3 Surprising Ways To Ease Your Back Pain

Most of my clients come to our Bundaberg massage therapy clinic because of pain, predominantly back pain. These three massages are the most common, safe and effective treatment I do to help my customers with pain relief.

1. Deep Tissue Massage

A simple way to describe the treatment is that it is a massage that can feel slightly painful, yet make you feel relaxed at the same time. But first of all, what exactly is a deep tissue massage?

Deep Tissue massage is working with the layers of the back tissues and focused on relaxing and lengthening these tissues to improve their blood flow, their flexibility, and their overall function. The purpose of deep tissue massage is to work deeply into and with these back tissues in the most efficient way possible. For example, with back pain, our primary goal is less about general relaxation but more about promoting change in the back structure by releasing muscular and fascial restrictions. Generally, after the back muscles loosen up, the level of pain will be reduced significantly. My goal as a massage therapist is not to try to reverse the structural damage in the body, rather maintain the impact of these changes and manage the pain. For example, it is hard to reverse a herniated disk, but we can use different ways to maintain the pain level.

We also need to know what a deep tissue massage is NOT:

• A hard, painful massage
• A massage that follows the “No Pain, No Gain” motto
• A massage requiring extraordinary strength and effort
• A massage which causes the recipient to be sore for days afterward

Remember that properly executed deep tissue work should not cause the client to grit their teeth in agony. On the contrary, it should be performed with great sensitivity to the client’s comfort level and can be a deeply relaxing experience.

2. Dry Needling

Have you been suffering from low back pain? Have you tried so many things and nothing seems to work? I think it is time then to give dry needling a go! There are different causes of lower back pain. However, in a massage therapist’s perspective, it is caused by stiff “knots” of spinal muscles and tissues. These knots harden and squeeze the muscles to the point that it restricts movement and causes pain. In most cases, pain is not only localised on the back, but it can travel to other parts of the body such as the hip, abdomen, buttocks, and thigh. In recent times, dry needling has grown in popularity in Bundaberg, due to its effectiveness. There are a few explanations for how dry needling can help in managing your back pain. One is that dry needling stimulates blood flow. With increased blood supply in the affected muscles and tissues, there will be more nutrients and oxygen delivered to the cells, which are both essential for fast healing. Some people also believe it helps in blocking pain signals. By preventing pain receptors from receiving pain chemicals and keeping it from reaching the brain, a person receives immediate relief.

As painful as it may look, the insertion of needles is relatively painless. Every now and then, you would feel your muscle twitch as the needles reach your tissues and muscles. This twitch can sometimes feel like a cramp and it may last up to 10 seconds. Muscle soreness commonly occurs and may last up to 24 hours after your dry needling session. As this might be the case, you will soon experience the long-term benefits of dry needling.

3. Cupping

Cupping is a very effective and safe treatment for back pain. Cupping is able to loosen stiff muscles, unblock pinched nerves, and unbind myofascial adhesions. In traditional cupping, a small fire is inserted into a glass cup which creates a vacuum. The cup is quickly placed onto the patient’s back, shoulders, hips or legs. The cup instantly pulls on the muscles and tissues up into the cup. This suction draws the blood to the surface and helps to relax tight and bound muscle tissue. This therapy is very good for when there is a lot of stagnant blood and Qi. For safety reasons we use vacuum cupping which has the same effect, but doesn’t make the smoke alarm go off.

Cupping is often used together with acupuncture and massage therapy to increase the muscle relaxing and pain-relieving effects. When used together, these three treatments can provide powerful pain relief and loosening of tight muscle tissues, and thus help with reducing pain realign spine. Often Cupping will tend to leave a circular bruise which should last about 3 to 5 days. Cupping is not overly painful however a little bit of pain is absolutely normal. It feels like a really good deep tissue massage, unwinding deep knots in your muscles. In China, we also use Cupping to treat common cold or for detoxing. Cupping draws toxins out of the tissues and out through the skin. It improves lymphatic drainage to help the body fight off infections and muscle tension.

In Need For A Massage? Here’s a $25 Massage Voucher!

We would love to welcome you at our Bundaberg Massage Clinic! To help you get started, we’d love to send you a $25 Massage Voucher that you can use for any of our treatments and massage packages. Click here to claim yours now!