What advice does a massage therapist give after a massage?

Answer 1

Drink plenty of water. Massage releases toxins from the muscles into the body's system. Without drinking water to flush out the system, the toxins can stay in your system and make you ill, even downright sick.

Depending on how bad the client is with tension or 'knots' in the muscles, the client might want to return to a massage therapist within one to two weeks. The reason for that is that after 14 days, there is more chance of the tension returning to the muscles. So within the 14 days, the therapist will be able to start where you left off rather than starting over.

Also, something that will help between massages (and especially the night after massages) is an Epsom Salt soak. What you will do is fill your bathtub with water as warm as you like it (obviously don't burn yourself). Dissolve three hand fulls of Epsom Salt into the water and soak for about 30 minutes.

This will help to break up connective tissues in the muscles that will promote relaxation as well as dissolving the lactic acid that has become built up in the muscles (that causes cramps, discomfort, soreness, etc.). Also, the warm water will help to open the pores in the skin and the water, with the aide of the Epsom Salt, will help to draw out toxins from your skin.

Dispelling the Toxin Myth:

The concept of toxin released is, IMHO, overused and misused in Massage Therapy. Massage does NOT release toxins. The toxins that they are talking about are the normal metabolic toxins your body produces by natural metabolism. Yes, it does help them move around in the circulatory system, but the drinking of water DOES NOT release them either. The toxins can only be processed by the natural mechanisms of the liver and kidneys. Water will help them function properly, but the image of water washing or flushing away the toxins is inaccurate according to the principles of anatomy and physiology, and Biology, as we know it today. So, yes, water helps, but water is always good to have in our systems because that's what makes them work properly at their own metabolic speed. In other words massage and water DO NOT speed up the process, it only helps it do it better.

Plus, the newest research has shown that it is not the toxin release that relieves pain. It is the activation of local tissue hormones called prostaglandins that are released by massage that reduce inflammation. Reducing inflammation is what causes the relief of pain. We all know how taking NSAID's can relieve pain by reducing inflammation, well massage can do the same thing, in many instances, by reducing inflammation in body tissues to relieve pain. Once again, it is not the toxin release, there is no such thing, they don't get released, they get moved around, and the main reason massage reduces pain is because is reduces inflammation.

Will every massage therapist listen to me and take my advice as follows: Tell your clients that drinking water is good for them, not just after a massage or before going to bed. It is good for the body all the time. AND STOP THERE. Just drop the "drink water because it helps flush out the toxins." That is the WRONG image to leave them with because it does not do that. If it really did that it would mess up their electrolyte level and that can be dangerous. For the last time, there is no mechanism in the body that "flushes out toxins" not massage and not drinking water. That is the wrong image of how things work.

My mentor, Bill Mueller, would encourage therapists to keep it simple and say, "Have some water, it's good for you, and make sure you always drink plenty of it everyday, if you get a massage, or not."