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Massage Aftermath

What has been everyone's experience with clients responses to massage say, hours later or the next day? I know some people are a little sore but what about other things like headaches or feeling physically ill? Should these things be occurring after a massage or bodywork session?

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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on October 11, 2014 at 8:50am

It's been my experience that some people can have what is called a "healing crisis": as the body starts to correct and balance, it can leave people feeling sick or achy. That has happened for me on more than one occasion. This is different than just being sore from the massage.

What I tell people is that it's OK to feel like you've had a bit of a workout for a day or so. Anything that feels like you really overdid the workout or lasts more than a day is something I need to know about so I can change what I'm doing.

Headaches can happen for people that have a lot of neck and head trauma (I'm one of those) and the body has a hard time dealing with being worked on in those areas. It's kind of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario for me personally. I choose to get worked on, but only by select therapists.

Headaches can also happen if there is too much neck work done. I have one client that I have to remember (and she reminds me) to do more scalp work and less neck work or she'll get a headache.

The hard part is that each client is different. One client can take 30-40 minutes of neck work and it's beneficial; another, only 10 (the numbers are just guidelines, not to be followed per se).

I've also had clients who are quite sore the day (or 2) after I work on them but in a localized area (glutes/hips usually) but then after that they feel so much better that they don't care about being sore. Usually I don't know for several sessions that they've been sore because they don't tell me right away! And they don't want me to do anything different; for them, being sore is worth it.

I've talked to people that have thrown up after a deep tissue session (not from me!); IMO this is way, WAY too much pressure, intensity, everything for that person. I have had a couple of clients that couldn't handle massage at all; we had to back way off to lighter modalities and proceed from there. This is not a judgement about them; one client had Lyme's Disease and we didn't know it for a couple of years. We just new that CranioSacral Therapy helped and massage made her feel worse.

That actually brings up a good point - I knew I was missing something in this post! If a client has adverse reactions to massage and you know your pressure, intention, intensity, etc were all OK, then there may be some kind of health issue that the massage is highlighting.

The most important thing, IMO, is to listen to and follow the tissues of each client's body. The tissues will tell you how deep to go - you'll feel the barriers, or get drawn in (there's other ways to get the information too). But you have to go slowly and keep your intention focused on what the tissues need. And ALWAYS back off if the client indicates in any way that it's too much, no matter what the tissues are telling you.

I didn't directly answer your question because the answer is client dependent; but as a general rule I'd say no, it shouldn't happen. If it does happen (and it wasn't a deep tissue session), look deeper for what's going on. (If you want more of my thoughts on deep tissue, I'll be glad to share.)

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Permalink Reply by Bencharat Morarit on October 14, 2014 at 7:17am

No, you'll feel very comfort and rejuvenate after getting a massage. Massage Therapy really helpful for improving the overall health performance.If you are feeling fatigued, exhausted, or feeling discomfort in the joints getting a massage can help alleviate the aches and pains.

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Permalink Reply by Neal Lyons on February 1, 2015 at 2:18pm

dehydration often leads to similar symptoms like headaches and dizziness. it is important to educate clients on the need to consume plenty of water after a massage. deep tissue can also cause muscle soreness/pain for someone not used to it. then you also have thai massage and other trigger point therapy types of massages that focus so much on certain areas of the body that sometimes it is easy to 'overdo' it. the body part thus takes more "beating"