What you can do to make the effects of your massage last longer Maple Leaves Spa Center in Dubai | ☎ +971-52-327-1188

 What you can do to make the effects of your massage last longer Maple Leaves Spa Center in Dubai | ☎ +971-52-327-1188

You may have experienced this:

The lights are low, calming music is playing in the background and your massage therapist just let you know that your session is over. You peel yourself off the table and in a state of groggy bliss you attempt to dress and make sure your hair doesn’t look too crazy. You step out the door, blinking at the daylight, and watch your massage therapists mouth move without fully understand the words they are saying… maybe something about water? You head home, still feeling really good, go sit on the couch and crash. Now, fast forward to the next morning, you wake up feeling like you got hit by a train. Your body is sore and you feel tighter than you did before your massage and you wonder, “what went wrong?”
Sadly, this situation is very common after receiving a massage. Many people leave feeling amazing, but in 24 hours or less the pain is back, and in some cases, it is worse than it was before. Thankfully, there are several things you can do after your massage to help your massage last longer and to keep you from getting as sore after your treatment.

1. Drink a lot of water, especially for the next 24 hours.

Drinking water is generally a really good idea, but after massage it is a necessity. When you receive a massage naturally occurring toxins, which build up in your muscles from daily wear and tear, are released into your body. Massage loosens muscles and releases extra waste into your body resulting in extra work for your lymphatic system, which helps process the waste. This is where water comes to the rescue to flush your system and help the toxins clear your system. It is also important to remember that alcoholic, sugary and caffeinated beverages are all diuretics (they dehydrate you) and should be avoided or limited post massage.

2. Don’t go veg!

At least not immediately. Getting a massage, especially if it is a deep tissue massage, is similar to doing a workout. Just like with a workout, if you don’t do a proper cool down you will get some post massage soreness. Immediately following your treatment, it is a good idea to go for a walk, preferably without a bag or carrying anything, to help improve movement and flow in the body and keep the muscles from tightening. If walking seems like too much work post massage, doing some gentle stretching is another good option.

3. Take a nice hot shower or bath.

Heat increases blood flow in your body and assists with relaxation of muscles. Feel free to add some essential oils (lavender is always an excellent option), Epsom salts, candles and calming music to take your bath to the next level in relaxation.

4. Do not go do an intense workout.

To some, this seems like a no-brainer, but there are many people who like to take advantage of how good their body feels post massage and hit the gym. While it is important to keep yourself moving for a little while post massage, you need to make sure to give your muscles the proper rest if you want to continue feeling good after a massage. If you really want to get a good workout in, try to make it to the gym before your massage so you can have the best of both worlds.

5. Use your foam roller and tennis ball.

If you don’t have a foam roller and if you are only using your tennis balls for tennis or fetch than you are missing out. These two simple tools keep you feeling good in between treatments and make your results last significantly longer with low effort. Just type foam roller into Youtube.com and you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of results telling you how to use a foam roller to work on your problem spots.

6. Do all of the stretches and/or exercises that your massage therapist gave you.

A few stretches and exercises can go a long way towards improving your bodies stress points.
For example stretching out your pectoral muscles through the front of your chest can help open up your shoulders.  Pair the stretch with exercising your rhomboid muscles to strengthen between your shoulder blades.  The typical american posture tends to be overly tight pectorals and weak rhomboids muscles which leads to forwarded rounded shoulders.  A little time to stretch the overly tight muscles and strengthen the weak ones can help alleviate mid back pain and even reduce headaches.
Your massage therapist can give your some simple stretch/exercise combinations to address some of the tension points they spent your massage working out.
In addition to doing these things in the hours and days following your massage, make sure to schedule your next massage appointments BEFORE you get to a point where you desperately need one. If you receive massage on a regular basis (say, once a month) it will be more effective because you and your massage therapist won’t have to start from square one every session and you can make progress towards living a healthy, pain-free life.