At Home Care for Injuries Post-Massage

 In injury, neuromuscular

Neuromuscular Massage Therapy is your not your typical massage. In fact, it’s hard to classify it because of how the public usually views Massage Therapy. For most, a massage is relaxing, producing feelings of relief and euphoria. However, when you have a neuromuscular session, it is because you are addressing a muscle that has gone through trauma. There is normally a history of chronic or acute pain. No matter the age of the injury, if there is pain, it is a clear indicator that the muscle has been affected. Symptoms such as constant aching or throbbing whether on a continuous or intermittent level is the body’s way of letting us know that muscle has not healed.

When receiving Neuromuscular Therapy session, I’m targeting the muscle group that has been afflicted as well as surrounding areas. All the while respecting the boundaries the body has set in place. During a session, it’s vital that I “check-in” with my client throughout and receive feedback. There’s no “zoning out” involved. Because the pain threshold of each person is different, I need to input my knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, look for any signs of inflammation and keenly focus on how the person feels with the amount of pressure. For those clients with a high pain threshold, the temptation to ask me to “dig in there” may be great, however, with an injury, this will cause more harm then good.

The muscle has accumulated and nurtured this injury for days and for some, even years. It’s adapted to the injured area and diving in with deep pressure right away is counter-productive. The body has harbored this injury for years and it will take more than one session to relieve the pain. Massage is slow medicine, it works with the muscle by taking its time releasing tension. It is unnatural for tension to be released from one minute to the other, no matter what the wishes of therapist or patient might be.

After the Neuromuscular Massage session, some might find it useful to take an anti-inflammatory pill or pain reliever to alleviate some of the soreness the next day. This is completely the choice of the patient. However the soreness after a massage the following day should be evident but definitely manageable. If you are so sore after a massage that you are bed ridden, something has gone terribly wrong.

General care outside of the massage room is dependent completely on the patient. Through experience, I have learned that its best to avoid exercise completely the day after and up to 2-3 days after a Neuromuscular Therapy session. This may be hard for some who enjoy being active but understand that exercise will shock your muscles into a state of forced contraction after a Neuromuscular Massage. A therapy session focuses all its energy on this specific muscle group ( and surrounding muscles). Imagine that for years, this muscle has been neglected and without therapy, then begins to receive an enormous amount of attention (not necessarily deep pressure) only to be placed in a situation where it must perform in exercise the day after. Talk about overload!

No, during Neuromuscular treatments, your mind-body connection must be at it’s highest. You’re not to baby the body part but it would be ill-advised to engage it in any activity outside of its normal day to day movements. Even then, routine chores could aggravate it. Case in point, carpal tunnel syndrome. A terribly painful condition brought on by overuse of the hands and wrists such as typing on a keyboard for 40 + hours a week. If you continue this typing while receiving Neuromuscular Massage on the wrists and forearms, you can be assured that healing will be delayed.

Exercise is not the only activity you should avoid though, you should also stay away from projects around the house that require physical strain that you are not used to. For example installing items on a wall, carrying heavy cases of water or liquids from a warehouse store, working on the car, painting your home, gardening, moving boxes or furniture and even excessively heavy loads of laundry.

Seemingly simple activities that need to be done on a routine basis must be analyze and possibly suspended or considered for additional help. Deep cleaning is also a physical chore that places your body in awkward positions especially when it’s done for hours at a time.

Neuromuscular Massage Therapy is an incredible source of healing when you experience a major muscular injury. It is truly helpful but when recovering, you must be patient with your body’s time to heal, consistent with therapy and avoid stressful activities such as exercise, household chores, cleaning your car and carrying heavy loads. As frustrating as it might be, understand that this is all part of a rehabilitation process.

If you do suffer a setback, it might result in a painful muscle spasm. This is the body’s way of notifying you that you can’t have therapy and continue to take an additional chores as well. Respect your body’s red flags and be patient. Utilizing ice packs and or heat pads when you’ve activated a muscle spasm and lying still will eventually relax the muscle again. As with all things natural, massage takes time to bring the muscle into a relaxed state with multiple sessions. I hope this helps someone out there feeling the frustration with recovery. If you’re injury is muscular, and you wish to take a natural approach, Neuromuscular Massage is an excellent choice.

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