Sunday, October 10, 2010

Muscle Relaxers or Massage?

Let's say you've overworked your back doing some work around the house.  At the end of the day, you're stuck with a nagging backache that won't quit and you feel miserable.  Do you reach for aspirin, a non-aspirin pain reliever, muscle relaxers, maybe an alcoholic drink ... or the phone to call your massage therapist?

Many Americans automatically reach for a bottle of pills to deal with such aches and pain without giving much thought as to whether it's the best idea.  They take painkillers easily and go on with their lives or a muscle relaxer knowing full well that it's going to knock them out soon.

Pain relievers work by blocking the pain receptors in your brain and muscles.  They work on your entire body, not just on where the problem lies.  Muscle relaxers actually shut off the chemical reaction notification process between your nervous system and brain -- again, all of them.  That's why they knock you out.  Maybe your back hurts, but your arms, neck and feet are affected just as much as your back.  What's more, when you waken, you feel like you've been run over by a truck, your brain is in a drug-induced fog.  When you've collected enough energy to focus on what's going on in your body, you realize there's still some nagging backache and you reach for the bottle of pills again.

Meanwhile, life goes on and you can't work because the pills won't let you stay awake.  You can't drive, either.  The kids want to play with you, but you can't tolerate movement OR stay awake long enough.  You can't even watch a movie on tv without going to sleep for several hours.

Massage, however, has no drugging effect because no drugs are involved.  Massage works directly on the muscles involved in your pain, elongating chronically shortened ones, relaxing congested areas of muscle bellies, stretching out tendonous ends of muscle tissue and warming connective tissue that causes the pain in the first place.

A relaxing effect does take place as relaxing muscles ease the constant transmission of trouble between pain receptors in your muscle fibers and your brain, but more in the form of relief than the shutting down of medications.  What's more, relaxed muscles stop acting on the bones they connect to, allowing tissue between bones to relax as well and allow them to return to their non-painful dislocation or subluxation.

What's more, massage will relieve your pain for the longer term with no undesirable side effects.  A therapeutic massage is so much better for you all-in-all than taking muscle relaxers or painkillers.

The next time you're in this situation, please give me a call or book an appointment with the convenience of online scheduling at
http://joelklmt.genbook.com  You'll be glad you did.  Consults, other than medical consults, are free and urgent care consult includes testing, evaluation and an abbreviated massage session designed to give you near-immediate relief and costs only $60.  If my evaluation of your predicament shows a problem that is beyond my scope of practice, I may refer you to a physician.  But simple muscle pulls may be worked on right away, giving you respite from annoying aches and pain.

For more information about me and what I do, please see my website:
http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian

1 comment:

  1. Is there's no side effects in continuing taking of pain killers or muscle relaxers?..It is best if none.

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