Therapeutic Massage For Chronic Pain Gretchen Heard

Gretchen Heard

Advanced Clinical Massage Therapist

In a world of chronic pain does massage therapy suit all?……No

August 2, 2019

Pshaw, Grrr, how can you £$@@ing say that as a massage therapist?!?! Is what massage therapists everywhere will be saying. Their form of therapy might be suitable for all but what I am writing about is from my own experience as a touch therapist. While I have the ability and the skills to adapt my […]

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For people looking to naturally manage their chronic pain, massage therapy can improve quality of life by improving mood as well as managing their pain.

When you live with chronic pain having a tool-box of strategies to turn to for pain relief is important.

Massage can be a powerful tool for relaxing both mind and body.

Benefits of managing chronic pain with massage:

Increases serotonin production which reduces pain naturally.
Improves deep sleep.
Increases range of motion.
Lowers anxiety and improves mood.

How I Work

What To Expect

We will have a chat about you as I build a picture in my mind of where you are having issues .I will look at how you move, check your range of motion and assess your posture. From this I will work out where I want to investigate.

The Massage

I do not do cookie cutter massages. No two are the same. The whole body is connected via fascia, so I treat you as a whole. As I work from your issues outward I will be assessing the surrounding areas using a listening touch. By feeling the muscle fibres I may find issues you did not know you had. Pain is quite often referred, so you may feel it in your leg but the damage is actually in your lower back.

After Treatment

I will have a chat with you to see how you are feeling, and once again check your range of motion. I always check in with my clients on day two to see how they are feeling. It is not unusual to feel a little sore if there has been some targeted work on a specific area. Depending on your specific issues I may give you a couple of gentle stretching exercises to help ease your pain, it is a follow on to the work we have done during your massage.

NB: one session is never enough for chronic pain

The Next Appointment

I ideally would like to see you again in a weeks time. I also like to see how you are standing, walking, range of motion has changed since the first appointment. I will have already formulated a treatment plan after our last session but may need to tweak it depending on how you are now. So in this session I will do a little more targeted work, afterwards we will again chat and I will assess your movement again. I will also check in with you in a day or two.

Moving Forward

I would expect to see an improvement in your symptoms after three treatments, with a more marked change after 6 regular sessions. After this you may only need a monthly top up session, again these are things we will discuss throughout the course of your treatment. This all depends on you and your condition or injury.