DEEP-TISSUE MASSAGE ARTICLE

On Tuesday March 18, 2008 the Waco Trib ran an article entitled "There's the rub" written by Pamela Lelanc. The article was mostly positive towards deep-tissue massage as relating to working with athlete; however, it pushed the idea that deep-tissue therapists used pain at a Machiavellian level to help the athlete heal. Now, most athletes can have very tender muscles, tendons and ligaments since thy push themselves to one hundred percent or more during completion. And, due to soft tissue tenderness they can go through a lot of pain during a massage session. But, I want to emphasize one piece of Ms. Le Blanc's article.

"I had promised to tell the [therapist] if the pressure was too much, and once or twice I did. Sometimes clients don't--usually men. She said she could usually tell anyway by the subconscious way they pull back from the pressure."


So, it is very important you communicate with the therapist during a deep-tissue session.

You should tell the therapist:
1. If you have any areas on your body that are very tender to the touch.
2. If you bruise easily.
3. If during the massage your pain level goes to five or better on a scale of 1 to 10 with one being no pain and ten being unbearable.

During a nice relaxing Swedish massage its fine to lie there and quietly listen to the music and zone out for an hour or so, but deep-tissue requires you to talk to the therapist and tell them to back off if the pain is too much. And, don't feel like your bing a baby if you tell the therapist something hurts too much. For the therapy to be most beneficial you need to relax as much as possible. If you are seriously hurting, your muscle are tightening up and not relaxing.

So, keep getting a deep-tissue massage if you are doing so now. And, if you've never gotten one try it whether you are an athlete or not. Just make sure you communicate with your therapist.
"Nuff Said"