Good Massage is with Enthusiastic Consent
Many of us have heard the saying “No pain, no gain”, especially when talking about health and fitness. Maybe in the sense that fitness and working out has painful moments of maximum effort to push through to your next personal best, I guess “No pain, no gain” has it’s purpose. However, on the massage table, we are not gaining anything if we are in pain.
The purpose of massage is to release tension in one’s soft tissue(s). If we are in pain, we are tense and an adrenal response is triggered in the body which is the opposite of relaxation. Therefore, even with deep tissue massage work, pain is not the goal.
When I work with my clients, especially newer clients who are still building trust with me, I talk them through my Pressure Scale. This is an indication system where, out of 10 (10 being very painful, 1 being barely feeling sensation) my client tells me how intense the pressure of the massage stroke is for them. 8 out of 10, is considered the top of their tolerance level. This means an 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 is too much and I am to back off or stop entirely. I like to make a point of telling my clients that they don’t have to be polite if they are in pain or discomfort. It is their body, so they have full rights to tell me to stop at any time. For my deeper massage work, I like to work up to a 7.5 out of 10, maybe with brief moments of an 8 out of 10. This gives us maximum intensity, without triggering an adrenal response in the body.
The thing about this system is that for each individual person, a 7 out of 10 is going to be different. If I am giving everything I have got for one person and I ask them what number it is for them, they might say a 4 out of 10. But another person, I might do some warm up strokes with less pressure, and it is already an 8 out of 10. This is why the discussion around pressure and whether the recipient is enjoying their experience, is an ongoing conversation had throughout every session. As I build up trust with my clients, I may not need to verbally check in as regularly because I have a better idea about what works for them.
Basically, whether it is a client I just met, or someone I have been treating for years. Whether it is light relaxation work or deep tissue trigger point release work, I always want my client to be visibly relaxed, not tensing in pain, smiling and sighing as they enjoy their experience. Consent is not what someone can tolerate if they have to, it is enthusiasm and joy throughout.
