When I was in massage school, we learned about looking for imbalances within the muscular system and how to work toward equilibrium in the body. At Listening Hand Therapeutic Massage, one of our main goals is to help clients find pain relief. But at the end of my training, I still hadn’t understood a main concept: Consistent equilibrium and pain relief is a practice.
One of our final assignments was to work with someone on a specific issue over the course of three sessions. My classmates and I would report relief after a one session, but then when the second, and third, came around, some form of the issue inevitably resurfaced. I remember asking my instructor something like, “If we can’t make the issue go away, what’s the point?”
He ever-so graciously provided an example of a cyclist. Cyclists spend largeamounts of time with their legs bent, which leads to shortened hip flexors (muscles in the front of the body) and probably some lower back pain. He suggested that in order for cyclists to not have pain and discomfort, they would need to give up riding bicycles and move to something that perhaps has them upright more often than not. But then that position would present discomfort in other areas. What we work toward as massage therapists, he said, is not pain relief forever because we’re always going to be using our bodies. We help to facilitate the relief from tension so that our clients can do what they love to do or need to do. We can help to bring the body back into balance, but it’s not going to stay there.
His response totally altered how I understand living in our bodies. The imbalances, and the discomfort from those imbalances, are normal for how we use them. A cyclist’s hip flexors are going to be shorted. A construction worker’s traps and shoulders are going to be tight and sore. Anyone working with a computer, bakers, chefs, teachers, massage therapists, chiropractors, are likely going to have elongated back muscles and shortened pectorals and front neck muscles. Because, that is how we earn a living. It’s how we spend the majority of our time. And, unless you’re a full-time athlete who gets paid to remain relatively pain-free with the assistance of coaches and therapists, these imbalances from daily living will at some point cause pain.
Are your tight muscles normal? Yes. Are they inevitable? Sure. We live in our bodies. Whether you move a lot or not so much, your muscles will be sore. Do you have to be in pain all the time from living? No. Consistent massage therapy (once a month, twice a month, whatever interval works for you) can bring pain relief and better range of motion. Walking and stretching, even just a little, can go a long way. Any kind of movement. Hydration. These suggestions can help bring your muscles closer to equilibrium and therefore allow you to do what you do with less discomfort than if you didn’t consider and apply them. They can help. We can help.
Is that tight muscle in between your shoulder blades, or anywhere else in your body normal? Probably.
Does it have to be your normal? Not necessarily. There is hope, and massage therapy is a good place to begin.