of massage, medical massage, and Trini, Mistress of Pain

[lagilman]

As some of you know, I am a stresscritter, and I carry it all in my shoulders and upper back. This means I am also a huuuuge fan of massage, specifically deep tissue massage.

This is not your inkly dinky butterfly little girl massage, my friends. This is someone getting in deep and friendly with your muscle tissue, breaking down the stickies and rolling out the sinews until they feel like room-temperature play-do. This is about readjusting those ribs and spine and joints until your body moves the way it's supposed to. To quote the Boss: "Rex said the lady left him limp; love's like that, sure it is."

Pikers. Pikers all. I have just come from my first (and, please god, last) medical massage.

This was suggested to me as a way to deal with the strained neck muscles occasioned by my horrible cold/cough/not-flu-damnit of early November, which left me unable to do much of anything without my good buddy codeine as constant companion for the last week.

So once I felt up to it, I went down the street to the local homeopathic remedy and massage center, to see what they could do for me.

The place is like a cross between a cluttered Chinese apothocary, a small-town doctor's office, and a New Age head shop. This ain't your mamma's Day Spa.

So. I get on the table, wincing as I do so. Trini, a very nice, soft-spoken woman with a heavy accent and graceful hands, turns on the background music (deep forest and water sounds, yay!) and starts to explain what we're in for. My job, as I understand it, is to keep breathing, no matter what.

Okay. I can do that.

She starts in stretching the muscles to make sure that nothing is sticking together (that's bad). So far, so pleasant. She's good, and I like the choice of oils -- some sort of deep, wet, sage-y green smell to it. Then, it gets interesting. And painful. And breathing is suddenly a major accoplishment.

I am good -- even when she is working on a particularly stubborn spot deep inside my right shoulder (alfreda89 could explain what it was, exactly, I'm sure) with the very pointy bit of her elbow, I didn't do more than hiss and mutter. And breathe. At no point did 'back off, bitch!' leave my mouth.

And then she did this steamroller thing with her arm up and down my ribs that made me forgive all. Until she started in on the other side, at which point I think I let out a little scream. Yes. That's where the injury is. Was. Ow. Also, OW! Breathe, right.

But for each painful bit, there was also stretching (lovely) and the application of hot stones (yummy and warm and relaxing) and a scalp massage, and a sinus massage (pressure points on the neck, jawline, ears and face), and the ever-wonderful thing they do with lifting the neck until you feel your spine come to attention like a brand-new baby Marine.

In short, I have been poked, prodded, elbowed, steamrollered, tugged, shifted, shoved and reshaped within an inch of my life, I think I hurt worse than I did when I went in. But there are things moving freely in my body that probably haven't in a long time, and even the aches have this content sort of glow to them.

I don't _ever_ want to do that again. But I may go back there for a regular deep tissue massage on a semi-regular basis.

And now I have to go drink a lot of water, and eat some aspirin.

------

ETA: and the next morning, despite some stiffness and soreness (I feel like I was high-sticked), I am pretty much pain-free. Yay Trini, Mistress of Pain!

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you got what you needed. Now, take it easy for a little bit. And yes, drink lots of water.

[lagilman]

Surprisingly, after dinner out (mmm, Thai) and the required lots of water (plus one wee dram of Macallan, to help the relaxation process) I felt much better than I thought I would. Maybe i really am as tough as others claim I am...

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Now I really understand why you're not interested in any travelling tonight! It sounds awful and wonderful.

[lagilman]

It sounds awful and wonderful.

That about sums it up, yeah.

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

Good tongue biting there. heh. I know what you mean exhaustingly painful and yet feet not touching the floor afterwards.

I keep getting admonished when I go, seized up. The lovely graceful person puts on a stern smile: why didn't you come to me before now. Look at you!

But afterwards all these directions to move. Wow. My popping shoulder have been telling me I should go back...

[housellama.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Medical massages are NOT happy things... Until about three days afterwards when you realize exactly how loose your muscles are and how much stress you're not holding.

-Tug

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Until about three days afterwards when you realize exactly how loose your muscles are and how much stress you're not holding.

Exactly.

Much water, oh suricattus!

And then a little cat therapy...

[kalligraphy.livejournal.com]

I used to do a deep tissue message on a semi-regular basis. The point of th elbow, the steamroller thing. The whole bit. Was pretty important because my muscles get really tight in my neck and shoulders. Especially the shoulders. I stopped doing it about 2 years ago when she did something and the pain didn't go away. I frankly didn't want to risk further injury to the spot. Thankfully the spot eventually healed, but it took heavy duty pain medication to get the muscle to stop spasming. Still, I know the pain and the pleasure of which you speak. :)

[ferragus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, water, if you're not floating, drink some more.

I get a deep tissue about every 3rd week, and I've had I three or four medicals since I've been here in Phoenix.

Yup, think I'm due for another.

Drink some more water, and don't forget to stretch when you get up in the morning!

[lagilman]

I get a deep tissue about every 3rd week

*is jealous*


and I've had I three or four medicals since I've been here in Phoenix.


*is NOT jealous*

fun with massage

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, I'm in for a major massage tomorrow, from the wonderful Robin. Even K, who is squidgy about people touching her, has discovered the wonderfulness that is a massage from Robin. Enough so that we've now added it as a montly line-item in the household budget. K goes for hers on Wednesday. :)

While K was in California earlier this month, she got me an "extra" massage as a present while she had a full spa day complete with mango body butter (now a running joke), and that particular day was stress-central, so Robin wound up working my shoulders and upper back heavily. And lo, I could move them again afterward.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening...

AutoJim

a test...

[autojim.livejournal.com]

okay, so I've submitted....

Re: a test...

[lagilman]

Heeee. Welcome, be welcome!

It should be said that there is another way...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

In fact, I personally know of two forms of medical message that are extremely effective for chronic pain, yet virtually painless while going through the session. There are very few people both techniques are contraindicated for -- but unfortunately, the closest practitioner of one is in North Carolina. The other style Suri did not immediately find listed anywhere.

As a former client of mine used to say about her Secret Weapon therapist: "I only go when I'm desperate for relief. He fixes it, but it's not gonna be pretty getting there."

Re: It should be said that there is another way...

[lagilman]

Also, it wasn't ALL about pain. If it were, a person would need to be sedated to go though it. Lots of things being done were on the level of a deep tissue massage, which I find amazingly relaxing... I've been known to go into a gentle zen state occasionally, under the hands of a good technician.

If I'd been in better (aka not quite so knotted and foreshortened) shape, it would have been far more enjoyable. Which is why I really need to do preventative runs, rather than waiting until I'm in trouble.... (aka 'taking the car in for a tune-up BEFORE it conks out')

Re: It should be said that there is another way...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

(aka 'taking the car in for a tune-up BEFORE it conks out')

Very good analogy. And it should be said that there is no defined method of Medical massage. In fact, the massage codes on the insurance charts are for swedish and variants of swedish (sports massage, etc.) because swedish is the only form of massage that has "proven" benefits to health (stress reduction, removing tissue toxins, etc.) Manual Lymphatic massage and myofascial massage are also well-thought of by the medical community -- Pfrimmer is about to do a NIH study.

Critz contains some of the same elements as forms of myofascial release. Chiropractors who have worked on people after a Critz session generally want all their therapists to learn the technique -- it makes that big a difference before adjustments.

Re: It should be said that there is another way...

[lagilman]

myofascial massage

I did some reading on that -- sounds like Trini was using a lot of elements of that on me, yesterday. If so, I can highly recommend it!

Re: It should be said that there is another way...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It's great, but some forms of it -- like breaking up scar tissue -- arrgghh!

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Nice to know that others suffer the tense neck and shoulder syndrome. I was thinking I was alone in my suffering. I found a wonderful masseur here, but unfortunately, things got out of hand, (which I at the time encouraged) and now I hesitate to go back. Moral of the story: keep the massage and the "extras" totally separate. *insert eye rolling icon here*

Hope it helped

[bevhale.livejournal.com]

Alfreda89 does the best massage I've ever had, so I'd trust her advice.

OTOH, If you'd like I'll send you my Chicken Corn Soup recipe for use when the next wretched flu bug comes through. Ask Alfreda89, she'll vouch that it will cure the sick and raise the dead. I'd be happy to send it to you. It can help stop some of the misery. It was great meeting you at WFC and at the party. Have a great Thanksgiving.