The Myth of “No Pain, No Gain”
Massage can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never had one before. The most influential factors that contribute to the intimidation is pain. There is this idea that when you exercise you’re supposed to feel pain. No pain, no gain, right? While this can be true to a point, when it is applied correctly and safely, it cannot be applied to everything in life - especially massage!
When miscommunication meets unexpressed expectations, it typically creates a bad experience for everyone involved. When it comes to pain in a massage, both communication guidelines and expectations need to be thoroughly discussed before the client gets on the table. That discussion seems like it should be common practice, right? Wrong! You’d be surprised at how many times I have heard “no one has ever asked me that before” or “no one has ever explained this to me before.” So let’s talk about it!
pain explained
Pain is an extremely important tool and guideline in a massage. Pain has two sides, like a coin. On one side, pain is a valuable tool that your massage therapist uses to target the right areas on your body to help you have relief. On the other side, pain is a good way for you to have control in a massage. Use it to initiate communication with your therapist! Help them understand what you’re feeling. They can’t read your mind!
The best way I’ve been able to help bridge the gap of communication and expectations of pain is through a pain scale. A pain scale allows you and your therapist to find common ground, instead of inadvertently having conversations that resemble “who’s on first”.
The pain scale ranges between 1 and 10, 1 being little to no pain at all and 10 being the peak of intolerable. We only go to a pain scale of 7, 7 is the “good pain”, the pain that most people want, but can’t figure out how to put into words. It is the feeling of “That hurts so good!”. This level of pain is called therapeutic pain. It has it’s uses in Neuromuscular Therapy (Triggerpoint Therapy), Deep Tissue massage, and sometimes Myofascial Release. This pain can be used as a tool, in some cases, to reach the goals and expectations you, as the client have for your massage. However the most important detail of therapeutic pain to note is; you do NOT have to make excuses for this kind of pain!
When you have to make excuses for the pain, that’s your limit! These excuses can sound like “Maybe she has to because...” or “I know my body needs this!” or “I can get through it if I breathe!” - believe me, I’ve heard them all.
All of these excuses and rationalizations is your body telling you that you have now reached 8, 9, or 10 of the pain scale. A good rule of thumb is: when you have to remind yourself to breathe, you’ve gone too far . That’s when you say “Uncle!”.
What happens if I don’t say “Uncle”?
Saying “Uncle” is not a negative reflection on you by any means! It is simply your limit. Knowing your limit allows you to use pain effectively and for your own benefit. Allowing yourself to stay at 8 or above will hurt your body and hasn’t it gone through enough?
An 8 - 10 on a pain scale does not relax the body. Instead it makes it clam up, making the therapist work harder with little progress and a lot more pain for you in the long run. Staying above at an 8 or above can result in injury, elevate stress, bruising and inflammation just to name a few. There is a difference between feeling like you got a good workout (7) and feeling like you got beat up (8-10).
The power of communication
Knowing how to communicate with your therapist is essential in finding the balance between the good and the bad pain to help you find as much prolonged relief as possible in a massage. It helps you and the therapist to create a safe environment that promotes relaxation.
