Massage Therapy

mlb929

I'm a long distance runner and have used massage therapy for staying injury free. Love it, swear by it, believe in it. So my long term massage therapist in my small town is no longer available to me. The other guy, that is "acceptable" is too difficult to schedule around for me, so I'm starting over.

So the first guy I went to - I hated. He has a high creepy factor for me, refused to work on my runners legs like I requested. Bragged about how he had put someone to the point of bed ridden. I like massage, deep, intense, and am difficult to hurt as I have a high pain threshold and tolerance level. He worked OK but when I asked him to pay more attention to my IT bands, he said "More than I already did" as he was working on my neck that I asked him NOT to work on. It wasn't a good fit.

So yesterday, I tried a different one. This one came highly recommended from a friend. YES she was able to do the massage but I just didn't "feel" it. I'm bruised badly with swelling. My IT's were tight before, now they are painful. My just over 7 miles I ran at lunch I felt every mile. My hips hurt and my feet went numb. Numbness is why I started massage therapy in the first place, my PF rubs on my sciatic nerve and I get tingling and numbness. It hasn't been bad for years until well TODAY.

So my question is do I try the same girl as yesterday again, hope I will connect, maybe she will get it right after a few tries - or give up and keep looking, which I know my sources are limited to 2 others that have reputations that aren't the best.

Is it me? My communication, maybe I should be saying something different?

sofaking6

Well I think the guy - you have it right. You communicated to him and he was ugly about it, buh-bye dude.

As far as the girl - the question is, do you know what she did that wasn't right for you i.e. would you be able to tell her? If not, you might try to get in touch with your former therapist and ask what you should tell someone new to help them know what you need. It's possible that you weren't able to tell her what you needed in the right terms...it's also possible that she's more used to Swedish-type massage and isn't qualified enough to work on you. Some people just can't do deep tissue right, they lack the arm strength or control or just knowledge.

I'm a woman who gets DEEP tissue massage as well, and I get bruises here and there but never badly and never just all around.

I would never recommend this to anyone who didn't HAVE to get massages on the regular (because you can never escape the contract), but is there a Massage Envy near you? They have a stable of therapists that work to their strengths.

You could also maybe ask before you see them - what do you specialize in? Have you had a client with this kind of issue before? What would you do to help me? - and see how you like their answers before you go and get yourself wounded.