Click the link –> to discover why:   http://www.kathrynmerrow.com/massage/massage-is-medicine/#more-373

You may know that I have been in the massage field for over 20 years.  In that time I have seen over and over and over how beneficial massage is for so many pain issues.

Basically massage is used for 3 things:

1.  To control pain.

2.  To eliminate pain.

3.  To create wellness.

I love massage!  It really can get rid of pain in your body.  It’s good medicine.

If you have back pain or headaches or other pain, maybe you have already seen a massage therapist.  Perhaps it helped  a lot and perhaps it didn’t.

If your massage did not help much, you will learn a lot from this article about selecting a massage therapist who can make a difference with your pain.

If you haven’t tried massage yet for your pain, this article will help you select the best massage therapist in your area for your situation.

And, please remember:  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  That means it may take more than one session for you to get the relief you seek.  You may have several areas that are causing your pain and that all need to be “treated.”

Do I believe massage therapy help most pain?  Absolutely, yes!

If a massage professional has a good working knowledge of what causes pain in the carpal tunnel area, he or she can make a world of difference to you!

Most doctors didn’t learn much about about muscles when they were in school (neither did we) and so when they see a patient who has complaints of discomfort it may not occur to them that it could be caused by muscles.

There are internal things that can cause pain on the outside, too.  Gall bladder pain can be felt in the back and you might perceive it to be muscular pain.  Since we sometimes cannot tell what causes a pain, a visit to your doctor may be in order.

But as I mentioned earlier, it’s likely that you have muscle strain or “trigger points” that are causing your pain.  For instance, more people have pain in the carpal tunnel area caused by trigger points in muscles or muscle strain than true carpal tunnel syndrome.

Many massage therapists don’t have the training or background to understand why you have pain.  They will rub on the painful area around your carpal tunnel, your back or head or wherever, but you may not notice much (or any) relief.  Or it helps a bit but in 1 or 2 hours you are back in the same pain.

The reason for that is they are working on the symptoms rather than the cause of your pain.

He or she is working where it hurts, rather than working on the areas that are actually causing your pain.  That’s a common problem with massage therapists.  Some just rub where it hurts and hope it will help.  Sometimes the cause is actually where the pain is, other times not.

There is an article here at Simple Pain Relief  in the “Massage” Category that will help you find a massage therapist who can give you the most benefit–pain relief–for your massage dollar.  Just scroll down on the right side of this page to “Categories” and scroll down to the Massage category.

A skilled, well-trained massage therapist has the tools to relieve your pain.

There are many types of massage and a few different professional organizations and lots of massage schools.  There are all types of different philosophies, personalities, beliefs and training.   Some massage therapists have a ton of advanced training and some massage providers never go beyond their basic training (which may be short) not even to read an article or book.

Word of mouth is usually a great way to find a good therapist.  If someone you know got relief from their massage therapist that may be a good person for you to interview.

There are credentials that can help you decide, too.  Here are a few.

• Professional Membership in the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA.)
• Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCTMB.)
• State Licensed.  (At the time of writing, about 3/4′s of states license massage therapists.)

Here’s how to interview a massage therapist.

Most will be happy to give you a brief free consultation.

First of all, don’t ask, “Do you work with people who have (my type of) pain?” or, “Do you treat (this type of) pain?”  There are many massage therapists who will say yes, even though they don’t have the training or experience to successfully treat your specific complaint.

Instead, ask him or her the following questions, and listen closely to his answers.  See whether the answers make sense to you.

• What are the most common causes of (my type of) pain?
• How will you determine why I have pain?
• What is your pain treatment strategy?
• What type of massage training did you have?
• What muscles could be involved in my situation?
• How long do you think it will take for me to feel better?
• Will there be pain or discomfort from the massage?

Feel free to ask additional questions.  Also, ask him to explain any answer you did not fully understand.

You can learn a lot on the phone, but you can learn even more in person.  The massage therapist may actually touch your muscles as he explains, and that will make it even easier for you to understand.

Sometimes when muscles are very tight, as they often are with pain, there may be some discomfort during the massage.  There may also be some tenderness afterward.  That is because you have some areas of tight muscles and they are not yet used to someone pressing on them.

If you have any discomfort from the massage, you may perceive it as “good pain,” which is a fine thing.  Your body is saying, “Yes!  This is what I need!”  Or it may be quite intense and you can ask the therapist to lighten up.

It is okay for you to guide your massage therapists.  Please do!  They want to know how you are feeling and responding.  They want you to feel better.

Sometimes discomfort during a therapeutic massage session is unavoidable, and it’s usually worse the first time than later visits.

But, the payoff from massage therapy for pain relief can be huge.

Start looking for massage therapists to interview today.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Today a client told me that she had a great weekend stretching and straining and balancing on a ladder to trim, prune and clean up her yard.  She said it looked beautiful!  And she felt fine until she sat down.

When she tried to get up, her back from hip bones to shoulder blades went into spasm and tightened up!

She tried to press into her muscles to relax them the best she could but basically she had spent the last two days in bed.  She was very uncomfortable.

I warmed, massaged and pressed into the tight muscles along her spine for a while.  They were very tender but they didn’t seem to be releasing or getting better even though she said a few times, “I think you’re on the cause!”

So I suggested we work on the muscles on the front side of her body.  The right side of her abdomen was fine; no pain and no referrals.  The left side of her abdomen was “on fire” when I stretched the muscles on the soft abdomen.  Her ribs were “on fire” when I pressed into the muscles that ran up from her belly.

For whatever reason, the muscles on the left side of her abdomen had spasmed or “tightened up” and they were causing her back pain.  Even though the release was quite uncomfortable, the abdomen muscles did relax.  You can tell when they relax because they become less tender when pressed on.  When that happened her back muscles also were able to relax.

When an area of muscle causes another area to hurt, that is called a trigger point.  In this case, the trigger points in the belly were causing pain in the back.

Back Pain Natural Relief is a helpful site that may give you just the information you were looking for to get rid of the pain in your back.

I was recently at a high school symphony band concert and was struck by the extremely poor posture and “forward head posture” of many of the musicians.  Even though a lot of young people have “forward heads,” it was much more so with the musicians than with the general student population.

Why would this be?

Most of us hold our arms and heads in front of us most of the day, but musicians–musical athletes–hold their instruments for extended periods without the opportunity to stretch or relax the muscles that support their instruments.

What could help?

The muscles in the front of the body support the instrument.  The are the ones that are contracted and shortened simply due to the work they do.

Strengthening your back will help and so will stretching the muscles in the front of your body.  Massage therapy would also help but which muscles should be massaged?

The muscles that would need the most pre- and post-event treatment would mostly be the ones that SHORTEN during practice and performance.  This does NOT mean the areas of complaint.  The complaining areas of muscle  are most often SYMPTOMS and not the cause of the pain.  The shortened, front-of-body muscles would need the most massage to help them get back to normal resting length.

Before a performance, a general full body “warm up” should work well.  But, many massage therapists do a “full body” warming massage while avoiding working on the front of the neck, chest, abdomen, front of thighs and inside of thighs.  Those areas need warming too–those are the shortened muscles–and shouldn’t be avoided.

After a performance, I would suggest again that the muscles that were shortened (usually the muscles in the front of the body) get the most massage even though the back muscles may be the ones complaining.

Rather than just work where the pain (symptom) is, a massage therapist or musician should ask:

• Okay, what’s attached to the wrist?
• What’s attached to the neck?
• Which part of the leg gets the most worked when performing?  Front, back, gluteal muscles (butt)?  Upper, lower?
• Which muscles pull the head forward?

A massage therapist who is really good will thoughtfully assess the client and their activities  and work on the CAUSES of pain and not just SYMPTOMS.  That’s when you will have the most pain relief in your neck and back.

And now I’d like to invite you to visit http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com (<–click here.)  While you are there you can request a copy of a free report about getting rid of the knots in your back.

Why?  Because it works!

Massage is old medicine.  It’s used all over the world for a wide variety of ailments.

Why?  Because it works!  (Oh, I already said that, didn’t I?)

But sometimes when you go to a massage therapist your pain doesn’t go away.  Maybe it feels better for a short time, or even just while the therapist is working on your painful area.  But, it comes right back.  Or, it is back within just a few hours.

When that has happened to one of my clients, I told them what that means.  That means I was wrong about the cause of their symptom (their pain.)  It means I didn’t work on the muscles or soft tissue that was the true cause of their pain.  That means we have to try again.

The unfortunate thing is, many massage therapists only know how to do a relaxation-type massage.  Relaxation or stress-reduction massages can be really great, but…

When you have pain, a relaxation massage probably won’t give you much benefit.

If you have pain symptoms, and you want relief, you will have to find a massage professional who “knows his or her stuff.”  Someone who can assess WHY you are having pain.  Someone who can figure out a “treatment” plan to help you become pain-free.

If your massage therapist rubs and presses on the painful area (and some will do this for the whole hour) and your pain doesn’t go away, then that therapist doesn’t “know their stuff.”  And, if that therapist can’t figure out why your muscle won’t release (relax) then she doesn’t “know her stuff.”

And, if she says it’s the worst “knot” she has ever seen, she should not be in the massage field at all.  Her job is to help you feel better, not worse.

When your painful muscle spasm won’t release, it can mean only one thing.

The cause of your pain is somewhere else, not where your “hurt” is.

A skilled massage therapist will be able to figure out and work on (massage) the causes of your pain, not just hammer away on the painful area or “knot.”

What’s the best way to find a highly skilled therapist who will be able to help you get rid of your pain?  Word of mouth.  If you ask around, and someone says, “This is the massage therapist who got rid of my pain.  I think he (or she) is awesome and I recommend them highly,” that is a good clue.  That could be the therapist for you!

There is even more information at Simple Back Pain Relief.com to help you get rid of the knots in your upper back.