Question about massage therapy

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been on either side of the massage table.

On Saturday I was getting a massage. She found some knots in my wrists, and it was pretty painful when she worked them out. But while she was working on my back, a few times it felt really good, so much so that I moaned in pleasure a little bit. She responded by saying “This needs working on”, and spent more time on that area.

Do you think she misunderstood my moans of pleasure as moans of pain? Or do those knots sometimes feel good to get touched?

Moans of pleasure generally indicate to me that it feels good. Usually it feels good because it’s relieving some of the muscle tension. Since I want you to feel good, and relieving muscle tension is usually one of the goals of massage therapy, I’ll hang out and work there for a bit. My guess is this is what she meant by “needs working on”.

It varies by modality, but massage shouldn’t generally hurt. There may be moments of discomfort bordering on pain, but if it hurts, you probably need a new massage therapist. Overall, it *should *feel good. (This does not apply to Rolfing or Structural Therapy, but even there, the pain should be transitory.)

That would make sense to me if I’d moaned after she worked on the area for a bit, but it was at the very first moment that she touched me there. Can a knotted muscle ever feel good while it’s still knotted?

If by “knotted” you mean under tension and not fully able to relax, then yes. In fact, usually, yes. It “wants” to be released, and it doesn’t take much pressure at all to start that process and feel good. It may take no pressure at all, in fact, just a light touch.

Back in the early 90’s, I had a job as an anatomy instructor for a massage therapy school. Part of the job was being a crash test dummy for the (adult) students as they practiced various techniques. Some of the students were definitely rougher than others. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to it. Some of the men were gentle in their technique, some of the wmen were appallingly ham-fisted. Since I left the school, I have not submitted to another massage. Good ones are only tolerable to me, and bad ones are an exercise in discomfort.

I haven’t had a lot of massages, but that’s my experience too. At an old job one of the perks was a chair massage every other week. The woman that did them was pretty rough. One day a man substituted for her and was much lighter. Fortunately, the woman I have now is right in the Goldilocks zone.