The Not-So-Gentle Art of a Good Massage
Short-term pain truly can mean long-term gain
All massage is not relaxing.
The Swedish massage, or as Gerry Haracsi likes to call it, the "Love Boat Rubdown," is a gentle, relaxing manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue.
What Melissa Sewell is subjecting him to with her "tools" — knuckles, thumbs and elbows — is a therapeutic massage, and that’s not very relaxing, he says, lying face down on her massage table, laughing.
"It’s not as much fun as you might think. If you could see my face right now, it would be grimacing."
In fact, there’s no way he could take a therapeutic massage two days in a row. "The amount of pressure she’s using now, I’m going to be sore tomorrow -almost a bruise-type soreness," he explains. "So I would think three or four days minimum between massages, at least for me."
But Haracsi knows he’s going to sleep like a baby tonight and feel really great after the tenderness goes away in 48 hours.
Sewell, a massage therapist with Target Your Energy at an Edmonton YMCA, says some people tell her to stop a massage because they find it too uncomfortable. The more muscle tone you have, the less sensitive you are, she explains.
But most book more appointments because they can feel the difference a massage makes, and because the costs are often covered by their health plans.
The health benefits of massage have become so well known, most of the people who get them know what they need, what’s going to happen, and what areas are going to be worked before they arrive for their first appointment, Sewell says.
The most common issues prompting people to get a massage are headaches, migraines, and neck and shoulder soreness from bad posture, something she sees a lot of working in the downtown world of office drones, who sit hunched over computers all day.
Lower-body problems involve pain from inflamed IT (Iliotibial) bands — the thick bands of fibrous tissue that run along the outside of the thighs from the hip to just below the knee joint — and plantar fasciitis, pain and inflammation involving a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of the foot and one of the most common causes of heel pain. Both are common causes of pain from overuse by athletes, specifically runners, and people who are overweight.
Pain may require one or two massages a week, and exercises and stretches recommended to strengthen the affected areas, Sewell says.
"If there are no specific (problems), we recommend a massage once a month for the maintenance of good health, so we can find any (problems) the person may not be aware of," Sewell says.
For example, Haracsi knew he had tennis elbow, but he wasn’t aware of the tension causing discomfort in his lower back until Sewell came across the trigger point.
"With trigger points, unless you’re working out or unless there’s direct pressure put on the area, you won’t really feel them," she explains.
"We probe out the problem areas that could be causing pain — for a headache, that could be the muscles in the neck or shoulders — and try to get rid of them first."
Haracsi’s regular workouts, six days a week, also play an important part in keeping any small problems at bay, Sewell says.
"If you were to stop and not work out for two weeks," she tells him, "you’d go to mush and probably feel way better initially, but then your muscles would atrophy and you would become more sensitive. You would start to notice some little problems coming back, especially if they’re related to bad posture."
Haracsi rates massage as important as regular exercise and nutritious food to a healthy lifestyle, and plans to keep on getting kneaded after the challenge ends.
Juli Isaac, another challenge finalist, says her workouts are her stress relief, but massage is like a reward for exercising six days a week — necessary, too, when you don’t have any rest days.
"I’ve never really gone for a massage outside of spa weekends with the girls or on holiday, but I have $500 built into my company (benefits) program which I’ve never used, and I think that’s ridiculous, so I’m at least going to use those."
