Let’s start by addressing the very valid question: what is therapeutic massage? You could probably ask ten massage therapists and get nine different answers. To me, a veteran practitioner, therapeutic massage is a technique of addressing soft tissue (muscle, fascia, ligaments, tendons) AND the nervous system (hello rest and digest, goodbye fight or flight!) to create balance.

My strategy is to cultivate a sense of safety and calm, allowing muscles to melt vs. trying to pummel them into submission. Once stress and tension have abated, anxiety often decreases and a systemic reset ensues, much like rebooting a computer.

One of the most common reasons people show up in my office is for pain relief. This is not a surprise because massage therapy is often quite effective at decreasing discomfort and correcting many of the imbalances that cause it.

There is emerging science to back up this claim. It’s nice to see “evidence”, although I have 23 years experience witnessing this, so I’m already a true believer.

Healing touch is instinctive, isn’t it? When you bang your shin against the coffee table, you reach down and rub it. Probably while yelling or cursing, which likely discharges some of the emotional charge, but that’s a story for another day.

Mothers do it for their children without anyone needing to tell them why soothing touch can ease all the things that hurt. I suspect our cave-dwelling ancestors knew this too, without any understanding of human physiology.

Gentle, therapeutic massage is especially beneficial for chronic pain. Unyielding physical discomfort causes muscles to tense which further contributes to the pain, causing an ongoing feedback loop. Breaking that cycle can evoke relief, even when the causes of the pain are not treatable. Massage doesn’t cure arthritis, but it can certainly improve the experience of someone who suffers from it. If you’ve ever endured chronic pain, you know that even temporary relief is a welcome respite and can improve both your mood and outlook while activating an upward spiral.

I’ve found that my clients who book consistent massage therapy sessions, be they weekly, biweekly or monthly, get into a groove where each treatment builds on the previous one and issues improve steadily over time.

I’ve often had the great pleasure of asking about an ailment to be met with a blank stare because the client had forgotten all about that pesky malady. It had faded gradually and they simply didn’t notice its absence.

However, sometimes pain is too intense for massage to be beneficial in that moment. I’ve witnessed this when someone is in so much distress that they can’t lie comfortably on the table. Or sometimes the nervous system is so activated that any touch is unbearable.

Particularly when someone is new to my work, I suggest they wait until the acute phase of an episode has passed or that they book a distance Reiki session instead, allowing them to stay at home, perhaps even in bed during their treatment.

Once I have built a relationship with a client and their body knows that it’s ok to relax and receive my ministrations, it’s an entirely different story. They sometimes report that relief arrives from just knowing they have an appointment coming up.

It’s easiest to choose a compatible massage therapist when you’re in relatively good health. Of course, it’s when we are not feeling so great that most of us go searching for support. That’s 100% understandable. But we don’t make our best decisions when we’re suffering and it’s hard to let your guard down and benefit from a massage session when your nerves are screaming.

I find it’s also easier to keep clients feeling reasonably well than to help them recover from a painful situation. Weaving massage into health maintenance routines is often much more effective than the desperate, emergency sessions, which are generally less enjoyable and less constructive.

While I understand that the budget might not allow this, I suggest scheduling a massage treatment when pain is below a 3 on a scale of 1-10, if possible. Find someone you like and can trust to listen to your needs and your body’s responses. Get into a rhythm with your sessions so that you can stay ahead of the pain as much as possible rather than trying to recover from it. Most importantly, do not hesitate to say STOP to end a session anytime the practitioner isn’t responding to your requests for less pressure, a change in position or whatever else you instinctively sense would be helpful.

Wow, that was a lot of words to say that gentle, therapeutic massage can indeed help with pain relief, although it has a better chance in certain conditions than others. In my opinion, anything that addresses stress and evokes the physiological relaxation response will be beneficial. Massage is one of the easiest ways I know to do that.