Massage 101

The Needs to Know About Injury Treatment

When it comes to the body there are many kinds of injuries; strains, sprains, breaks and snaps are the most common words we hear when describing what just happened to our body and why it hurts so much. While injuries can occur in any tissue type massage deals primarily with the muscle’s reaction to physical disruption, whether sudden and violent or slow and eroding.

A sudden and violent injury encompasses things like broken bones, torn muscles, dislocated joints, car accidents etc. The muscle’s first response in such cases is to relax so the body can remove itself from danger then, hyper contract after the danger has past. The muscles contract as a protective shell around the injured area. This is why people sometimes feel fine after a car accident then wake up the next morning unable to move. Regarding massage it is recommend a person wait at least 1 week after this sort of injury before receiving massage so their body has time to heal and calm down. Often times forcing massage right after a sudden injury can disrupt the body’s natural healing process and lead to further injury.

Slow and eroding injuries are formed by activities that regularly create minor tears in the body’s tissues such as: straining, misalignment of bones or a violent injury having gone untreated for years. These injuries are characterized as having excessive scar tissue build-up resulting in restricted movement. The goal of massage in these cases is to properly align the scar tissue while encouraging stretching of the affected muscles.

Treatment massage can be a painful process and take months to years depending on the injury’s severity and age. However, once the process starts the client should notice improvement within the first month assuming a schedule of one massage a week or every other week. In addition to massage it is vital for clients to do self-care during this time to increase the healing process and speedily reach a point where they no longer need treatment. Sometimes an injury can be so sever surgery will be necessary; however, massage can assist in lengthening the time before such a surgery is needed and afterwards with expediting healing. Age is also a factor as younger tissue heals faster but, don’t let that deter you. Life is too wonderful to spend it in constant pain.

As always make sure to communicate with your therapist regarding pain, comfort levels and injury details.

Till next time,

Emily Laguzza

Graceful Tempest Massage, Licensed Massage Practitioner

West Seattle-206.765.7018

         web site:  www.gracefultempestmassage.com