Should Deep Tissue Massage be Painful?

by Joan Cole
(Champaign IL)

There's a lot of confusion and contention about this. Many massage therapists state unequivocally that deep tissue done properly does not hurt. Others will own that it "hurts so good". Certainly, there is a lot of badly done deep tissue out there that is unnecessarily bruising clients and causing pain with no gain. There are a lot of therapists, especially newly graduated, who attempt to do deep tissue who have not yet developed the palpation skills to be able to monitor their work properly, who shouldn't be doing deep tissue yet. But that doesn't mean that deep tissue done for clinical purposes, done right, never hurts.

Healthy tissue does not hurt when compressed.

If there is nothing going wrong, and the therapist goes slowly enough for the depth she is going, works obliquely enough, she can go very deep without pain. Typically this situation is more likely to happen with someone who receives regular massage sessions, exercises and eats right, and does nothing with their body that would result in a repetitive stress disorder. That person will find that deep tissue massage done right is not painful. Someone with unhealthy tissue, perhaps just in a few areas on their body, will probably experience some pain when those areas are worked.