Setting Massage Goals

"How often should I receive massage?" This is one question I hear regularly at the studio that leaves me feeling out of breath and out of time when I answer it. Now I could just answer "whenever you want it" or "whenever you feel you need it", but that doesn't completely answer the question. If I say once a week, or twice a week, or even once a month, that still doesn't mean much because you don't understand why. I think everyone who has had a massage before understands that it is capable of relaxing the mind and body and reducing pain caused by tense muscles (stress). This goal can be accomplished with random sessions of massage plugged into your schedule when it fits OR solidified into an overall health and wellness routine to produce and maintain more lasting results.

According to leading massage author Sandy Fritz there are three primary reasons why people seek massage and bodywork services. Once this reason is determined it is easier to set goals and treatment protocols for current and future sessions. The three primary reasons people seek massage and bodywork services are

Palliative Care

Condition Management

Therapeutic Change

Palliative Care

The term palliative massage can actually have two very different meanings. On one hand it is interchangeable with "pampering" massage while on the other it refers to massage treatments for those in hospice or suffering with a chronic debilitating disease. Although these are two very different circumstances, the approach to setting goals for the massage are much the same.

The verb "to palliate" means to reduce suffering. In the case of a pampering massage the goal might be to temporarily relieve stress and tension associated with a particular situation or event in one's life, such as getting married or having a birthday. A person may visit a massage therapist to be pampered once a year because they are on vacation or have received the massage as a gift. In the case of persons in hospice and those experiencing a chronic debilitating disease, palliative massage care provides the same temporary relief from the stresses and tensions that accompany these experiences. Massage does not provide a cure for the condition and is not able to slow the condition down. Care is provided to reduce suffering and make the person as comfortable as possible.

It is difficult to produce any temporary or permanent changes in a person's condition through the application of a single massage session (such as with those seeking massage as a yearly luxury). It is equally as impossible to reverse the progression of chronic debilitating diseases. Therefore the goal for this type of massage session is to create an overall sense of wholeness and wellbeing and reduce the intensity of associated pains and stresses.

Condition Management

Condition management is the most common approach to massage therapy; the primary condition being managed is stress. Let's say, for example, that you work a full time job, have a family and have recently started taking classes at the local community college. Although finding time for a weekly massage might be difficult, you still manage to visit your massage therapist every few months to help you stay relaxed and focused. Your stressful conditions in life are not changing; however a massage every 1-2 months keeps things from getting worse. Think of condition management like a maintenance program on your car. You change the oil every few months and it keeps things running as they should. Don't change the oil (or take a break from stress) and other parts of the car start breaking down.

The condition management approach also works well in musculoskeletal conditions such as scoliosis, in which massage has been shown to effectively manage the pain and inflexibility that results from an abnormal curvature in the spine. Massage provides temporary relief to overworked muscles that are consistently strained by the misaligned bones. Scoliosis is a condition that can be treated through various forms of medical care. Massage manages the pains and stresses of this condition throughout the course of that care. The condition is treatable and massage is likely to help it get better before it gets worse.

Therapeutic Change

This approach to massage treatment is designed to improve the condition of the body as a whole or any of its parts. Sessions designed to produce therapeutic change require the most resource expenditure (i.e. time, money, and lifestyle changes) because they require frequent sessions performed closer together. 1-4 sessions a week for several months may be needed for chronic conditions before a lasting change is experienced. A good example of this is a person who has experienced mild to moderate low back pain on a regular basis for over 6 months. The longer the condition has been occurring, the more likely regular massage treatments will be needed. Massage produces a change in the amount of pain experienced and increases flexibility. If, however, the person doesn't change the other perpetuating factors that contribute to their back pain, such as how they lift boxes at work, then the therapeutic change produced by massage may only be temporary. The person may then move back into utilizing massage for condition management after significant improvement in the condition or the inability to improve the condition any more through massage.

Be sure to discuss these approaches to treatment with your therapist. Receiving a great massage isn't just about how good your therapist is at applying massage techniques. It's also about good communication between the therapist and the client. So be sure to answer any questions on the intake form honestly and take time to write something for each questions. Your expectations are more easily met when goals are set for the session before hand.

Resources

Sandy Fritz. Fundamentals of Therapeutic Massage, 3rd edition.