I get this question a lot in my daily practice:-
Why am i getting this pain? I’ve never felt it before.
I think it needs to be understood that pain is not the beginning of a problem – it is often the end result of a process. A process that may have been happening for some time.
I will try to explain here why you may need maintenance massage to treat a problem before it becomes a problem.
Few of us think about the impact on our bodies of just going about our normal daily lives. Stress, tension, poor posture, fatigue, unresolved injury, habitual activities due to work or leisure, etc, can all play a part. Not by just wear and tear, but through repetition of posture and function, there can be changes to tone and tension of muscles, fascia and tendons.
This can all be going on without us noticing any problem is there. Until a breaking point is reached of course.
For example; prolonged sitting at a computer with poor posture can result in imbalances of your upper shoulder and neck muscles. This can result in holding patterns where some muscles shorten, some lengthen, some weaken, and some become overactive.
Good Posture
Xray and photo show good neck extension.
Poor Posture
This xray shows how poor posture will shorten the posterior neck muscles and change the load on the spine of the neck.
Over time this holding pattern will lead to fatigue, reduced blood flow, fibrotic changes (knots) and adhesions in muscles, length tension changes of myofascia, and then eventually altered movement patterns in an involuntary adaptation to work around the problem. Also joints, as well as vascular and neural structures can be compromised.
All of this can go on without you noticing pain for some time until some part of the structure cannot cope anymore and it breaks down causing pain. This pain may manifest from a muscle strain, ligament strain, joint wearing, headaches, tendinopathy, nerve entrapment, etc, or even just an uncomfortable feeling that has crept up on you.
The skill here for a therapist lies in recognising the ‘pre pain state’ of a persons body and addressing the issues found with well guided soft tissue strategies before it becomes a pain state.
There are many ways of treating the ‘pre-pain’ status you may be in. This can involve firstly assessment, and then postural and movement education, remedial massage, trigger point and myofascial techniques, stretching, and specific exercises to correct weaknesses and imbalance to restore function.
It is often beneficial to address these problems from every angle so self management of stress by using methods such as meditation, breathing exercises and cognitive progressive muscle relaxation exercises can be of great benefit to the bigger picture of the pain experienced and can ‘take the edge off’ an otherwise distracting pain. Some may find herbal supplements or essential oils also of great benefit.
So would you wait for your car to break down before taking it to the mechanic? No of course not.
Consider getting a regular maintenance remedial massage and address any problems before they become a problem.
