Things Your Massage Therapist May Discover

When you call your local spa to make an appointment for a massage, you may have its obvious benefits running through your mind.  The destressing aspect, the stimulation of blood flow, the working out of muscle tightness.  Maybe you are even thinking of the detoxing effects, or the increased activation of your lymphatic system.  But, the massage you are about to get can often reveal much more than you anticipated.  A doctor's checkup is normally once a year, to catch problems before they become worse, or potential problems before they become present.  A periodic trip to the spa for a massage throughout the year can catch some of them even earlier.  While massage therapists do not do blood work, there are several problems that can be caught by feel.

Your massage therapist may find unexpected problems in between your annual checkups, in addition to giving you a relaxing experience.

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Cancer

 

One of the main problems with many cancers are they are painless and show no symptoms in early stages.  Therefore, you may have skin dysplasia in areas that are hard for you to see, or lumps that you have not detected by feel.  Generally, malignant lumps are hard to the touch.  During the kneading of your limbs and torso, a perceptive massage therapist may notice these abnormalities and tell you to get them checked out.  Many a therapist has discovered an abnormality in the abdominal area, or a painless skin lesion, which resulted in a life saved.

Habitual Poor Posture

 

Yes, most of us spend some time during the day sitting.  Those who have desk and computer jobs typically sit quite a bit.  We tend to lose sight and not think about how we are sitting.  Think back to when you were a child, and didn't realize you were slouching until your mom or dad alerted you to the fact.   As adults, we become concentrated on our work, maybe the small print on the screen is causing us to peer more towards it, and we do not realize that we are slouching.  If we don't pay attention, we can do this every day.  Chronic slouching can lead to spine and ligament damage, neck problems, and poor digestion.  The massage therapist may alert you to this fact by detection of misaligned hips due to habitual leg crossing, or tightness in the lower back from slouching.  You may have become accustomed to dull pain to the point of not realizing the problem, until the tightness is worked out in the massage.  This improved feeling can serve as a reminder to think about your posture when you are sitting.

Time for New Sleeping Gear

 

When you sleep on the same pillow and in the same bed every day for years, you often don't notice the wear, because it happens so slowly.  A mattress can have a life of anywhere between 7 - 20+ years, depending on type, brand, quality, and the weight of the person or people that use it.  If you are coming in to the spa because you are dealing with long term neck stiffness, or back pain with no obvious injury, they may find strains characteristic of poor sleeping support.

Upper Back or Shoulder Pain Due to Chronic Texting

 

When people text, they tend to hold their phone down low and hunch themselves over, especially if they are sitting down in a chair with no table in front of them.  When you are looking down for a long period of time, you tend to round your shoulders and upper spine.  The upper spine is following the path of the neck.  If this is the case with you, hold your phone up higher when texting, and as always, be mindful of your posture.