Help! Lots of pain after first sessions...

[KIWI TEE]

Hi everyone,

Please excuse my posting here as a patient, not a practicioner -- but I can't figure out where else to go online for help. Here's my dilemma:

I started feeling back pain and decided to get a massage -- about a week or so after the pain appeared and it had almost gone away -- after the first massage I felt great until the next day. For the next week I felt a deep, piercing pain in my lower back and decided to go back to the therapist. He explained that this may or may not be a problem, its a nerve pain which happens after the lactic acids are broken up, and it should go away within a couple more sessions. He also recommended some stretches. After this second session I'm hurting even more and wondering if I should go back for another session...is this normal?? I thought massage relieved pain, rather than causing it.

I'm in Argentina and maybe massage therapists do things a little differently here...

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm 27 years old, if that helps with the diagnosis.

 

[RuddiGer]

First, let me say that any info you get hear is STRICTLY a suggestion or idea. It is NOT a diagnosis, and actually in the US, a massage therapist does not diagnose, but may assess.

Now on to the question....
If you are in increasingly more pain after each session with this therapist, I would probably not go back. Some discomfort may be experienced- similar to a post-exercise soreness. But, and someone may have some different opinion on this, I can't imagine that any "breaking up of lactic acid" should be causing nerve pain. Nerve pain (assuming that is what it is) in the low back could be from a bulging disc, a misaligned vertebrae, ....

actually, as I type that, I would think maybe seeing a good chiropractor might be your best next step, or possibly an medical doctor. Severe low back pain can be associated with a number of medical disorders.

It is also possible that the two event are unrelated, though, happened at the same time. Have you done anything unusual or experienced any falls, slips, accidents, etc.

 

[Malcolm]

:shock: I'm gonna agree with Palpable on this one.......... never heard of nerve pain being brought on as a side-effect of lactic acid being broken up.......... never as a client/patient or practitioner. I'd be able to understand muscle soreness the day after a massage - especially if there was some really deep work being done, but, nothing that would cause nerve pain.

Get thyself to a chiro or a physician and make sure there isn't something underlying the lower back issue and the pain just to be sure what is going on..................... and, if it were me, I'd try another massage therapist too.

 

[angelcake]

Sadly, sounds like your massage therapist is making things up. It's normal to feel a bit of soreness the next day, or maybe feel like you exercised some muscles for the first time. Deep, piercing pain is NOT normal. Do you remember anything he did during the massage that seemed painful, or seemed to reproduce that pain?

While I'd bet good money that he didn't cause a new injury, it sounds like he's aggravating an existing one and doesn't know how to avoid it. I agree with the advice about seeing a doctor if this persists, and by all means, stop seeing this therapist. The quality of massage therapists, especially in areas of low or no requirements for licensing, can vary widely.

 

[PUMPKIN head]

Hi, I will have to agree with what most people said here. Yes, there will be pain soreness, more like someone said about after exercising feel, or slight bruising. I know lots of therapists, and I know many who also use lactic acid to explain those feelings, but that would not actually whats going on.

It may depend on the feeling you have in your back, if it is a stabbing, sharp pain, it usually is nerve pain.

From my personal experience ( I have lots of back problems), and I know if you go into a massage and tell them you have low back pain, they work tons on your low back muscles (seems pretty obvious), but the problem is that sometimes loosening those muscles up CAUSES the bigger problem. (again, I've had this happen)

If your hip flexors are tight it is pulling your spine forward, and the back side, is trying to keep your spine back, so when you loosen up the back, and do nothing for the front, they can pull your spine too far forward and cause a problem, possibly with your disk.

So again to co-sign on what the others said, go see a chiro...it's really your best bet I think.

 

[Elle M]

Totally agree with what everyone has posted here.

Soreness is normal, especially with trigger work or deep tissue, but that is not normal. I would see a chiropractor and/or a different massage therapist.