Feeling Ache … Should I head for a massage?

The pleasant feelings after a massage or a spa day are no strangers to most of us. However, a lot of patients with muscle ache come to my office after their visits to a massage parlor since their pain turn out to be worse. Are there any signs that should concern us before we go to a massage? How should we secure ourselves from possible harmful complications of what should have been a relaxing and relieving experience?

There are many conditions that need to be considered before your next trip to a massage. Here comes the list.


Acute post-injury pain: Any sudden severe pain from activities, accidents or injuries should be flagged as a “No-no” sign for your trip to a massage. This can range from a pain from a fall, an ankle sprain, to even an acute neck pain you experience in the morning after a good night sleep. For the pain might be a sign of an injury to your soft tissue or even a broken bone. The appropriate management to relieve such pain should be applying a cold pack to the affected area and resting it from all activities rather than giving it a massage to avoid further injuries and the worsened pain.

Acute illnesses: Visit your physician instead of going to a massage if the pain or the ache comes with a fever, nauseating feeling, vomiting or any other symptoms for it might be one of the symptoms resulted from various kind of acute illnesses, such as flu or other infections.


Numbness: There are many conditions that cause numbness, including paralysis, diabetic neuropathy, or sensory loss from other neurological conditions. The numbing feeling from those conditions might make you unable to tell if the massage is too intense, resulting in injuries in the affected areas.

Swelling, Contusion or Wounds: Pains accompanied by these conditions require medical attention. Those conditions could result from injuries, problems from blood or lymphatic systems or other diseases from internal organ. Massage should be avoided.

Pain within 3 months of a broken bone: A broken bone requires at least 6 weeks to start healing. The muscles and other structures around it also need time to gain their strength. Close follow ups to your physician regarding a broken bone is necessary to prevent further injury or impaired function. Do not go for a massage to relieve the pain.

Certain underlying conditions or diseases related with

· Bleeding tendency: A massage could bring about localized bleeding, contusion or hematoma.

· Hypertension: in which blood pressure is not under control.

· Atherosclerosis, thrombosis or stenosis of vessels: Avoid massage in those areas to prevent arterial occlusion or embolization.

· Varicose vein

· Osteopenia or Osteoporesis

Special precautions should be addressed if you have above conditions before heading for a massage.

Other conditions with pain apart from muscle tightness: for example intervertebral disc problems, nerve compression or sciatica.


Those previously mentioned are conditions that you need to consider before going to a massage. You should consult your physician when in doubt if the pain you have will benefit from a massage.

Muscle/ tendon tightness or stiffness and trigger points (myofascial pain) are the conditions that could benefit most from a massage. There are certain specialized trained masseuses who understand these massage precautions and can treat the ache from other conditions apart from muscle tightness or trigger points, but not so many of those masseuses. Understanding these precautions before making a decision to head for a massage could secure us from possible detrimental complications that none of us expected from a pleasing massage or spa.


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    Written by

    Rehabilitation Medicine at BNH hospital

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