If you live with chronic pain in Los Angeles CA, you know how debilitating it can be to your everyday life. There are a number of medications available to manage the symptoms, but they often have side effects that can affect your health and quality of life. For this reason, more people living with chronic pain are looking for alternative ways to manage their symptoms. One of them is medical massage therapy – a safe, effective and drug-free way to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation.
What Defines Chronic Pain?
The Institute for Chronic Pain defines chronic pain as lasting longer than six months. Sometimes, this pain stems from an injury or illness, but other times, the cause is unknown. Chronic pain can also come with additional symptoms and escalate to chronic pain syndrome, which is persistent pain that lasts for months or years.
It’s possible for chronic pain to occur in any part of the body, including your head, neck, lower back and nerves. The pain may feel sharp, dull or burning, and it can come and go without any known triggers. Because chronic pain is unpredictable and debilitating, it can be challenging to get through daily activities and social events.
Some of the most common pain conditions that we work with are:
- Chronic pain syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Endometriosis
- Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
How Can a Medical Massage Help Chronic Pain?
Medical massage therapy is proving to be a dependable treatment for many types of pain. It’s also accepted as an adjunct to other medical treatments, making it a useful addition to most pain management treatment plans.
Below are some of the ways that chronic pain massage therapy can help ease your symptoms:
- Increase blood flow and circulation
- Relax the muscles to improve range of motion
- Boost feel-good endorphins in the brain
- Improve restful sleep
- Decrease anxiety and improve mood
How Does a Medical Massage Differ from a Standard Massage?
A standard massage is relaxing, but how does it compare to a medical massage?
With a spa massage, the goal is to help you relax and experience a temporary reduction in stress. A medical massage, on the other hand, has a specific goal in mind. It is based around the symptoms you are experiencing and the goals you have for treatment.
To ensure you receive the best massage treatment possible for your chronic pain, Samantha will go layer by layer to ensure the right tissues are addressed. In order to see the best results from these types of massages, it’s important to target the original pain trigger and its consequences. Otherwise, you will just feel relaxed after the massage rather than getting the true healing value.
Are medical massages effective? Absolutely! This form of therapy has been studied and clinically tested for the last 100 years in numerous countries. Though it’s not as widely recognized in Western medicine, this is changing. Eventually, it’s believed that medical massage therapy will be a legitimate and effective medical treatment and an alternative to surgery here in the U.S. as it is in many other countries.
What Happens During a Medical Massage?
Once Samantha has assessed your pain, she can put together a personalized treatment plan. Each session lasts 4 to 60 minutes. During this time, you will receive a massage that applies pressure to areas of pain and dysfunction. The level of touch is based on the type of pain you are experiencing. For example, a client with fibromyalgia will receive gentle touches while a client with lower back pain may get deeper pressure.
The benefit to Los Angeles chronic pain massage therapy is that there are many techniques available. If one doesn’t work, we can try another. Usually, Samantha completes 4-6 massage sessions before reevaluating. If you’re not seeing any relief, she can make changes to your treatment plan at this time.
How Many Medical Massages Do I Need?
The key to chronic pain management is to stay ahead of the pain so that your symptoms do not worsen or flare up. Even though you may still feel pain, it should be more manageable when you follow your regimen. With this in mind, medical massage therapy should be a regular part of your pain management plan.
Samantha believes in holistic healing, so it’s worth talking to your doctor about other treatments like B-12 shots, supplements, stretching and medication. Many clients only need 1-2 massages a month to manage their chronic pain, but it’s possible you may need more. Each person is unique.
To schedule an appointment with Samantha, please contact us today. Samantha will be happy to assess your pain and determine the most appropriate techniques for managing your symptoms.