I’ve been having some bothersome pain in my right hamstring, and stiffness in my lower back. The local trigger point massage lady retired a while back, so I had to try to find another place for the work. I found a place on the north side of Waco, on the 340 loop. A tiny little woman worked me over for an hour, while I tried to not squeal, groan, howl, or cry. I don’t know if she used fingers or elbows or drill bits, but she went deep into the muscles. $49, which I thought was rather reasonable.

This morning I ache in a lot of places, but the lower back is less tight and the right hamstring is way better. I’ll use them again, for sure.

Man, when she went deep into my hamstring, I was close to doing my coyote imitation. Shoulda put my leather belt between my teeth…

$49 is a great deal for a massage

I go to a place in Plano called Happy Feet, I think it's ran by Koreans. I have either Coco or Yoyo do a full body massage, runs $70 for one hour full body deep tissue massage.

They are outstanding

That was a deep tissue and deep pressure massage. You do not need to have deep pressure in order to receive deep tissue. I do deep tissue all the time, but my clients do not squeal in pain/discomfort. I would rather my clients feel relief and be able to resume their lives immediately after leaving my room. A client receiving their first massage ever may have some soreness the next day, but no more than one would expect after a workout.

I would recommend some stretching for your hamstrings since they are a bit looser. You will most likely really feel the massage tomorrow.

I am glad you found some relief.

A few years ago I had an unfortunate experience with a chiropractor. He put me in the emergency room. The pain for weeks was really bad, but we had a trip planned to visit family, so off we went. I couldn’t sleep or even get comfortable. It hurt so bad. Someone recommended deep tissue massage, and they knew a woman that was good at it. I was not a believer in massage having much, if any, benefit, but I was hurting, so I went. She went deep for the muscle knots that were causing my pain, and it was painful. No immediate relief, but the next day was better, and the next day even better. That convinced me that it was worthwhile. I found a woman here that could do that deep massage. She called it Trigger Point Release. When she retired, I tried a place in Waco, but they didn’t do me any good. It didn’t hurt, but didn’t do much good. This place I found gave me what I was expecting, and went deep for the knots. It hurt a bit, but I do think I got what I needed.

There’s a deep tissue masseuse in Groesbeck now, and I’ll try her out next time I need help. 9 miles instead of 40 miles to the massage.

There are a lot of different techniques. Trigger point is working the specific nerve point in order to release the muscle. But there are stretches a massage therapist can perform on your hamstrings while holding the hamstring in order to get it to release without the discomfort. Also, I would assess and possibly work the abdominal muscles since you described having lower back pain. The QL muscle is an abdominal muscle, but sits against the back wall and so many people believe it's a back muscle...it's not. You can help get it to release by working the front abdominals and obliques and then when the client is face down applying pressure while the client takes slow deep breaths. A therapist can also pick up the client's legs and perform different stretches to release the lower back, all without the deep pressure.

My biggest issue with deep pressure is the muscles fight against it, making it harder on the therapist to do the work and adds unnecessary discomfort. I work at a university and I am often the first therapist the students will ever see. I want to provide a treatment that is effective but also pleasant so that they will be more willing to seek therapeutic massage throughout their lives. I have worked on over 1500 different individuals the last 9+ years (over 1000 at my current location). I work on professional athletes, Olympic athletes, Paralympic Athletes, and people from the age of 5 years old to 86 years of age...primarily I work on those that have had injuries or are trying to maintain a high level of performance.

Like I said, I personally just don't like to do deep pressure while doing deep tissue as there are other ways that don't cause the discomfort. I am constantly taking continuing education classes to add to my level of knowledge to be the best therapist I can be.

Several years ago I was experiencing tendon impingement syndrome in my right shoulder. Got two shots and no help. Went to therapy for a couple of months and no help there either. Someone told me about an amazing masseuse and I started seeing her. She was gentle but firm. She hit some spots on me that felt like Spock had done that pinch thing on me. Well after a few seesions, the pain went away. When I first went to her the pain was terrible, especially when I would lay still. I swear she is an empath. The sessions lasted 45 minutes to an hour and she would be ringing wet from sweating. I am a believer.

My little Korean girl tells me "No Scream! You scare away customers"

After I had my neck/spine fusion, I had terrible neck spasms and was doing PT. The gal that worked on my neck had arms like a linebacker. People on the floor would actually stop and watch her work me over!

I need to find a real massage person

I’ve spent an awful lot of time with chiropractors. I’m a polio survivor from a long time ago and chiropractors have been important to me. It hit me in back and legs and I had to learn to walk again. I’ve spent my life exercising, walking, lifting weights and stretching. Lived a normal, average life that the doctors said I probably wouldn’t do.

Current problem is painful arthritis in my back, legs and thumbs. I’m 80 yoa and that stuff showed up last year. Doc’s say that if I quit exercising, lifting, walking, etc, I won’t be able to start up again. I walk a mile per day unless it’s raining or something comes up. No choice.

Been for a massage twice but didn’t do much for me.

I saw on the news there’s a couple places in Dallas that offer several add ons for your massage pleasure…

Happy to say that we have a new deep tissue massage woman in Groesbeck. My wife said she did a great job. I’m not needing it right now, thank goodness.

I'm not sure where you're located, but perhaps this will help you sort through the therapists available in your area.

https://www.amtamassage.org/find-massage-therapist/

If you have any questions on what you should ask to find the right one, feel free to ask me.

Used to go to a place called Legacy massage at Alma and Springcreek. It was a one woman shop and she had fingers of iron and would massage you through a thick blanket. Loved going there but she closed up about 14 years ago. Had another therapist in an old neighborhood close to Preston and 190 who was a female body builder and she was fantastic. Unfortunately she was also a nymphomaniac blackout drunk and I had to stop going there 3 to 4 night per week after a few years.

My PT guy used his elbow mostly. Its amazing how they can locate and destroy knots knowing where every nerve is.

I had a 75 minute deep tissue and hot stone massage to relieve some hip pain and it worked. Not 100% gone but I’ll see my chiropractor today and probably schedule another deep tissue massage for Friday. It’s not pleasant, but it works.

Deep massage releases toxins stored in the muscle tissue which will lead to soreness for a day or two.


In other words, it's good fer ya.
The guy over here is a little asian man, he kicks my [censored].

gotta call bs on the nympho

but it's funny

That guy can't just make a post without adding a little fabricated nugget in there. That's what pathological liars do I guess.

The release of toxins is actually just a myth. Even the American Massage Therapy Association says there is no scientific evidence to support this idea.

AMEN! As a licensed massage therapist for 10 years and a licensed instructor for almost 4 years, I've tried to correct this misinformation whenever I hear/read it. There is so much bad information out there with regards to massage, and a lot of it is perpetuated by well meaning therapists themselves, it's just sad.

I never did believe the Toxin release thing, but I am sore after a deep tissue session. My wife always says drink a lot of water after a massage, but I usually don’t and can’t see or feel a problem from it. What do you say? I’ll take that as gospel.

The water thing is somewhat based in truth, but not like most people think. So, a massage can help with blood circulation and moving lymph through the body, therefore you may need to urinate soon after a massage. This is due to the massage getting more blood to muscles. So you should probably replenish the fluids. Water will help in the sense that it will help the nutrients get carried to where they need to go. The body naturally gets rid of lactic acid and toxins on its own. So it's really not gonna help with pain and soreness. Heck, stretching and movement will help, oddly enough, just like after a workout. Essentially the massage therapist is putting your body through a workout (aside from like a Swedish massage or manual lymphatic drainage massage as these require a much lighter touch).

The majority of my clients that are not athletes and/or cognizant of their daily water intake are somewhat dehydrated because of their diets; so if I have a client whose skin is dry, or their muscles aren't very pliable, then I'll suggest they increase their water intake. Most of us should drink about half of our body weight in ounces a day (so a 100 pound person should drink about 50 ounces of water a day...not all at once). This will increase or decrease depending on that person and their own health issues (people with kidney issues or congestive heart issues, etc., may be advised by their physician to drink less). Also, if you are on blood pressure meds (or have low normal blood pressure like I do), a massage can actually drop your blood pressure temporarily to a bit too low. Drinking water can help bring it back up to a more normal range.

Being a bit sore after a massage can be normal, but really it depends on the techniques used and how often you get a massage. I have some clients that see me once a year, they will probably experience some slight soreness. I have others that see me 2 times a week that never experience soreness. I try my best to always pay attention to a client's muscles and how they are reacting to the massage, as well as my client if they are being vocal, to guide my work. I've worked on over 1700 people and have over 15,000 hours of experience. I'm probably pretty good at my craft, but I will never claim to be the best or most knowledgeable massage therapist, but I will always give my best to my clients.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Very rarely do we get the really good info.