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Can Massage Therapy Make Pain Worse?

Massage therapy is quite beneficial, especially to those individuals experiencing both acute and chronic pain. However, it is not every time when things go according to plan. In some instances, massage could make pain worse instead of remedying it. Although quite rare, massage can cause new injuries or aggravate existing ones. It could also mildly stress the nervous system or fractures. These are potential causes for more pain after massage therapy. This article gives more details regarding pain after a massage.

  • Acute Pain

Acute pain has some positive viewpoints. It is short term by definition – settled inside 30 days yet regularly much sooner – and it reacts well to treatment. Anything from ordinary a throbbing painfulness to exceptional agony following a dental extraction or surgery are instances of intense torment.

Contrasted with chronic pain, acute pain is a more straightforward procedure. Due to the wrong strokes, increased pressure and tissue damage, sometimes a massage therapy can make acute pain progress to chronic levels, instead of relieving it.

  • Chronic Pain

Pain that goes on for over a half year, considerably after the first injury has recuperated is viewed as chronic. Interminable agony can keep going for a considerable length of time and range from mellow to extreme on some random day. In addition, it is genuinely normal, influencing an estimated 50 million adults in the United States. While past wounds or harm can cause chronic pain, some of the time there is no clear reason. Without legitimate administration, ceaseless agony can begin to affect your satisfaction. Therefore, individuals living with interminable agony may create manifestations of uneasiness or gloom.

Different indications that can go with chronic pain include tense muscles, fatigue, and constrained versatility. Massage therapy helps relieve chronic pain by reducing the amount of feel bad hormone, whereas replacing it with the feel-good hormone. However, along the way, things do not go as planned. You may end up with torn muscles that are often very painful even more than the initial pain you came in with. In such a situation, your chronic pain is likely to become intense.

  • Nerve Pain

Nerve pain is a type of pain that is characterized by feelings of stinging and burning sensation amongst people suffering from HIV, diabetes, and cancer survivors under certain medications such as chemotherapy. Neuropathic pain results from nerve damage when blood pressure rises, or when blood glucose increases. Neuropathic pain is often experienced in the legs and feet, and sometimes in the hands. A special type of a massage known as reflexology is often used to treat nerve pains by focusing on specific points in the legs, and this reduces tension, which in turn reduces nerve pains. However, at times, things do not go very well during reflexology; the damaged nerves can be damaged even further when the therapist applies too much pressure or there is friction. This leads to more nerve pain.

  • Back Pain

Back pain is the most common pain experienced by most people. It usually comes about because of too much slouching or hunched postures while working behind a computer at an office desk for long. It can also be due to standing for long hours for example while cooking in the kitchen or at work. Most massage patients come with back pain problems and this just shows how serious the problem has become. Massage has been and continues to be the most appropriate solution for back pain. Unfortunately, due to an intense application of pressure and the use of wrong strokes, you can end up with more severe back pain instead of a relief. This is because excessive pressure damages tissues and may even result to torn muscles.

Although very rare, massage therapy can make pain worse. One thing you need to note, however, is that pain is not the only bad thing that can happen during or after a massage. You can go back home with fractured bones, torn muscles, or you can even fall off the massage table and sustain new physical injuries. To prevent further pain, experts advise that you speak up when you experience some sort of discomfort. Most importantly, you should look for a certified and licensed massage therapist who knows how to do their work. You do not want to spend your hard-earned money with the hope of being relieved of your pain, only to end up with more pain or further injuries. Since you may never know the experience of a therapist until they work on your body, ensure to check their customer reviews and ratings.