Deep tissue massage information?

[Haley]

So I'm 16 years old and I play two sports. The workouts have caused my back, shoulders and neck to become knotted which causes me to have headaches. I need, in detail please, to know what a deep tissue would feel like, what the masseuse(sp?) will do to me, how I will feel afterwards, and how the massage will affect the knots. I am getting one of these massages tomorrow.

 

[kdr_cmt]

Deep tissue massage should feel like a "good hurt". If it's bringing tears to your eyes and making you want to bite the sheet, it's too deep. Your muscles are going to guard and the massage will not serve its purpose. On a scale of one to ten, it really shouldn't be any more intense than a six or a seven. If it's too much, you need to let the therapist know so they can back off a little. The only way they're going to know if they're going too deep is if you tell them; they're not tapped into your nervous system so they don't know how it's feeling to you without your communication.

The "knots" are basically, without getting too much into the science of it, an area of muscle which is stuck in contraction. This is happening on a cellular level. Each muscle cell has a reservoir of ions that it uses to make the chemical reaction of a muscle contraction happen. When the contraction is over, they go back to their reservoir. When the muscle cell is damaged through stress, injury, overuse, etc., the reservoir can "leak" the ions back into the cell, triggering the chemical reaction that makes the contraction happen, and with no way to repair the leak, the cell is stuck in contraction. This generally happens to an area of several cells at a time, which makes a "knot" large enough to feel and to affect your daily life, causing pain, headaches, impeding movement, etc. The way that massage therapists go about treating them is to put pressure on them, which forces the ions back where they belong, hopefully long enough for the cell to make repairs, which causes the release you feel when they go away.

Afterwards, you'll probably feel a little sore. It's important to drink a lot of water - more than normal - after having a massage, for several reasons. The action of the massage pushes fluids and metabolic waste out of your muscles and into your bloodstream. Your blood carries it to your kidneys, where it is eliminated through urination. You want to drink lots of extra water over the next 24 hours because it will replenish the fluids your muscles lost and also help to flush the waste products out of your body faster. Alcohol and caffeine are diuretics - they cause your body to eliminate more water than usual, which will dehydrate you further if you do not replace it. If you partake of them, up your water intake yet again. Plenty of water should also keep the soreness to a minimum, through the flushing of waste from your system. If you do not drink enough water, I can guarantee you'll feel miserable the next day - achy, sore, even flulike.

 

[Happykid]

I'm not going to lie- a deep tissue massage can be painful. They really get into the muscles. Breath into it and try to relax, and if it gets too bad be sure to tell your massage therapist to go a little easier. They will work on one part of your body at a time- one leg than the other, one arm then the other, etc. Be sure to tell then what areas you have the most trouble with so they can spend more time on those. It won't all hurt- some parts will be very relaxing and a good massage therapist will alternate between the painful stuff and some more relaxing soothing stokes.

You will be sore for a day at least. That's normal. You have a bunch of lactic acid built up in your muscles and that being released makes the muscles feel very stiff. However there are things you can do to reduce discomfort and get the most out of your massage:

Take a warm bath when you get home. If you can, purchase some epsom salts from the drugstore (a big bag is about $3). These are magnesium salts and are very good for helping your body get rid of all that built up lactic acid and for relaxing your muscles. This is great to do whenever you feel stiff or sore from your sports, or even to prevent that.

Drink a lot of water. If you think you've drinken enough drink more. Your body needs to flush all that gunk out, and a deep tissue massage means even more than normal is coming out so give your body the fluid it needs to do that. You'll want to drink a ton of water starting as soon as the massage is over and for at least a couple days after. You'll notice you'll need to use the bathroom a lot, even for the amount of water you drank. That's normal and means your body is doing a good job at getting the bad stuff out.

Be sure to get plenty of healthy sources of protein so your body can rebuild your muscle properly.

Make sure to take extra care to eat plenty of fruits and veggies for several days following your massage to help your body heal.



One massage may or may not get all your knots out so your massage therapist may recommend a follow up treatment at some point. Ask your therapist if there are any stretches they recommend to help prevent the types of knots you are getting- if they have time they'd most likely be happy to show you a couple.

Enjoy your massage and how great you'll feel without all that pain!