Reflective Thought over a Deep Tissue Massage

 Pain. 

What is pain? How do we acknowledge pain? What is a pain threshold? 

For most dance practitioners that I know, they enjoy a form of muscular massage that is deep, firm and relatively painful. I have been fortunate enough to receive massages at least twice a year for the last seven years of my life. I do not know what my body would do without a qualified masseuse, as there is only so much you can do yourself with a foam roller and golf ball. I was lying face down on the massage table, after seven months of having no treatment,  and my mind wandered to the idea of pain thresholds. The masseuse claimed that the firm pressure she gave me was 8+ of out 10. 

Do dancers actually have a higher than average pain threshold? Or are we just used to physical discomfort? Discomfort being a little niggle in a joint, blisters on the feet, knee bruises, tight muscles, strained, sprained, stressed parts of the body. 

Why to dance artists dance through injuries? That must require a high pain threshold, constantly doing a movement that aggregates that part of the body. You push yourself to do exactly what is going against your natural body reaction. It is like when you wrap your hands around a cup of tea that is too hot. You hands automatically flinch back and get away from the heat before you burn your skin. Somehow, dancers indulge into this 'burning' sensation. I have done this countless times with bruising, falling off toenails. For something like bruising toenails, the way to get it off is to dance on it so it falls off faster. Crazy right? I have to put my whole body weight onto the tip of my pointe shoes, the exact place that is agony, whilst my inner voice is screaming GET OFF THE TOES. 

Another wonder:

Is there 'good' pain and 'bad' pain? Do dancers actively distinguish between the two? 

This will all depend on what the person believes to be good and bad, as that is up to interpretation. 

There are several types of massage styles, just like dance. I will compare Sports massages to Aromatherapy massages. After I write this, I am going to delve into these two further, but for now I will just sieve through the basics that I know.

Sports works around specific joints, muscles and areas that the patient particularly wants treated. This could be the right hip and joint, or upper back or lower leg. The style of massage tends to be very firm and painful. I have experienced moments of sports massages during physiotherapy sessions, if necessary during those appointments. 

Aromatherapy is less brutal than sports massages, but still eases muscle tightness very well. When I have received aromatherapy massages, my whole body has been treated. From head to toe, literally. The tension on the muscles is not as deep, but results in feeling less bruised the next day, so you are able to effectively get on with your week without hobbling around. 

I want to just touch upon gymnastics. The field of athletics, sports, dance and gymnastics are all similar in the sense the body is involved in performance. I watched Athlete A, the docufilm, on Netflix during lockdown. The physical pain that is involved in such a demanding Olympic sport is immense, but the gymnasts seem to still have incredible strength in performance, despite any hidden pain. 

My wonders to this point are:

How far should we push our bodies?

Only we can know how we are feeling. 

I do enjoy firm massages, to release tension in my overworked muscles. However, does being able to withstand deep massages make me resilient? How do massages affect the mind? 

Do different scented oils = different emotions? 

The theme of my inquiry is the resilience that dancers have to retain a healthy and balanced mind and body. I believe we are pretty strong in sustaining painful massages and physiotherapy treatments, but I am trying to think about the what-ifs and not assume my knowledge, acknowledge my perceptions and reach further. 

I hope you enjoy this blog.