N.O.W - Pain during massage

Is massage supposed to be painful in order to be truly effective?

Depending on what king of bodywork you choose, there will be varying levels of pressure. In deep tissue your therapist will use a pain scale of 1-10 as an indicator of how deep they are working your tissues. The ideal during a deep tissue session is to achieve a "good hurt", which is usually around a 6-8 on the clients pain scale. The therapist is working to break-up connective and muscle tissue that are adhered from chronic over-usage and body imbalances. Deep tissue is meant to stimulate "therapeutic inflammation", which will create some normal redness and swelling in the area worked-on. This is good. The swelling is due to the attraction of water and lymph to take away waste products dislodge from the recently massaged tissues. Deep tissue or other deep bodywork modalities, if done correctly, stimulate the realignment of soft tissue to a more balanced and healthful state.

The client should always let the therapist know when they are past the "good hurt" and are just plain hurting. Bruising and other soft tissue trauma can result from a therapists heavy hand, not to mention creating anxiety in the client. You can always request softer pressure or a different massage modality so you feel comfortable and relaxed. You know your body the best. Please communicate with your therapist and always feel empowered to find another if your current one is just not working for you.