With EDS, my body's reaction to different massage modalities... - Ehlers-Danlos News

[massage]

I recently wrote about a strange sensation of energy I experienced during a massage, and it’s been really neat hearing feedback from others with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) who’ve had similar experiences. One reader, a Chinese medicine practitioner, commented and said that it did indeed sound like I’d released some stagnant energy, or qi. Fascinating!

I had another unusual experience during my last massage, but it was related to extreme tenderness in my intercostal and subscapularis muscles. Sometimes when my muscles get incredibly inflamed and tender, I can’t tolerate much manual manipulation of them. Over the years, however, I’ve learned that cupping doesn’t create the same pain response. Rather, it allows my bodyworker to actually work on the muscles and help them calm down enough to do deeper work and find the root of the problem.

When my bodyworker, Kim, began trying to gently work on my right side during my last session, I was flinching and twitching all over the place. This area has a lot of deep scar tissue from a severe shoulder injury I sustained as a teenager, prior to my EDS diagnosis. I dislocated my shoulder, tore my trapezius muscle, broke my collarbone, and damaged pretty much everything else connected to my shoulder. Kim has been working on me every other week for six or seven years now, so she was very familiar with what was going on.

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Kim is also very conscientious, so she immediately realized that she needed to try a different modality. Based on my own catalog of experiences with various reactions, I told her that I thought cupping might be the only way to tackle such hypersensitive muscles. She was happy to switch to cups, but then she realized that she’d forgotten to bring them that day.

One of the many great things about Kim is that she’s cross-trained in several different massage modalities, and she can switch between them depending on my needs. After a moment of consideration, she decided to try Rolfing, a form of bodywork that involves manipulating the fascia.

While massage usually feels like downward pressure, this was totally different. It felt like Kim was gently lifting my skin and muscles and rolling them through her fingers. Amazingly, I didn’t have the same intense reaction I’d had a few moments earlier.

When I asked Kim how that simple change could make such a big difference, she said it probably had to do with shifting the direction of the pressure to the upward rolling motion of Rolfing. While I understand that in theory, it still seems a little crazy to me. But since this modality helped release a lot of that painful tightness, I really didn’t care too much!

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Note: Ehlers-Danlos News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Ehlers-Danlos News or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Ehlers-Danlos.

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