diabetes neuropathy
• nutritional and vitamin deficiencies, including vitamin D and folate
• chronic infections
• any injury to the musculoskeletal system or intervertebral disks
• generalized fatigue
• lack of sleep
• hormonal changes such as menopause
• other pain or inflammation conditions
• obesity
• smoking

So, now that we know that just about anything can cause fascia dysfunction. How do we fix it?

Therapies

• Massage therapy including trigger point treatment, scraping, cupping, passive stretching, pin and stretch, fascia winding, flossing
• Physical Therapy for supportive strength and improved mobility
• Dry needling
• Spray and stretch
• Ultrasound therapy

Home Remedies

• Choose a better chair at work and improve your posture.
• Try a new mattress, or adjust your sleeping position.
• Practice yoga, Pilates, or another stretching technique. 
• Use a home massage device.
• Start an exercise program and get your muscles moving every day.
• See a mental health professional and reduce your stress level.
• Use an ice pack immediately after any muscle injury.
• Use moist heat to treat muscle inflammation 
• Take a hot bath

Medications to Speak with Your Doctor About:

• nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): Over-the-counter drugs like acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) can relieve pain and swelling.
• analgesics: Pain relievers such as lidocaine or diclofenac patch, tramadol, COX-2 inhibitors may be considered.
• muscle relaxants: Benzodiazepines and tizanidine (Zanaflex) can reduce muscle spasms.
• anticonvulsants: Gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) may relieve pain and reduce muscle spasms.
• tricyclic antidepressants: These are indicated to treat chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and nerve pain, which are conditions that resemble MPS.
• Botox injections: Botulinum type A is a potent neurotoxin that prevents muscle contractions and may have pain-relieving effects.

Its been common practice for massage therapists to tell clients to "drink lots of water" after massage to "flush out toxins" and "if you were sore its because you didn't drink enough water" I kind of half-subscribe to this ideology. 

Do I think not hydrating after massage is going to help you feel well? Not at all. Is there any science supporting "eliminating toxins" to soreness? No. Older science would have us believe "lactic acid build-up" causes soreness, but that would mean every heavy activity day would equate soreness and we would be able to gauge activity quantity with soreness: Lift the laundry basket 6 times=level 2 soreness for every person, which isn't true. Also, massage doesn't typically create lactic acid build-up. Newer information gives us insight into how being properly hydrated for the days leading up to and following your massage is setting your body up to eliminate any waste excreted. This doesnt typically bear any cause to soreness though. Hydration and light movement will aid the movement of fluid and that can effect your soreness.

Our lymph system is like the sewer or gutter pipes of the body and lymph fluid is mainly transported through light compression of muscle contraction. Therefore, light movement will help your body eliminate any waste made available in your blood and lymph after massage. 

Inflammation is also another contributor to soreness after massage. This may be a side effect of modalities such as scraping which creates histamine in the tissue. Histamine is a natural response of stressed or injured tissues in the body, signaling the inflammation process to occur. This can beneficially feed and flush tissues that have been chronically injured or overused. Due to inflammation causing some swelling, you may feel tender or sore from this process for a few days until the body pushes through the inflammation process.

Swelling may also occur in tissues where repetitive or prolonged pressure has been applied, creating a temporary build-up of fluid which your body should naturally resolve in 24-72 hours. 

You will notice all of this is fluid based. That fluid is water+, Water+cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, dead cells. It's also water+ debris, free radicals, cellular debris such as dead immune cells, dead red blood cells, acids, salts, proteins, bacteria, viruses, cellular debris from your joints, or muscle waste elimination. This is all transported by fluid. Your body has a priority hierarchy. Your essentials get water first, then the rest. It is more important to keep your organs alive, than to have sufficient lymph fluid. If you are dehydrated, or have been dehydrated, you are not going to have a readily available supply of water to channel through your waste system thoroughly, let alone flush out any swelling, or inflamed areas. 

DOMS- delayed onset muscle soreness. Yes, this is the same DOMS you may feel after a workout. Some techniques of massage can stress muscle tissue in the same way a new work out can, creating muscle recovery. This is also a reason why you may initially feel stiff directly after massage to then later that day or the following day feel much more loose and relaxed. Your muscle tissue is a living responsive tissue that needs time to adapt, heal and change. 

Most of the time, you may be told to use ice for soreness, and yes that can shrink your tissue, pushing out the excess fluid response some may have to treatment. I also believe that using ice starves your tissue. If you are more sore than you are feeling better, don't deprive yourself of relief if you feel cold compressing helps.

However, if being a little sore doesn't bother you, I'd rather ask my patients to use mild heat to improve circulation along with properly hydrating, feeding their bodies clean balanced foods and getting some light activity in the day of and the day following treatment. I also believe in supporting healthy muscle function; part of recovery from treatment is repeating the behaviors we are helping the muscle to learn- which entails movement. 

Check out "Massage Aftercare" below for more ideas on how to feel better after treatment.

I don't think there are going to be many surprises here but I do get asked this often so I wanted to quickly address it.

It depends! On a lot...

How complex is the complaint we are trying to resolve?

How many regions are we treating?

How quickly does your body respond to technique?

How long do the changes last?

How much supportive movement are you completing on your own between treatments?

How much recovery time does your tissue need between sessions?

Do you have other ailments that may create obstacles?

Do you have regular tasks or activities which support dysfunction we are also combating?

Is your overall health impacting how your body responds?

Is there inflammation that needs time to process between treatments?

There really is a lot to consider in how often you should seek treatment.

For changing muscle behavior, I generally recommend treatment once a week for 4 to 6 weeks. After this period of consistent therapy, most people are typically ready to space out their sessions. However, this can vary from person to person and may depend on the therapist's approach and how their techniques align with each individual's needs. The beauty of bodywork lies in its diversity!

Evidence of cupping therapy utilized for medicinal purposes has been seen as early as 1550 B.C. in ancient Egypt. More modern medicine adopted this treatment in the mid-1900s. This has been a very popular treatment in Eastern medicine which focuses more on Qi (chi) production and movement in the body.  Scraping therapy was originally utilized as a health and wellness technique to improve circulation, tissue function as well as treat Qi flow in the body. 

So why does Western medicine use it?  In more recent years, the benefits of cupping  and scraping therapy has shown to improve  tissue integrity, reducing muscle trigger point and fascia restriction, improving movement, reducing pain, and instigating healing. 

How Does it Work?

During cupping, the suction helps to improve circulation to the area- an integral piece in healing chronic complaints. This brings oxygen, energy and immune cells to help feed and heal the area. Utilizing gua sha allows specific areas of trigger point and fascia binding to release, as well as improving swelling, and bring healing cells through histamine release in the tissue.  Cupping has a more global effect whereas gua sha can be more detailed. 

Cupping also stretches your muscle and connective tissue. With tight, guarded areas, sometimes pressure applied during treatment isn't the most effective at lengthening the deeper muscle layers or any connective tissue below surface layers. This is where cupping can really benefit. The tissue is allowed to stay in a relaxed state, reaching those deeper fibers- there’s no pressure down into the muscle which may cause more tension, only lifting from suction. For more guarded or sensitive spots, cupping can release much more effectively.

What to expect

Cupping can be used with silicone cups, which collapse before setting onto the tissue and, once released, will pull the tissue upwards creating suction. You may also find plastic cups with a pump, a twisting corkscrew top, or even glass cupping (although this is mostly used in acupuncture) which uses fire to heat the air inside the cup, placed on the skin and once cooled, creates a suction. Gua sha can be utilized at various depths into the tissue with tools of all shapes and sizes. These tools are most often made from horn, wood, stone, metal, or resin. Treatment can be brisk or slow, depending on the intent and desired outcome. 

Who should receive Cupping or Gua Sha?

If you have complications with cardiovascular health, bleeding disorders, fragile skin or veins, cupping/scraping should be avoided. Also any persons who have not received cupping regularly should avoid this in the first trimester of pregnancy. Otherwise, just about anyone might benefit!

The Cupping Marks

This is commonly asked about. Some people who bruise easily should avoid aggressive cupping, and yes there may be times a cup is unknowingly placed over a more fragile vein and will cause some bruising. However, the majority of markings you see from cupping are from stagnation (dead cells and tissue from the area not receiving adequate blood flow) or histamine- an inflammation reaction in overactive tissue. Both of these will resolve as your body’s natural healing mechanisms take over and improve the tissue in the areas this treatment was applied. 

Here's a guide to cupping coloration from findithealth.com.

What are the cupping bruise color meanings?

• Dark red or black: a chronic health condition
• Bright red: heat or inflammation
• White: energy blockage
• Light to medium pink: generally indicates a healthy body
• Dark reddish to pinkish color: mild or moderate blood stagnation
• Dark purple color: severe stagnation

Other things that might happen during cupping treatment:

• Water drops forming in the cup indicate cold or dampness
• Blisters and bubbles developing after cupping means accumulated fluids in the tissues
• Pale marks on the skin after cupping indicate deficiency, cold, or dampness
• Spotting that is dark purple in shade means stagnation and cold
• Light or bright red spotting cupping marks in a Qi and blood deficiency or yin deficiency
• Small tiny dark spots scattered in the cupping marks indicate Qi and blood stagnation
• Skin lines along the cupping marks or an itchy feeling after therapy mean wind or dampness

Avoiding cold after treatment

It is recommended to avoid exposing your skin to cold water or air directly after cupping or scraping therapy or showering directly afterward. You should allow time for your pores to close after this treatment. This may create difficulty for your body to regulate temperature and heal.  It is recommended that you cover and keep warm your head, neck, and main body regions directly after cupping treatment.

Aftercare for massage varies depending on how your body reacts to treatment, or which modalities are used. I've included the following indicators to help gauge what aftercare you may want to use after manual therapy.

Icing- Cold compress is used to reduce circulation to the region of application. A cold compress may be used with a paper towel or thin cloth as a barrier between you and the cold compress. It is recommended to use a cold pack with moderate pressure for 10-15 minutes to help reduce excess fluid and circulation in the tissue. This might be indicated in areas that have received repetitive pressure during treatment, or areas of recent injury that feel warm or hot to the touch when felt with the back of the hand. Cold compress over 15 minutes is not recommended as this may create hypothermic tissue, increasing the swelling/circulation to prevent tissue damage. Tissue is usually ready for another round of icing when it feels warmer than the rest of your body when felt with the back of the hand.

Heat- Using heat on areas of soreness after activity, achy muscle tissue, or stiffness is recommended. Moist heat such as a hot damp towel, hot shower or soak in hot water is often more effective than dry heat like a heating pad. Infrared heat is also deeper penetrating than dry heat. Heat works to improve circulation which feeds, oxygenates, and cleans the tissue. Often icing is recommended to alleviate soreness after deep tissue massage, however, some believe heat is better to help feed and repair the tissue, although it may cause more soreness temporarily, the soreness is not indicative of injury or harmful. 

Vascular Flush/Contrast Therapy- Alternating use of cold and hot compress/therapies. This is used to "flush" a region with inflammation, muscle soreness from performance or stagnation. The cold shrinks tissue, the heat opens it. Cold pushes circulation out, and heat brings it in. The recommended uses are as follows:

Hot/Inflammed Tissue: Each round consists of 3 minutes cold compress followed by 1 minute heat. Repeat 3-5 times as needed, end with cold compress. Areas of significant inflammation should end with cold compress for 15 minutes.

Stagnant/Sore muscle Tissue: Each round consists of 5 minutes heat followed by 1 minute cold compress. Repeat 3-5 times, ending with heat.

General flushing: Equal intervals (recommended 1-5 minutes) of cold compress and heat for 3-5 rounds. (If you pick 1 minute intervals, stay with 1 minutes intervals, if you pick 4 minute intervals, stay with 4 minute intervals. No benefit has been proven for intervals more than 5 minute increments. The longer the interval, the stronger the effect)

Arnica or Calendula- Topical herb compound found in gel and lotion form which have been long known in the holistic community to reduce inflammation and aid in healing bruising. Should not be used on open wounds.

Dit Da Jow- Fermented herbal compound often with menthol which helps to heal deep bruising and inflammation. This has known to be helpful for contusions, strans and sprains. Should not be used on open wounds and should not be wrapped or compressed after applying.

Liniment and Menthol/Mint Oils: Temporarily increases circulation, may aid in temporarily reducing pain and help to reduce inflammation due to improving circulation. This also has a cooling effect on tissue that is warm/inflamed. Should not be used on open wounds and should not be wrapped or compressed after application.

Camphor- Warming essential oil, also found in Tiger Balm Red. This can help to bring more blood flow to an area and to warm stiff/tight tissue. This also works as a counterirritant. Counterirritants create mild irritation without any real threat which helps to reduce pain and swelling by creating movement through stages of inflammation. This should only be used topically and not on open wounds.