The Myth of No Pain No Gain in Massage Therapy

It's not at all uncommon for many of us to experience tension in our bodies – be it aches and pains in our lower or upper back, our shoulders, or somewhere else. With the fast-pace of life today, aches, pain and tension seem to come part and parcel with the territory of being human.  It’s one of the most common reasons we tend to seek massage, healing and bodywork – to relieve this pain.

We’ve been taught from young that without pain you won’t get much gain in life. And it’s a commonly held belief that when it comes to a massage treatment in particular, to get the pain out, we need to get in there hard, and knead all that tension away.

But - does this approach to massage and healing really work?  And does it actually work for life in general, or do we find ourselves circling around and around back to the same spot, with the same tensions, frustrations and physical ailments that we had previously?  From what I’ve seen in clinic, and from general observations in life overall, this does seem to be the case a lot of the time.

The application of going in hard in a massage treatment can offer much needed relief, but it can be short lived, and commonly we will see the pain and tension soon returning. 

The thing is, relief and release are two different things.   

Our bodies are not designed to be tough and hard. It’s a myth, and a sad one at that, that we need to toughen up to do well in life. And I would venture to say that deep down we do all know that this toughen up thing is not natural - do we not all know of a big toughened up dude who we can tell is a big teddy bear at heart? 

We can pile on the walls of toughness around us, but what remains underneath is far from tough. Our bodies are naturally sensitive and tender. That’s a grand part of the beauty of the human body, and also, its strength.

So if we experience pain during a massage treatment, it cannot but mean that other parts of the body will tighten up. It’s a natural defence mechanism.

The following two points are key to the philosophy with which I treat and support clients in massage and bodywork:

1.        Tension breeds more tension

When we go hard on the body and muscles, the body’s natural response is to go into protection and therefore we become more tense, not less. While the specific part of the body that was tense can feel better for a short time, the rest of the body hasn’t necessarily shifted from being tense overall. Inevitably, the ailment we had will either come back the same way, or spring up somewhere else in the body.

2.        The body doesn’t actually need fixing

It needs support to release what's in the way for it to return back to its natural tension-free state. Life as we've we’ve set it up today to be, is full of onslaughts from every direction, and it’s very common, to get impacted, even pummelled. But we’re not naturally angry, grumpy, miserable people. We’re not naturally tense.

When you book with a relaxation massage or bodywork treatment with us at Burleigh Heads Gold Coast, what you receive is all about removing what has been imposed on to you to prevent you from feeling great, vital and relaxed. To feel full of beans consistently, sharp and focussed should not be the odd one-off occasion we experience, with the help of a cup of coffee. It’s actually our natural state, and massage, healing and bodywork can be a wonderful support for us without having to go into physical pain and tension along the way.