Scheduling a deep tissue massage

I've recovered from a pretty bad case of shoulder tendonitis, and I think a large part of that healing process was aided by deep tissue massage. I don't do them nearly as frequently as I did when my shoulder was injured, but I still like to get one every 6 weeks or so to make sure everything is in check. The problem is, I keep a pretty tight training schedule and don't want to skip workouts (or reduce the intensity) to allow necessary time before and after a DTM. Any massage therapists out there have any good recommendations on how much time I should leave before/after a DTM? There's a lot of stuff on the internet, from 24 hours to 3-5 days! Right now I'm doing a lot of hangboarding with 72 hours of rest between sessions. Could I fit one in on my first rest day or do I need to plan more time before/after? Thanks!

Any takers?

A deep massage would probably be great on your first rest day. Maybe later in the day to make sure that any post-workout inflammation will have subsided.

Getting the forearm muscles unglued from each other and their attachments will feel soooo good, as will some deep palm work. Mmmm - elbows in palms (deep digs from heel to fingers) are the best, ideally with something cushioning the back of the hand being worked on.

That timing should give you a couple of days of total relief. Any later, and you'd risk loading the newly arranged muscles in a way that they might not like.

And be sure to stay nice to your body by taking time to warm up slowly when you start working it again.

Any worthwhile massage therapist should have a good understanding of arms and hands, since we use ours all the time, too.

If possible and desirable, you might consider a shorter session that just concentrates on the upper body, or even just upper extremities. Maximum efficiency...

Enjoy!

As for your shoulder tendonitis, I wonder if hangboarding might be the best thing. Any exercise that works a joint (like the shoulder) in just one plane of movement is going to lead to imbalance in that joint - some strong fibers that get all the action, and some weak ones that don't. And then injury.

Think about what you can do that will be a different movement than straight hangboarding. Use the rock rings that hang and rotate, twist your torso when you're pulling up, and counteract all that pulling down with some lifting up - free weights (or rocks, gallon jugs,...), especially from shoulder-height up. The more angles you can move that very mobile joint in when you're working it the better.

Thanks for the reply. The injury was nearly a year ago, and I'm on my third season of intense hangboarding with virtually no renewed shoulder pain. I slowly eased back into this last year with good results, so I think with adequate rest and antagonist exercises (as you've suggested), I've been able to keep from getting re-injured.

To summarize though, if I were to allow 24 hours after a workout and 36-48 hours before the next, that would be ok? These things ain't cheap and I want to make sure I'm not wasting the treatment!

evan- have you ever heard of MELT therapy ? My sis in law swear by it and is going to show me how to do it. I have a whacked shoulder as well and want to put off any surgery as long as I can

i swear by deep tissue massage. i was told standard is to recover for 24 hours but would love to hear other opinions as well.

evan h wrote:I've recovered from a pretty bad case of shoulder tendonitis, and I think a large part of that healing process was aided by deep tissue massage.

Im not sure if I am experiencing the same problem as your were but I'm curious as to what your symptoms were. I've been having shoulder pain in my front deltoid area since October. Went to the Doctor in November, they said it was probably tendonitis in the shoulder. Prescribed some anti-inflammatory's and told me to rest. So I took the drugs rested for about 5 weeks, started climbing again without any pain for a couple weeks. Then the same issue started back up. Now I'm in a gap in my insurance coverage and trying to get well.

What were your symptoms when you had shoulder tendonitis?
How often were you getting DTM's? And How long before the Tendonitis went away? Any shoulder exercise you'd recommend?

I asked my guy the next time I went in, and he said to wait 72 hours after a DTM before the next workout. I thought that sounded excessive, so I'm now aiming for 48 hours.

In regards to my old shoulder problems, I experienced pain in my lats and rotator cuff. I did some physical therapy, but mine was really a problem of muscle imbalances and the resultant lack of mobility. I found that strengthening my middle and lower back really helped to alleviate the pain, along with dry needling and DTM. I was getting DTM work done once every week or two, but I'm now at about once every six weeks at this point (mainly to keep in check). PM me and I can give you more detail about specific antagonist exercises if you'd like.

Oh, and I took a full (agonizing) month off from climbing. There was still pain when I returned, but I eased in slowly. I was back cranking in about 1.5-2 months after I decided to start acting.