🤕 Should Sports and Remedial Massage Be Painful?

Sports and Remedial massage should NOT be painful

Contrary to popular belief, Sports and Remedial massage should not be excruciatingly painful. A skilled therapist will listen to what your body is communicating and regularly check in with you about pressure and sensation during treatment.

Connection is key. A good therapist responds to what your body is asking for, rather than trying to force it to bend to their will.

🚨 What Is Pain?

At its most basic level, pain is a warning system, much like a smoke alarm alerting you to the presence of smoke or fire. Ask yourself: would you ignore your fire alarm if it went off?

The same principle applies when experiencing extreme pain during a treatment. Your body is signaling that it feels threatened. Ignoring that message doesn’t make the treatment more effective, it makes it less safe.

💪 Pain Equals Depth… Right?

Wrong.

One important characteristic of soft tissue is thixotropy. This means that tissue becomes less viscous when stress is applied gradually. When excessive pressure is applied too quickly, the tissue actually resists, preventing access to deeper layers.

To paraphrase Gandalf 🧙‍♂️:“You shall not pass… if you apply too much heavy pressure too quickly!”

Depth is achieved through patience, skill, and sensitivity — not force.

🌿 “But I Don’t Like Fluffy Treatments!”

Connection isn’t fluffy and it shouldn’t feel that way. There may be moments during a treatment that feel uncomfortable, but you should never be in extreme pain.

Pain scales can be tricky, as everyone experiences pain differently. However, for the sake of clarity: if 1 equals no pain and 10 equals the worst pain imaginable, a 7 should be the absolute maximum during treatment. Even then, this level should only be brief and not sustained throughout the session.

🚩 Signs That Too Much Pressure Is Being Used

If any of the following occur, the pressure is likely too much:

• 😮‍💨 You find yourself holding your breath

• 💥 Your muscles tense or guard under the therapist’s touch

• ✊ You clench your fists or screw up your face

• 🟣 You regularly bruise after sessions (with some medical exceptions)

• 🤬 You swear at or feel the urge to hit your therapist!

Reaching the depth required for effective treatment often takes time. An intuitive therapist understands this and works at the pace your body allows. Ultimately, true connection and skilled touch will achieve results that brute force can only dream of.