Massage Therapy & Night Pain
Why does pain increase at night when in Bed?
This is a question that is frequently asked and one that is easily explained.
During the day any muscle that is injured and not able to function fully as designed, relies upon surrounding muscles for support and to assist it in its function, this is known as recruiting. This is why muscles surrounding an injury need to be considered in any treatment, it is also why at All Regions Massage School the massage training we offer in all our massage courses are very thorough, resulting in a better overall result from every massage therapy treatment.
What happens at night when you are relaxing in bed is the surrounding muscles relax leaving the injured muscle without support, which in turn highlights the pain. Another thing that is similar can happen during the treatment of a painful injury, after you relieve that painful area, another area is exposed that often the person is not aware of. The best way of explaining this is:
If you have say a sore knee and someone drops a heavy rock on your toe you will forget all about your knee!!
During a massage therapy session as you relieve the main area of pain, the next area will be exposed and so it goes until they are pain free and jumping out of their skin!!
For sore, strained, or tired muscles I recommend a salt & vinegar bath, yes you have read correctly try it and see!!
How can I advise clients who experience back pain during the night?
1. They need to understand the recruitment principle as discussed in the above section.
2. If after thorough massage treatment they still experience pain you need to look at how they sleep; they may for example need to have a support under their knees as they sleep on their back, or if on their side they must support their superior or top leg with either a pillow or make sure it is supported by the leg below, this will take the pressure off their back and stop it from twisting.
3. They may need to do some exercise to strengthen their back or it may be some activity they are doing through the day that needs to be changed.
4. Finally if none of the above produces a result you may need to refer on.
All Regions Massage School believes the massage training we offer in all our massage courses are the most thorough massage therapy training there is, resulting in a better overall result from every massage therapy treatment and a very satisfied massage therapist.
