Sore after massage | When to talk | Treatment | Hydration | muscle Massage | Ice | Deep tissue massage
The main goal of a massage is to promote overall relaxation and well-being by reducing any motion or physical stress that you may be experiencing. It is very important that you understand how your nervous system plays a huge role in your experiences of pain and sore after massage. From the moment you start experiencing pain, your muscles tens up a little bit more. Your heart rate and your breathing get faster and there is more cortisol being released into your bloodstream. So, all those psychological changes happening in order for you to actually run a way from the threat, that’s what we called soreness.
It is very normal for your muscles to feel sore after massage, or ache in the days following treatment. But this feeling should subside over the next 2 to 3 days.
Why I am feeling sore after massage?
The first and most common reason is that you didn’t fix the area that needed massage. For example: a client has an adhesive wear in their body where their muscle fibers are stuck together. They’re glued to their connective tissue and that causes their lack of blood flow and all of their pain.
During massage, the therapist will either go over that area but never actually release all of the connective tissues that need to be let go. Like you see in Swedish massage or lighter relaxation massages, if the client has an adhesive that’s really deep in their body and the therapist comes along and rubs over that area but they never actually press in it and target that deep adhesion then that area becomes worked.
When to talk with your therapist:
It is very important in order to minimize that sensation of muscle soreness. You should communicate with your massage therapist about the pressure. If the pressure is just too much for you, please let your massage therapist know and they will adjust it. But that doesn’t mean though, that you won’t feel any soreness after the massage. You might still experience sore after massage, especially if it is your first time getting a massage. But the thing is if you are feeling sure, that doesn’t mean there was any tissue damaging happening in your body.
Massage is actually being applied to your skin and it’s more how your nervous system perceives the pressure, and then reacts through an inflammatory process.
How to treat soreness?
When we are getting a massage, it increases circulation in the body. This push toxins out of the muscles, so it’s really important to stay hydrated and drink a lot of water before and after getting a treatment. In this way, you can flush those toxins out of your system. Sometimes, when you get a massage, the next day you can be really sore like you’ve gone and worked out at the gym. It’s important to take care of yourself before and after getting a massage. Take it easy afterwards.
- Drinks lot of water
- Take a hot bath
- Use an ice pack
- Try to rest for couple days
- Don’t do any strenuous activity
But just keep in mind, when you take better care of yourself you are going to feel better in the long run.
Is it good to be sore after massage?
Sometimes people get sore after massage and they don’t know if it’s good or bad, or it’s normal.
If we go to the gym, we usually are going to have a reaction. If we have not worked out for a long time, the same goes for the massage or any sort of body treatment. When you get a massage, your body and mind react but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Massage is very effective on your body, at the time of getting massage it might not hurt. But later it might feel sore in your body. So that’s why it’s better tested to see how your body reacts or responds. Try to avoid it if you tend to be sore from massage.
Why is it important to drink more water after massage therapy?
It is really important to drink water before and after a massage. We heated up the tissue and dilated the blood vessels during massage, you lose more heat, you lose more water. Water is an essential component for hundreds of processes in the body, all the normal chemical, metabolic and normal cellular functions. The majority of us don’t drink enough water day to day, so stay hydrated especially after your massage treatment.
How long should we leave it until the next treatment?
It’s usually best when treating ongoing injuries and issues. You can leave a period of about 5 to 7 days between treatments. It’s also very important to keep the consistency of treatments. So regular treatments week to week until we can reduce the pain intensity or duration.
How to massage sore muscles?
Massage sore muscles depend on how sore they are and how long they have been sore depending on the pressure we are going to be using for massage. If they are very sore, then take petrissage on most of your shoulder in a very soft and gentle way.
There are different products that you can use to make this feel better but if you have just your hands in some oil then it is going to do a lot of massage and not go deep. Just used the petrissage but starting out with a glide in a circular motion. Feel the muscles and see if there are any tight knots in there first, you can feel that then going into petrissage motion. You can be squeezing the muscles and always finishing again with the gliding.
Can we treat sore muscles with ice?
Ice is very effective for sore after massage. When you ice a joint or muscle, it should be 20 minutes of ice followed by 20 minutes of rest.
Sore after Deep tissue massage:
Deep tissue massage is not just deep pressure, but it is also reaching the underlying tissue and isolating the trigger muscle. Sometimes, muscles are not ready to be pushed through and you feel sore after massage.
