Should I be this sore after a massage?
October 4th, 2011I recently had some (much needed) deep tissue bodywork done and wound up feeling a little worse for it when I walked away. Afterwards I was sore, felt somewhat hungover and noticed pains in some new areas. With all of those negatives, I know this was still a positive experience and loved every minute of it. Myself aside, it made me wonder how many people would not appreciate it quite like I did.
You see, I understand that I was so long overdue that my tightness had built up a pretty great tolerance to manage my pain. As the worst spots are worked free, the new relativity of pain surrounding those spots can bring on the realization that your one tight spot was not alone. Not only this, but the stagnant lactic acid and toxins that are freed up from the muscles are being worked directly into the system to be flushed and can give you headaches and achiness until cleared out. Although these are really great things, the accompanying symptoms can make you feel like harm was done instead of results achieved.
Two to three days later, I am feeling great and can finally feel the full benefit of the work that was done. Since I was so overdue, I will probably need 1-2 more treatments in the near future to address all of the other old but newly prominent tightness so I can get back to feeling not ok, but great! I want people to understand that if you have been working hard and not taking good care of yourself, there may be some early hurdles to get over before feeling really great again. This is the kind of work we specialize in, but we obviously don’t want you to feel like we are harming you. By investing 2-3 hours over 1-2 months up front, you can get beyond that feeling of just returning to the gym after every appoinment. Be sure to communicate excessive pain (it doesn’t HAVE to be “no pain, no gain” – we will adjust to your desired pressure) and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS drink tons of water following your appointment to make sure that everything that is worked up is fully flushed from your system.



