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Should massage hurt?

During the panel discussion at the Texas Association of Massage Therapists convention recently, the question was posed, "Should massage hurt?"

There's a great article by Art Riggs on page 32 of Massage and Bodywork Magazine - Deep, But Not Too Deep. I believe that Art's article addresses that issue very well.

To read the article, go to page 32 of the Massage and Bodywork Digital Edition

http://massagebodywork.idigitaledition.com/issues/13/http://massagebodywork.idigitaledition.com/issues/13/.

Your feedback is welcome - Should massage hurt?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diedre Seeley on November 11, 2010 at 10:46am

I describe "pain" in two different ways. There is "a-ha" pain, which is: ah-ha-ha, that's a good spot. It hurts, but it still feels good. Then there is "ouch" pain. We should never get to "ouch" pain. If the client is cringing from the hurt, it's defeating the whole purpose of the bodywork. If you work slowly and patiently, the body will eventually let you in, and you'll avoid the "ouch" pain.

Permalink Reply by lee kalpin on November 14, 2010 at 12:02pm

I agree with Diedre. There is pain that feels "good", that feels as if it is releasing tension. And then there is pain that just "hurts".
I think there are two criteria.
1. That is it "good" pain and that it is within the client's tolerance. To test this, the client should easily be able to breathe through the pressure. if the client is holding breath and tensing up, then it's counter-
productive.

2. Follow up by asking the client to report back on how they felt the day after the treatment. If the client
reports undue soreness, then the treatment was too deep. Some clients don't mind slightly "feeling" that they had a massage, but this is up to the individual client. If the client was sore, then I need to back off on the pressure. Of course any bruising definitely shows that the pressure was too deep.

I don't like using a numeric pain scale. Most clients want to relax through their treatment and don't like to be constantly asked to give the therapist "numbers". Plus, to be useful, a pain scale has to compare present muscle pain against past muscle pain. Just to say "tell me how much this hurts on a scale of 0 - 10" is not useful, because I don't know what a 10 is for that particular person. A client who had a leg amputated, or a 36 hour labour and delivery will have a very different concept of what a 10 is, compared to a client whose worse injury was an ankle sprain.
So, compare "like to like" - how does this pain compare to the worst muscle pain you ever had. -OR - how does this headache compare to the worst headache you ever had.

I still prefer to judge pressure by whether the client can breathe and relax through it.

Diedre Seeley said:

I describe "pain" in two different ways. There is "a-ha" pain, which is: ah-ha-ha, that's a good spot. It hurts, but it still feels good. Then there is "ouch" pain. We should never get to "ouch" pain. If the client is cringing from the hurt, it's defeating the whole purpose of the bodywork. If you work slowly and patiently, the body will eventually let you in, and you'll avoid the "ouch" pain.