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Home » News on Massage, Health and Wellness » Blog » The Benefits of Massage » Doing Physical Therapy? Massage Therapy Can Vastly Improve Results!
David Weintraub, LMT and owner of Bodyworks DW, writes about the benefits of supplementing your physical therapy plan with massage therapy treatment. Physical therapy and massage together can produce profound synergistic results above and beyond what each can provide separately.
Pain sucks. As a massage therapist, I would know. Almost everyone who comes to see me does so because they're in pain! Many times, they are already seeing a physical therapist and not entirely happy with the results. What many don't realize is that the combination of physical therapy and massage can give greater results than either modality on it's own.
There are several reasons why massage therapy is effective for anyone who is already receiving physical therapy.
That's the short version of why massage therapy and physical therapy are a powerful combination. If you're interested in a more detailed explanation, read below!
Most of the time, my clients have such a powerful response to massage therapy they don't need additional therapies. However, that isn't always the case. I always look for clues that indicate I may need to refer a client to another practitioner, such as a physical therapist.
Update September 2020: Sometimes those clues are less about what the "best" course of treatment would be. And more about finding a way to help a client make their budget work. PT is covered by insurance far more often than massage therapy is (for now). Sometimes, I think a combination of PT and massage will work as well as massage on it's own. If so, I will often recommend a client work with a PT 1-2 times a week and with me once every 2-4 weeks.
The PT will help the client make small but steady gains. In my sessions, I'll then focus on making bigger leaps. Assuming the PT sessions are covered by insurance, the client spends less money overall and arrives at a pain free place. It just might take a little bit longer to get there. You can find several great PT's that we send clients to on our colleagues page!
The goal of many physical therapy exercises is to help strengthen any weak muscles that are causing pain symptoms. The goal is that by strengthening weak muscles, the body will move & feel healthier. But that's only half the picture.
When it comes to muscles, imbalance happens when one muscle is weak and long while another muscle is overused, chronically tight, and short. In order to correct the imbalance faster, BOTH of these problems need to be addressed. This means following the exercises provided by a physical therapist teaching clients how to engage and strengthen muscles that are weak. It also means using massage therapy to address the muscles that are chronically overused and tight.
The right massage therapist in NYC will focus on releasing these tight muscles as well as lengthening them when they've gotten short. This can help effectively decrease pain while also improving range of motion and helping the nervous system learn how to move better!
Studies show that one major obstacle to physical therapy treatment is that many will stop coming in if the exercises are painful to do, or if their pain doesn't decrease right away. (Source: Read this article) (1) Basically, if the work is too hard and painful, people are a lot less likely to do it. Massage therapy can decrease pain, often with immediate results. Which will help provide motivation to stick to the physical therapist's treatment plan.
Sometimes people will experience new aches and pains after their recovery from a surgery, even while doing physical therapy. This can happen due to a change in the body alignment and how the body moves after the procedure. If clients are already doing regular physical therapy and still experiencing pain post-surgery, I suggest asking a doctor if it’s medically safe to try massage therapy as well.
For more detailed information on massage therapy after surgery, please check out this in-depth article: Click Here! (2)
NCBI from National Institute of Health: Barriers to treatment adherence in physiotherapy outpatient clinics: A systematic review
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