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!”