What you Need to Know About Massages

[Guest guest]

Reported April 26, 2004

What you Need to Know About Massages

NEW YORK (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A good massage can help everything from

stress and migraines to serious illnesses like Parkinson's and sickle cell,

but a bad massage can injure nerves and cause muscle spasms and

inflammation.

Schreiner loves adventure, but her active lifestyle has had its

downside. She broke her back in a climbing accident and her shoulder in a

scooter mishap. " I had this constant ache here, which made me want to get

massages, which I did every week, " Schreiner says. 

Schreiner went to massage therapists she found in the phone book, salons,

and even referred therapists for help. She says, " The massage always helped

it, made it feel better at the time, but then it would get more aggravated

within a day or so. "

Gotlin, D.O., a sports and orthopedic rehab specialist at Beth Israel

Medical Center in New York, says about 15 percent of patients who get a

massage end up needing corrective treatment afterward. He says the initial

problem usually isn't the muscle. " It's really the bone or the nerve that's

underlying that problem that's really causing the pain. " He says this means

massages could make the problem worse.

Gotlin says thin people should steer clear of deep massages. A nerve, muscle

or bone near the spinal column could be injured. Also, people who have weak

muscles or who have trouble moving their arms, back or legs should seek

medical help before receiving a massage.

If you attempt a massage at home, Gotlin says don't go too deep on your

partner, and use gentle strokes like the spindle technique along with deep

breathing.

As it turned out, it took cortisone injections for Schreiner to find relief.

" For three weeks, I was agonizing over it, and it was over in three

minutes, " she says. Now, she works out on her Pilates machine to keep her

muscles in shape.

Gotlin says if you want a better chance of a safe massage, try a therapist

from the American Massage Therapy Association. He also cautions if you have

nighttime aches, see your doctor. It could be a bone injury, arthritis or a

more serious problem.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by

e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to:

http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Gotlin, D.O.

Beth Israel Medical Center

New York, NY

rgotlin@...

American Massage Therapy Association

http://www.amtamassage.org

[Guest guest]

Reported April 26, 2004

What you Need to Know About Massages

NEW YORK (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A good massage can help everything

from stress and migraines to serious illnesses like Parkinson's and

sickle cell, but a bad massage can injure nerves and cause muscle

spasms and inflammation.

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In general, an excellent article. But the above statement does not

apply just to massage - it applies to any and every health care

modalitiy, including chiros, DO's, PT's, and full blown licenesed

doctors. Good ones (styles and/or practitioners) can be great but

bad ones can be a disaster.

And as for " massage, " there isn't just one kind of massage. There

are dozens, if not hundreds, of styles and variations: Swedish,

Thai, Shiatsu (with multiple styles of Shiatsu), Tu Nia, Medical Qi

Gong, Rolfing, MFR, Deep Tissue, NMT, etc, etc. Some are feather

light and gentle and others are deep, aggressive and invasive. Some

are wonderful for symptomatic relief for folks with EDS and others

(in my opinion) are totally contraindicated.