Why do we get patients to supplement our care with massage at home? It’s because most people could use or benefit from much more soft tissue therapy than they could afford, or we had time to give them. Please let me share with you the problems this causes and the benefits they would miss out on.
As shown in several or our research summaries (.eg shoulder pain) most musculoskeletal pain syndromes involve muscular and soft tissue problems such as trigger points. Trigger points are those tight tender spots masseurs love to find. They develop over time, and as discussed in the shoulder pain research summary take a large number of applications of therapy over time to properly extinguish. The research (and clinical experience) shows that many therapies may temporarily relieve the pain of trigger points, but unless properly extinguished they continue to cause problems and usually become painful again. This one reason pain often keeps coming back.
The wellness benefits of regular massage are well documented. For example, a study showed that a simple weekly massage improved sleep while reducing anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure. We would love to be able to make these benefits available to patients, but when done by professionals alone the cost would be prohibitive.
Pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia and migraines are usually thought of as having no known cause. Being cynical, this supports the widespread use of symptom relieving drugs and therapies. However, there is much evidence that shows that a major cause is chronic (long term) pain causing a sensitisation of the nervous system. Much of this long term pain comes from musculoskeletal issues such as the previously discussed trigger points. Clinical trials of injecting these trigger points with anaesthetic stopping their pain impulses dramatically improves fibromyalgia symptoms. Of course injections of anaesthetic only give temporary relief. Clinical trials have shown that massage helps, but medical guidelines have discounted this because of the cost and availability.
Professional sports people and athletes are very heavy users of massage therapy, using it to improve performance and both prevent and rehabilitate injuries. Using professional services only this is beyond the average person to obtain. However, the use of home massage opens up these and many other benefits for those who play sports or exercise
These were the problems we faced in clinic. How do we provide sufficient massage or soft tissue therapy to help patients recover from their pain syndromes properly, plus enjoy all the wellness and preventative benefits?
At college we used a large expensive professional massager called a G5. It was very effective. We believed that if patients could have a smaller more economical and easy to use massager that did a similar job to the G5 they could do some of the massage themselves at home, under our advice.
Upon searching for a suitable machine we found what a group of researcher in the UK found, that the massagers on the market for consumer use were certainly not something we could give a patient and expect good results. This is why we built our own.
Put simply, as long as our hand held massagers are held in the correct spot for the correct amount of time they will do a great job, regardless of who's holding the handle. This opens up the possibility of supplementing professional care with home massage, making possible all the benefits previously discussed..
You can order your massager from us, or from a local clinic. However, musculoskeletal problems require proper examination, diagnosis and management. It is important that your massager be used with proper advice as part of a professional management plan. To do this we recommend that you read our usage guide and discuss the usage with the practitioner of your choice. Remember though that this is not to allow self management, rather to make you aware of the possibilities and allow an informed discussion with your professional.
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