When we say massage, you probably think scented candles, hot oils, smooth hands moving skillfully across your back, and an all-consuming bliss.
However, for some people, massages can also be bittersweet. That’s because the sweet pleasure of utter relief comes with slight pain. This largely depends on the kind of massage you choose.
Types of Massages and Pain Factor
While a hot stone massage doesn’t hurt, craniosacral therapy or a sports massage is bound to cause some discomfort.
This is because craniosacral therapy focuses on misalignment, while sports massages tend to injuries sustained during games. Similarly, deep tissue massages are used to aid the healing of deep-rooted injuries in soft tissues.
Tapping into the source of the pain through gradual movements can be slightly painful, but eventually leads to relaxation. Compared to this, neuromuscular massages focus on picking hot spots and offering pain relief by emphasizing on them.
So the nature of the technique decides how pleasurable/painful the experience is going to be.
Here are some areas that can lead to mild pain during a massage.
Trigger Points
Our muscles, organs, and bone structure is held together with the help of connective tissues—known as fasciae. These are small bands and sheets that contain numerous trigger points—small knots that cause pain upon contact.
Pressing these trigger points can cause local pain, as well as shooting aches in other parts of the body. For instance, massaging trigger points in your shoulder can cause pain in the forearm. Since these points are highly sensitive, therapists have to tread around them very carefully.
Sprains and Strains
If you’ve suffered an ankle sprain during a jog, you’d know that pain is intense. Sprains are essentially injuries to the ligaments that hold joints in place.
Any damage to them can cause swelling, soreness, pain, and even bruising. This happens most in the knees, ankles, wrists, or shoulders.
Strains occur when the muscle tendons are damaged. This can cause swelling, spasms, and also bruising.
Massaging any sprained or strained part of the body will cause shooting pains. The pain eventually lessens as the bodywork reaches a point of relaxation and healing.
If you just want a relaxing spa session with an hour of pain relief and bliss, come to us. We’ll guide you to our best therapists. We offer the best prenatal massage, deep tissue massage, hot stone therapy and many others in Edmonton. Book an appointment right here!
