Both of these questions can have very simple to very complex answers. First I will start with when you shouldn’t come in for a massage.
The short answer, you shouldn’t come in for a massage when you are sick. So this means that you are showing cold or flu-like symptoms, diarrhea or vomiting, even if these are caused by medication side effects, or induced by an allergic reaction. If the area that you want to have worked on, you’ve had a recent injection, under 24 to 48 hours, have an opened wound, undiagnosed rash, or have an acute condition that causes a lot of swelling – don’t get a massage.
For the acute conditions, it can include breaks, fractures, and even sprains that have a lot of swelling. When it comes to sprains with a lot of swelling, usually wait about 24 to 48 hours after the sprain to be able to start working on it. Usually, it is recommended that you ice and elevate the area for that time period, as you need a certain amount of swelling to help protect the joint. After the 48 hours, then you can come in for a massage for that area, usually, treatment is very light and is more about regulating the swelling in the area. As for breaks and fractures, you will usually be in some type of cast, and you won’t be able to have a massage for that area until after the cast has been removed. But other areas in both of these cases, are still allowed to be worked on, as long as it isn’t below the cast.
Now there are other conditions that you may have that can keep you from having a massage, and you should get your doctor’s permission first. These include some high-risk pregnancy conditions, heart conditions, blood clots, after recent surgery or a condition they are looking into that they haven’t diagnosed yet. These can include skin rashes, as it may not be known yet if it could be contagious.
Lastly, there are things, no matter what, you shouldn’t be coming in for a massage. You don’t even need to ask your doctor. If you have any one of these your therapist will ask you to leave, and either reschedule for another day or tell you to go to your doctor and seek out treatment or advice on how to deal with your condition before trying to book another appointment. This includes having a massage after Chemotherapy. Yes, you can have massages when you are going through chemotherapy treatments, usually, chemotherapy is done about once a week depending on how aggressive the treatment is, but you have to make sure that you only book your session after the 48-hour mark. This is because during chemotherapy, they use radiation and for at least the next 48 hours after your session your skin can give off some of that radiation, almost giving the therapist a minor radiation treatment while they are doing your massage. In this case, they will ask you to leave this appointment and reschedule it for the next day or two when this is no longer a possibility. The other more scary one, that therapists will cancel your appointment and tell you not to come back until you have been cleared, is if you happen to contract a parasite. This usually happens more often if you travel outside of the country, but it can happen locally as well, especially if you try on used clothes or you are hanging out with someone who just traveled, or work on a farm. These parasites can include scabies and botflies. There are others, but I’m not going to get into all of them, and when it comes to massage the ones that we are more concerned about are the ones that affect the skin, more so than the ones that affect our digestive or other systems. These bury themselves into the skin, making small holes, and they lay their eggs and leave fecal matter in the holes. So now not only can they be contagious, but you also have an opened wound, both of which are big no-nos for massage. If these happen to you, go seek medical attention, before you can have any part of your body massaged. If you happen to believe that you have any other type of parasite, even if you can’t see them, it is best to get it checked out as soon as possible and treated as some of them can be very dangerous to your health.
Now let’s get into the fun part – when you should get a massage. The short answer is if you feel like having a massage you can have one. The easier way to be able to answer this depends on the reason why you are seeking massage in the first place.
The first one is stress, and wanting to have a relaxation massage. This can be done by both, Estheticians, who have taken classes on how to give a massage, which is usually done during their course; and by Registered Massage Therapists, also known as Licensed Massage therapists depending on the province or state that you are in. For this type of massage, there is no treatment involved, meaning that the person who is doing the massage, depending on who you choose, is not trying to get rid of any knots, rather they are trying to help ease the tension in the muscles as well as calm down the nervous system by using long, slow and rhythmical strokes, throughout the body.
Another is for treatment. This one tends to be the main reason why people come in for a massage. You’ve hurt yourself, from doing something new to an accident or even from being in the same position day after day at work, and you feel pain and want to feel relief. In this case, you are looking for a Registered Massage Therapist/Licensed Massage Therapist to do your massage, as it is a treatment and they need to know what they are doing, otherwise, they could risk hurting you more than helping. These sessions can vary in length greatly, depending on what all you want worked on and how much focus everything needs. But remember, you want to be able to work within what you can tolerate. As an example, if you hurt your back lifting something too heavy in the garden, you might not be able to handle having an hour massage on you back, even if normally you can. At the same point, if you just started an intense full-body workout, and you ache everywhere, a 1-hour massage may not be long enough for you to have everything worked on, and you may have to ask your therapist if they can do a 90-minute massage, or longer if they offer it. Most of this type of treatment, though it does include some relaxation strokes to be able to heat the muscles so deeper work can be done, more of it is short or sustained strokes, with a much deeper pressure if it is needed. This will help get rid of any knots, active knots, and tight or restricted muscles and fascia. The total number of massages you might need does vary depending on how badly you hurt yourself as well as if you are coming in privately or through your car insurance after having an accident. In this case, you will have to be approved for a certain amount of sessions and do these sessions according to the treatment plan that the therapist sent in. These aren’t very flexible and need to be followed to help you to be able to get back on your feet and get back to your regular activities.
Lastly, there are maintenance type treatments. This is almost an in-between for treatment and relaxation type massage. Again this is done by Registered/Licensed Massage Therapists. For this type of treatment plan, it is done after you have hurt yourself and the issue has been resolved through massage or other interventions. For this people tend to choose to come in for a massage between once every 6 weeks or once every 2 months. The length of time can be longer between sessions if finances are a bit tight, or your insurance has run out. When maintenance is being done, you may feel a bit of discomfort in the area that you were having treated before, to possibly still having no pain, but you want to make sure that it stays that way, rather than waiting till you are in excruciating pain, like you were before you first started coming in for massages. During this treatment, the Massage Therapist will work out any knots or tight muscles that you have, but the treatment will not need to be as invasive, and you most likely won’t feel a lot of discomfort, like you may have during your original treatments. So long story short, maintenance type treatments are for preventative measures, which is great for those who have jobs that risk your body’s health.