How often do I have to have a deep tissue massage?

[lilitaly79]

I've been having some upper back pain/tension by my left shoulder blade lately. I've noticed that the pain is most aggravated by me sitting at the computer all day at work. I went in today & got a deep tissue massage & she worked the heck out of it but it still seems like I'll have to go back. My question is: How long can I expect to have to go to the massage therapist until I am better?

 

[Common Sense]

The massage therapist will want you to keep coming back forever....Don't go back until it starts to really hurt again..

 

[Scooch]

Your solution can be simple with a little concerted effort for change. More than likely your all day, in a chair, in front of a computer posture is your chronic, primary cause. Add a little stress from whatever, a little dehydration from caffeine, alcohol, lack of sleep, over-exertion or whatever, and you have a recipe for long-term problems. The massage therapist, if trained well enough, should know that the upper back and shoulder tension is a result of your chronic, daily posture. Massage done to the muscles in the upper back will probably have limited results unless you challenge your postural habits. I'll try to make this brief, but sensible at the same time. Many office employees force themselves into our ever popular "institutionalized position" of sitting, with head, neck, arms and shoulders in a 'forward' holding pattern. What this does is shorten all the muscles in the anterior thoracic region (abdominals, pectoralis major & minor, anterior deltoid, biceps, scalenes & sternocleidomastoid; go ahead and look these up to know where they are). As these muscles shorten, they create an opposite affect on the muscles of upper and lower back, posterior shoulders & posterior neck: lengthening, fatiguing and in essence overworking and 'cramping' these muscles. Your symptom is tight upper back. More than likely your cause is too short of muscles in the chest, anterior shoulder, biceps and anterior neck. Your muscles in your upper back are more than likely tight because they are already overstretched. [I know, it is opposite of what you would normally think]. This is why stretching of the upper back has limited results because you are trying to stretch and already overstretched set of muscles. For some complementary results to your massages, you need to do daily stretches for your chest, anterior neck, biceps and abdominals to balance your posture again. If you are spending 8 hours a day training your anterior muscles to be short, then you need to balance that with movements, stretches and strengthening in the opposite direction. Ask your MT to work on your pecs, biceps, scalenes, abdominals and diaphram, along with the attention to the upper back. If she seems puzzled by this request, or is unable to follow through, then find someone who is better trained to address these issues. It will save you time, money and frustration as weeks and months go by. Best wishes

 

[heogog]

The best way to figure out how often you need to go by the way your responds to the massage; as in how your upper back tension responds. I also suggest that after your massages you start doing some upper back and neck stretches to keep the muscles moving. The problem is that your muscles contract from stress. Unless YOU start making an effort to take care of yourself, then, yes, you'll end up going to the massage therapist indefinitely.
I'm both a nurse and a massage therapist, and have been a body builder in the past.