I just got a full-body massage and minutes later my neck started feeling stiff. Is this normal?
Posted: February 19th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: massage | Tags: feeling, FullBody, just, later, massage, Minutes, neck, normal, started, stiff., this | 3 Comments »I got a 50-minute, full-body, deep tissue massage to help muscle aches and stresses. This is my first massage ever. After my massage I came home and started feeling my neck becoming stiff. And now, I can’t even turn my head left/right because of the stiffness. Is this normal? How long does the stiffness last? What should I do to help reduce the stiffness?
Call the person who did the massage and ask what you should do!
If you were laying on the table face down for 50 minutes that can cause strain on the neck muscles. Call the person who did your massage and explain what is going on and see what can be done to resolve it.
Place a moist heating pad on the neck for twenty minutes, afterwards massage an analgesic cream. This will help relax the muscles. Advil liquid capsules will help take down the pain and stiffness. Use them four times daily.
Well, as an ex-massage therapist, I can say that this is not completely out of the ordinary. My gut says that the person who gave you this massage may have used too much pressure and your muscles need time to heal themselves from tiny tears (it can happen, it’s not abnormal and just takes a day or two to heal).
Another possibility is that you had so many toxins in your muscles that were released during the massage that you need to flush them out of the system and out of the muscles by drinking a lot of water.
Most therapists will give you a glass of water after the massage. For people with a regular amount of toxins this is enough, but for someone who has a lot of toxins, it will take more water.
My suggestion is to drink several glasses of water, try to stay away from caffeine for a day or two..and to help relax the muscles use a wet heat( like a hydroculator) or regular heat(like a heating pad) to hel relax the muscles for the time being.
If this lasts for more than a couple days, call the massage therapist and let them know. Also call your doctor…you don’t want to mess with your neck and it could get worse before it gets better, so getting a rx for a muscle relaxant until the muscle heals itself from whatever it was, well, it could help you out.