Massage and Injuries

We’ve all probably been injured before. Fallen down and scraped a knee, or caught an edge ice skating and landed on your coccyx hard. 

But what about the injuries from the things that are supposed to heal us? 

Having a terminal reaction to a dye used in CAT scan procedures? A vaccine injury? Complications from a surgery that made matters worse? 

Well we are not talking about any of those hot button topics, I just used them to get your attention. 

As far as massaging the previously injured, any good LMT will use light pressure and work down into deeper tissues after lots of assessment and regular sessions.

Massage injury, on the other hand…

This can be caused by a number of reasons, such as lack of training,, or a neglect to collect proper medical history of the client prior to the service. 

Or, an application of too much pressure; overstimulating the nervous system and overloading your muscles and lymph with once stagnant “toxins”, now free flying all around your body. 

There are conflicting sources of evidence regarding the need to flush out “toxins” after a massage, and most medical journals would indicate this is untrue. But trust me, anecdotal evidence of everyone who has received massage ever and did not properly hydrate after will say, their shit got rocked. So trust the science and take your chances, if you want. Or don’t. It’s up to you!

photo by Sage Harple

What I can share with you is my experience receiving massage that was too deep, and how it affected me. This kind of piggy backs on my last blog post about deep tissue massage, so go ahead and give that a read too. 

Last week, I woke up on Thursday with a little tightness in my shoulders and neck. I’ve been really lax about exercise lately and figured it was due to a lack of movement and the rigid posture of laying on my couch watching youtube. 

I texted a massage therapist, who I haven't seen in years, but she happens to live ½ mile up the road from me in my tiny little town. Perfect, as my partner was using my car that day so I could walk to my session. 

I had drank lots of water already that day, including a lemon water I infused with trace mineral drops and herbs. 

During the session, she started in with what I felt was a medium-firm pressure. I let her know that I prefer light pressure, that my body is very receptive to light touch and highly sensitive to more depth. She was relieved, this massage therapist is getting on toward her retirement and wants to transition to more energy work. Yet—she said “oh good, I’m the same way. I think you’ll like my medium pressure” 

And we continued on. 

Note that I say we. I actively allowed the pressure I did not want.

Maybe its because I’m “young”, maybe its because I am also a massage therapist, but it seems like most practitioners give me more pressure than what I would ever consider “light”. But I mean it when I say I want light pressure, and I think its because we as massage therapists almost never get a body on the table who requests it.

It’s never during a session that the pressure is too much for me. It’s after, and for weeks after. And so, I mustered through some of the discomfort and focused on my breathing.  

Following our session, my friends invited me over for a potluck and sauna. I brought rice and fire cider, drank tea and ate venison with good company before getting naked and sweaty with a couple strangers in the woods. My favorite way to make friends. 

By 10pm, I had left the sauna for my second cold plunge of the night. I was in the right phase of my cycle, and I have been a lover of  cold hydrotherapy for years. 

my longest cold exposure ever, 2.5 minutes back in 2023

When I got back in the sauna to warm up again, I felt it.

“Ohhhh I have done too much,” I said. 

I knew I was going to be capital F unwell the next morning. 

I went to bed, hardly able to move my head without being in terrible pain. Barely slept from the discomfort. When I woke the next morning, I couldn't help but to be weepy. My neck was in such pain I cried trying to put my hair up to take a hot shower. My partner was thankfully home and assisted the hair tie over the enormous bun of hair on my head. 

I hydrated well all day, slathered cayenne, arnica and hemp salves on me before we went out for errands. Thank god Eli drove, there's no way I could have looked both ways before turning in intersections. 

I went to work the next day and did three massages with what felt like fresh whiplash. My normal brain functions were withered from the energy it took for me just to be upright. 

It’s been exactly a week since this all went down, and my neck is still bothering me, but I have most of my range of motion back, so I think its safe if I drive a car.

I wish I had learned my lesson the first time this happened, oh yes. Years ago this very same reaction was had from a massage which was not followed by a sauna or cold soak! 

Boundaries. Boundaries. Boundaries. 

As per my last blog post, many new clients don’t know their limits and assume they need deep tissue or even medium pressure for their aches and pains. 

I have committed now to being the gentle massage therapist. That's who I want to be for clients. I want to be the guide for your body to find the pathways of self soothing. It is you who is the healer. Not me, not anyone outside of you. 

You are worth receiving a gentle touch that brings you to the most joyous places of relaxation and serenity. Ask for it.

photo by Sage Harple