When is massage a necessity, not just an indulgence?

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like a good massage, but most of the people I know, including myself, only get an occasional massage–either when things are really out of wack, or if someone gives us a gift certificate or something like that. As a pilates instructor, I work with muscle imbalances all the time and I am highly aware when someone has an abnormal degree of myofascial tightness. I can devise and teach a lot of exercises that will help to create more mobility and muscle balance, but I often advise clients to seek out additional body care to address these specific issues and resolve them more quickly. But do I follow my own advice? Rarely!

This weekend, I treated myself to a great massage with a couple of friends. It was designed to be a treat for a friend who has had some serious health issues, but I realized about half way through the massage, how much my body needed this. Places that are chronically tight, become less proprioceptive. The body shuts down some of the feedback mechanisms otherwise we would be bombarded with pain messages throughout the day. As this area becomes less “aware”, it also becomes less “intelligent”. It doesn’t move as well as it should because we have shut off communication to those tight spots. What a good massage does, is bring much needed stimulation and blood flow to these affected muscles. The massage will also help to lengthen and stretch the tight areas and restore a better range of motion to those muscle groups. Suddenly we are able to move with more freedom and control and we wonder why we don’t do this more often!

I can’t afford to get a massage every week or even every month, but I do resolve to get one more often. It’s not a luxury–it’s a necessity!