Back Pain and How a Thai Massage Could Help You.

Back pain is a problem for a growing number of people today. Solutions vary, but a Thai Massage is regarded as an excellent place to start. How can they help?

 

Due in part to modern living and lifestyle choices, back pain is an increasingly common problem. Many individuals today spend long periods of the day sitting down. Whether this is working at an office desk or spending time enjoying recreational activities like watching television or video gaming, sitting down is more common today. This results in some long-term health issues, though, mostly built around back pain.

Extensive time spent sitting down will lead to problems with your back muscles. They can become increasingly tight, even when you have good posture. This leads to bad posture, which can elevate the back discomfort you feel. At the same time, regular time spent sitting down leads to problems like your back muscles not being stretched out properly. Over time, these problems can become quite extensive. You could, as time goes on, find that your back pain begins to become a semi-permanent feature of life.

It does not have to be this way, though. Various back pain treatments do exist, most commonly within massage therapy. At The Livewell Syndicate, we focus on helping people to find mental & physical therapy treatments that improve their well-being. Among the treatments we offer is a Thai massage.

Over the years of application and expertise, we have developed, we have seen first-hand how Thai massage therapy can assist with back pain. How does this treatment assist you, though? Let us investigate.

What is a Thai massage?

A Thai massage is a form of therapeutic massage therapy developed in Thai medicinal circles. The name itself translates within the Thai language – Nuad bo-rarn – to essentially mean “ancient massage”. 

It is a form of touch that moves away from the processes involved in a traditional massage. You will not lie on a flat massage table, for example. You instead lie on a mat on the floor. Then, instead of the usual rubbing techniques carried out in a normal massage, a Thai massage will see various parts of your body moved and manipulated. 

This helps to stretch the parts of the body that are not usually properly stretched. At the same time, this can also help to stimulate various organs within the body and help to improve flexibility. For those with back pain, that mixture of organ stimulation and flexible movement manipulation can ease, and even remove, your back pain symptoms.

In many ways, a Thai massage retains many of the ideas within traditional Chinese medicine. The idea is to work with the energy pathways within our own bodies, known as sen. 

How did the Thai massage come to be?

The history of the treatment itself, as the name suggests, stems back many years. We are not sure when Thai massage therapy first came to be, as it has been around for so long. Sadly, ancient human civilisations were unable to keep the same thorough preservation of records that we can manage today. However, all historians agree that it stems back at least two millennia in age. 

Some suggest that, like much traditional Asian healing and medicinal techniques, Thai massage therapy began with Shivago Komarpaj. A colleague of Buddha, Komarpaj helped to spread and popularise medicinal practices across large swathes of Asia. He may have spread the Thai massage, but it developed its own traditions. Many of its influences range from the likes of yoga and Ayurveda to ancient Chinese medicinal practices.

Thai massage therapy compared to other massage therapies

Many believe that a Thai massage is, in its essence, the same as a normal massage treatment. However, there are some striking differences. For one, most massage therapies are built around using hands or other hand-like objects to rub, soothe, and manipulate the muscles of our body. With a Thai massage, though, the actual practice is quite different.

For one, with a Thai massage, you have no need to undress. You can wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that allows for easy movement. The actual process of the massage differs, too. As opposed to rubbing areas of discomfort to soothe muscles, the joints and limbs of our bodies are stretched. They are moved and manipulated by the practitioner. At the same time as doing this, they will gently massage the most important areas of the body according to traditional Thai medicinal concepts.

So, if you wish to compare a Thai massage to a normal massage, it is mostly built around body manipulation over anything else. 

How can a Thai massage make you more comfortable?

There are, of course, many benefits that come from taking part in a Thai massage. As part of our treatment at TLS, we make sure that Thai massage therapy is only provided where we feel it is beneficial. Since you likely are reading this due to a desire to overcome back pain, we will discuss in detail the back pain benefits of Thai massage therapy below.

However, the benefits of this form of massage go beyond just back pain improvement. How can a Thai massage benefit you today?

Reduce back pain over time

If you like the idea of finding natural solutions for back pain, then a Thai massage is one of the best places to start.

Research has found that Thai massage treatments are great for assisting in non-specific lower back pain. It can also assist with reducing pain and discomfort that comes from trigger points within the upper back. However, in general, Thai massage treatments can help to lift and soothe back pain by a considerable margin. Since it stretches and moves the joints which are likely causing your discomfort, your back pain can be greatly reduced.

More importantly, though, is the stretching benefits. We will cover the back pain benefits in more detail below. What other benefits, though, can Thai massage therapy provide? What other ailments can it shift?

Managing joint stiffness

A common relation to back pain, or cause, is down to stiffness, a lack of stretching, and/or a lack of movement. By undergoing a Thai massage, though, you can have those muscles stretched out better. This can improve joint function over time, and also ensure that you can more readily move joints.

This is especially useful for those who suffer from conditions like arthritis. By undergoing regular treatment, individuals can look forward to a loosening of uncomfortable and/or stiff joints in the body. This is especially useful for those with arthritis in areas like their knees and hands.

Extend movement and mobility

A common reason to undergo Thai massage therapy is to help improve movement and flexibility. Undergoing this treatment helps to stretch out key parts of the body, and also improves blood flow and oxygen supply to key muscle groups. This can reduce discomfort, minimise pain, and add extra flexibility to your bones, joints, and muscles.

If you feel like you are lacking physical movement and flexibility, you could try a Thai massage. This has been shown to help improve range of motion so that you can move around more freely without the same discomfort. 

Thai massage therapy and back pain – does it work?

Given many of us are sitting in desks and chairs for up to ten hours per day, it should come as no surprise that back pain is common. Put simply, our bodies were not supposed to be in these shapes for so long per day!

By using a variety of techniques, a Thai massage for back pain will often look to deliver relaxation to the muscles and nerves. Your gluteus, hamstring, abductors, abdominal, and erector spinae are just some of the muscle groups that will be worked upon by undergoing a Thai massage. 

At the same time, it also helps to improve mobility within the hip joint and the sacro-iliac joint. Other benefits will improve clearing up and opening up your pelvic area, which is a common reason for lower back pain. The vast majority of back pain is caused by a lack of movement and stretching of key parts of our back and body parts connected to or associated with our backs. 

By working on these trigger points and stretching them properly, you can look forward to meaningful improvements in mobility. You will also find that your back pain begins to become less prevalent, even when sitting because the muscles were stretched in the correct way.

Thai massage therapy can have huge benefits for back pain. When carried out on a regular basis alongside some lifestyle changes, you can look forward to overcoming the back discomfort you are feeling on a daily basis. Only through treatment, though, can relief become consistent. 

Thai massage poses for back pain relief 

While various Thai massage poses can work, there are three poses most commonly associated with relieving back pain. They include:

  1. Knee to elbow – this involves, as the name suggests, lying on your back and moving your knee bent at an angle next to your elbow. The practitioner will then focus most of their efforts on and around your hamstring area. Working on hamstrings will improve pelvic mobility, thus limiting back pain around the lower parts of your back.
  2. Angel twist – this particular pose will have you lie on your back as the massage therapist will move your leg to a 90-degree angle over your body. This will feel extremely tense at first, but the relief that it can create is incredible and uplifting. The Angel twist is a great choice for those who need a deep and thorough stretch of the back.
  3. Prayer pose – The pose you will adopt here will work on your lower back. You will sit cross-legged on the floor, and you will lean forward with your arms stretched out. The practitioner will then help you to lean into the stretch and stay in the most beneficial position for your treatment. The practitioner will focus on ensuring your back is shaped correctly.

These are, of course, just three pose options that will be tried out at any given time of a Thai massage. Your practitioner will likely want to try out additional poses and postures, too, so keep an open mind. 

Can Thai massage help with mental ailments, too?

Of course, the movement and the physical benefits of a Thai massage are the main reasons many undertake this therapy. Yet the benefits can extend far beyond just the body – experts even find that massage therapies like this impact the mind, also. How? 

  1. One key reason to undergo a Thai massage treatment is that it can help to lift feelings of unease or anxiety. If you have a challenging event or experience coming up, such as a job interview, you could book in for a Thai massage treatment first and foremost.
  2. This is great for adding a sense of calm and helping to ease out a lot of the discomfort and tension building up in the body and in the mind. You are more likely to score a positive result if you were to undergo a test or study for stress after going through a Thai massage.
  3. Since the activity of a Thai massage can be more akin to yoga than other massages, it can increase energy levels. You are more likely to come out of your massage feeling not only more relaxed mentally, but also more energised and ready to take on the challenges of the day.
  4. If you feel mentally fatigued and tired, then a Thai massage can help to lift those feelings. While more research is needed to fully understand this, it is common for people leaving a massage treatment like this to feel vibrant mentally and physically, ready to attack the day.

There are, then, reasons to undergo a Thai massage treatment that extends beyond the physical. 

Does a Thai massage hurt?

For some, there is a natural trepidation about such a treatment. After all, would massaging and moving sore joints and limbs not hurt?

If you are feeling tense or sore in any part of your body, then yes there may be some minor discomfort. However, all you need to do is let your practitioner know and they can ease off on the movement of certain areas. They can then slowly work on each area so that it can gradually be stretched and manipulated to its full extent. 

Prior to the beginning of any therapy session, you can tell your masseuse where you feel actual pain. As soon as you feel a level of discomfort that goes beyond what you want, though, you can simply ask them to stop and adjust. A Thai massage can be as intense or as serene as you are comfortable with. 

For the first time you go through a Thai massage, especially if you have back pain, you might find it uncomfortable to start with. Once you get used to the feeling, though, it becomes easy to enjoy. 

Are there any risks involved with undergoing a Thai massage?

All forms of physical therapy come with some risks that are involved in the process. Thai massage therapy has been signed to be as risk-free as possible, but there are some potential things to consider. 

For example, many find they get a notable increase in their heart rate during the treatment. This makes sense, as your body is undergoing a manipulative adjustment that, at first, will often feel alien. If you are someone who has a heart condition or take medication to manage your heart condition, you should speak to a medical professional before you undergo a Thai massage. We will make sure you are given all of the information you could possibly need about this before any treatment is undertaken, though.

With experienced massage therapists in our team, though, we do everything professionally possible to remove therapeutic risks. Thanks to the use of professional therapists with the correct level of training, we know how to manipulate the body in a Thai massage without the risk of inflammation or injury.

The main risk in Thai massager therapy comes from using an unlicensed, unprofessional practitioner. At TLS, this is not possible due to the extensive training of our team. 

Looking for a Thai massage in Hull to resolve your back pain?

Then let us help you today. At The Livewell Syndicate, we provide a host of life-affirming, beneficial services to assist you. From our facilities on King Street, we make sure that our clients can receive assistance in many different ways. This includes undergoing a Thai Massage to give you the benefits we have spoken about above.

Back pain is an incredible challenge to live with – and it is unlikely to simply get better itself. A combination of lifestyle adjustments paired with a Thai massage could be just what you need. If you wish to find out how this massage therapy can assist you personally, book an appointment with us today and feel the benefits for yourself.