No one enjoys feeling pain, especially when it's chronic and seems to persist no matter what you do. In case you are like many people, you may have turned to deep tissue massage as a possible solution for reducing your body pain.
But does this approach help? Let's look at the evidence to see what we can learn. Deep tissue massage is more than a Swedish massage. It uses deeper strokes and harder pressure. Deep tissue massages are performed using firm pressure and slow strokes to massage the deep layers of muscle fascia and muscle. This is the connective tissue that surrounds the muscles.
Deep tissue massages can be used to remove scar tissue and muscle adhesions. These knots can block circulation and cause inflammation and pain. Your massage therapist will usually start the massage with gentle pressure to warm your muscles and then move on to more intense pressure. Deep tissue massage therapy uses two main techniques: stripping, which is deep pressure that glides along your muscle fibers, and friction, which applies pressure to the grain of your muscles to align and break down adhesions.
A study examined the effects of deep-tissue massage on 31 men with ankylosing Spondylitis. This is a type of arthritis. Researchers divided participants into two groups to receive deep tissue massage or therapeutic massaging without deep tissue techniques. Participants received 10 sessions of massage over 2 weeks. Each session lasted 30 minutes. Deep tissue massage was found to reduce pain compared with therapeutic massage significantly.
Another study had similar findings. Researchers noted that deep tissue massage eased the lower back, neck, and shoulders pain. But deep tissue massage is no miracle cure for all pain. A study on deep tissue massage for reducing chronic low-back pain found that the technique only improved symptoms of depression but not low-back pain. Massages that use deep tissue have many benefits for your mental and physical health.
