Massage--Anyone Tried??

[nhtom]

Although I have had CD for many years, I have never had therapeutic massage. I am interested to know if anyone else has tried it for neck/shoulder pain. My shoulders are very tense, but I know nothing about the type of therapy to look for. Please add any input that you can. Thanks.

[spitball]

Hi- I tried acupuncture once. It is very relaxing and I actually fell asleep. Sorry, never had a therapeutic massage. Have you had botox injections? I just had my first three in the neck, and knock on wood, the muscles don't feel like a tight knot like it used to at times. Best of luck!

[tic chick]

massage is great!!

i have tourette syndrome, a tic disorder. sometimes i get these long, stretching neck tics. my shoulders and neck feel painful for days. the worst thing is, once i get into one of these phases, the more it hurts, the more i tic.

massage breaks this cycle for me and i don't have neck tics for nearly a month.

ask for a deep tissue massage. you can specify how hard you want to be massaged depending on your pain level. i go for a very hard massage. there is a new type of treatment that adds heated stones to the deep tissue massage. it sounds good, too.

botox is also a great alternative!. it weakens the neck muscle that is hurting and you don't get as severe a dystonia. get this done only by a neurologist! botox is a weakened version of a dangerous poison. botox injections wear off after a couple months, too, so you will need repeat treatments if you choose to do them.

take care of yourself,
jeannie

[1sorearm]

Definetely pursue massage. I have been getting physical therapy massage for many months and it is one of the only things that helps calm the muscles down. I have focal dystonia of arm.

[Ladybug]

I second the deep tissue massage therapy treatment and the effects last for a month. The huge added benefit we found was in boosting the immune system, which seemed to help with multiple symptoms/issues all around.

[fireweed]

massage makes some people with dystonia worse. this may change as it progresses (it used to help my son, now sometimes it does, but often it makes him worse.)

the pressure has to be just right to calm the spasms and not stimulate more.


it's definitely key to have a very intuitive therapists who won't be alarmed by having to change pressure constantly in response to what the muscles are doing on their own...