Have you ever become nauseous from a
massage before? To my knowledge none of my clients ever have, but I
had someone the other day ask me about that very thing. A friend of
hers had a very “deep tissue” massage while on vacation and
became very ill right after the massage. Notice I put “deep
tissue” in quotes here. Here is why:
Myth: Deep tissue massage
should hurt, and have a huge amount of pressure.
Truth: Deep tissue massage is
not deep pressure massage!!! Rather, it is quite slow and not so
painful, unless the therapist and client are working through some
trigger points. Trigger points can be painful, but should never go
above the 4-6 range on a pain scale. (0=no pain and 10=worst pain
you have ever felt) Deep tissue massage is also not a full body
massage. It is contained to only a couple of areas of the body.
There are a few possible reasons behind
why this person became sick after her massage.
1. She was dehydrated. You definitely
want to make sure you are drinking enough water each day, and
especially before and after a massage. Not because it removes toxins
from the body, but because keeping hydrated helps your body do what
it needs to do on a cellular level. When you are dehydrated, your
body has a difficult time coping with anything you put it through.
If you don't like water, then read my post about how to give your water some excitement.
2. It wasn't a deep tissue massage, but
a deep pressure one. Much too deep a pressure of one. When causing
so much pain to someone through a full body deep pressure massage,
the body can go into shock. This can cause the nausea that this
person was feeling.
3. The face cradle was not positioned
correctly. I stress to my clients of how important it is for them to
tell me if they are ever uncomfortable before, during and after a
massage. This is a key in point reason. If the face cradle was
positioned so that it was hitting pressure points on the client, it
can cause sinus pain, headaches, dizziness, and of course nausea.
Please don't be afraid to speak up to your therapist if you are ever
uncomfortable on the table, or in a massage chair for that matter.
Even if you started out comfortable, but after a few minutes, or even
halfway through the massage, let your therapist know. A skilled
therapist will be able to work on your muscles in any position that
you need to be in. I can work on your back, even if you are laying
on your back.
So now you have a bit more information
about why a massage could not make you feel so great afterward, and
what do to to make sure that doesn't happen. Drink plenty of fluids,
talk to your therapist about his/her pressure, and let your therapist
know if you are ever uncomfortable during the massage. If you do
become sick after a massage, please let your therapist know about it,
so you can figure out why that happened, to prevent it from happening
again.
