There are two main focuses to deep tissue massage:
- Slow sustained pressure - Deep strokes While this post focuses mostly on slow sustained pressure, the deep strokes are useful to target the inner layers of your muscles and connective tissues, such as scare tissue when following an injury. We all want pain relief from a massage, and the common train of thought is that deep tissue massage just hurts. But the truth is, that not true with a skilled, trained, and experienced therapist.
Deep tissue massage should be just as enjoyable and stress relieving as other massage techniques. After all, the point to getting a massage is to relieve muscle tension and reduce your stress.
In this post, you'll see:
- What it's like to get a deep tissue massage for the first time.
- What is the best thing to do after a deep tissue massage.
- What NOT to do after a deep tissue massage.
Ready? Let's go!
Be patient.
Before you schedule a therapy session, definitely have a talk with your therapist to know what it's like to get a deep tissue massage for the first time. Here are three common symptoms most patients will feel after a deep tissue massage:
Some degree of discomfort from releasing painful knots
Stiffness
Soreness
With all honesty, the whole point of this therapeutic treatment is to break up adhesions, scar tissue, and release deep seated muscle tension; so you're likely to feel a good deal of pressure. I've given this treatment to people as young as 14 - 90 years of age. However, I always have an open line of communication with my patients if this therapy becomes too uncomfortable during our session.
Your communication is important to me.
I'm listening to you!
What is the best thing to do after a deep tissue massage? After therapy you might be feeling that "drunk massage feeling;" so you might have forgotten that little chat we had for "what to do after our session." Here's some tips to remember:
Drink warm purified water
Do gentle stretching
Rest
Kneading and working your muscles gets fluid pumping out of the soft tissue and into your circulatory system, where it then heads towards your kidneys.
I recommend drinking warm/hot water because the warm water is a nectar to your body.
I also recommend you add magnesium minerals to your purified water.
I get mine at the our local Detwilers Farmer Market. ONLY $20!
This will help with muscle cramps and in hydrating your entire body. I use this daily in my RO water.
With me so far? Good!
You should be doing some gentle stretching after any massage session.
This will help to:
realign your muscle fibers
retrain your nervous system
improve muscle recovery.
After all, it is your nervous system, not the muscles, to be the great limiter of motion and suppleness.
Finally, the best thing you can do is REST.
Listen to your body. If you feel like taking a nap, then sleep. This is your time to recover, repair and re-tune yourself. I suggest you aim for 4 - 6 hours minimum.
Now here are the things that you should NOT DO after massage.
These are my simple tips of what not to do :
Not drinking enough warm water - hydration, hydration, hydration
Eating a large heavy meal - creates bloating, sluggishness, and lethargy.
Drinking caffeinated beverages -inhibits rehydration.
Drinking alcohol - causes dehydration (no-brainer).
Stressing yourself out - encourages tension on nerves and gut dysbiosis.
Forget to stretch - muscle soreness and stiffness is prolonged.
Ready to open a new chapter in your life? Good!
Here's your next step:
Tap on this image below to make your appointment with me today 👇
