MHA Blogs - Musculoskeletal Health Australia (MHA)

16/Jul/2020

For many of us, massage is an important tool for managing the aches, pains and muscular tension associated with having a musculoskeletal condition. It complements the other things we do to manage our condition such as exercise, medication and mindfulness.

What is massage?

Massage is a hands-on therapy that involves rubbing and manipulating the soft tissues of your body, especially your muscles. There are many different types of massage including relaxation, shiatsu, sports, deep tissue, hot rock and remedial.

Massage can improve circulation, ease muscle tension and help you feel more relaxed. A massage can also help relieve stress and help you sleep.

In this blog our focus is remedial massage and self-massage.

What’s a remedial massage?

Remedial massage treats muscles that are knotted, tense, stiff or damaged. (1) In consultation with the client, a remedial therapist will assess and identify which areas of the body require treatment, and use a range of massage-based techniques to optimise muscle function.

Remedial massage helps loosen tight muscles and ease your pain and stiffness. And for many people with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis or back pain, this type of massage is essential to keep you moving.

Seeing a remedial massage therapist

A qualified remedial massage therapist is trained to “assess and treat muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue and treat injuries and soreness”.(2)

Seeing a massage therapist regularly can help prevent a build-up of muscle tension caused by chronic pain, inactivity and injury. They can also help you manage your pain, maintain joint flexibility and function, and provide you with exercises and stretches to do between visits.

Questions to ask a massage therapist

Before seeing a therapist, you should do your homework and find out as much as possible. Ask questions such as:

What type of massage do you provide?
What are your qualifications?
Are you accredited with the peak massage body in Australia?
Have you successfully treated people with my condition?
Do I need to take all my clothes off?
How long are the massage sessions?
What is the cost?
Can I claim this on my health insurance?

When you see the therapist you should:

Be open with them and communicate your needs and any health issues – whether they’re ongoing or new.
Make sure you’re comfortable before they start massaging. They may have placed your arms in a position that aggravates a neck or back condition, or have you lie in a way that causes pain or discomfort. If this occurs, explain to the therapist that the position doesn’t work for you. They can then make changes to ensure you’re comfortable and that you get the most benefit from the massage.
Ask for extra support if you need it. If you need a pillow or cushion to support your neck, knees or back, let them know so they can accommodate you.
Let your massage therapist know if the pressure is too hard, too soft or if anything hurts. Don’t suffer in silence.
Ask yourself whether it matters if you see a male or female therapist. Massage therapists are professionals who want to help you. They’ve seen people of all shapes and sizes and will use towels and sheets to cover you. However you do need to be relaxed during a massage, and if you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious you won’t fully relax. So if you think this will be an issue for you, ask for a massage therapist that suits your needs.
Try not to feel embarrassed if you fall asleep or pass wind during your massage. It happens – especially when your body relaxes.

After your massage

You may feel a little sore or tender after your remedial massage. This may last up to a day. The massage has worked and stretched your muscles, much like exercise does. If you’re not used to this or it’s been a while since your last massage, you may feel some pain. A warm shower or heat pack can help alleviate this.
Do some gentle stretches, as you would after exercising. This helps you maintain some of the benefits of your massage – such as increased flexibility and reduced muscle tension.

Giving yourself a massage

You can relieve many of your own aches and pains by giving yourself a massage. You may even find that you do this unconsciously – when you’re sitting at the computer and you rub your neck, when you have a headache and you gently rub your temples, or when you’re applying a heat rub to your sore knee.

It’s a simple easy way to relieve pain and tension. The good thing about self-massage is you can do it almost anywhere and it’s free! Try it next time you feel tense and sore.

Self-massage tips

Warm up first – ease some of your muscle tension with a warm shower or by applying a heat pack (warm not hot) to the painful area.
Use smooth, firm strokes. You’ll feel the difference between strokes that are relieving muscle tension, and those that are adding to it. Adjust the pressure, from hard to gentle, based on your pain.
Add some massage oil (or lotion) – it can help your hands move smoothly over the skin. This isn’t essential, but can add to the soothing feeling of the massage.
Don’t massage over bony areas. This can be painful and may cause an injury.
Try using massage aids – such as a foam roller, massage balls or other massage aids; e.g. use a tennis ball or a golf ball to massage the soles of the feet. Simply place the ball on the floor, place your bare foot on top of it and gently roll the ball along the length of your foot. If you’re unsteady on your feet, sit down while you do this. You can also use the shower to provide a massage, especially on your neck, shoulders and back.
Massage regularly – this’ll help prevent muscle pain and tension building up.

Get help with self-massage

Sometimes you need help when you’re giving yourself a massage. Reaching a sore spot in the middle of your back is tough. Or being able to apply firm, consistent strokes to your neck and shoulders may be impossible if you have a musculoskeletal condition that affects those areas. So ask for help. From your partner, a close friend or even the kids. Just be sure to clearly explain what you need.

You can remain fully clothed and have them massage those areas over your clothes. Combined with using a heat pack, a home massage can provide some relief from your pain.

Contact our free national Help Line

If you have questions about your musculoskeletal condition, treatment options, telehealth, managing your pain or accessing services be sure to call our team. They’re available weekdays between 9am-5pm on 1800 263 265; email (helpline@muscha.org) or via Messenger.

More to explore

Remedial massage
Healthdirect
Find a massage therapist
Healthdirect
Massage therapy guide
Healthdirect
Benefits of massage
Arthritis Foundation (USA)
What is remedial massage?
Massage & Myotherapy Australia

Musculoskeletal Health Australia

16/Apr/2020

Exercise is vital to our health – it helps us manage our pain, our musculoskeletal conditions, our weight and our mental wellbeing.

But if you’re not able to go to your usual exercise classes, gym, sporting club or fitness centre, online videos and exercise apps seem like the answer. Many are advertised on social media and the internet in general, but they’re not all created equal. Some are purely videos to watch and follow, others are apps that provide more interaction and features. Some are free, while others require payment.

So, before you pull on your leotard, buy a new thingamajig or sign up to that app, here are some things to think about:

What are the qualifications of the leader? Are they a qualified exercise professional – e.g. physiotherapist, exercise physiologist, fitness instructor? Because there are also lots of well-meaning people with time on their hands posting exercise videos, as well as other people looking to make a quick buck, make sure that the instructor is qualified to teach or lead exercise classes.
Are they catering to the general public or people with musculoskeletal conditions? Many general exercise videos or apps will be useful for all of us, musculoskeletal condition or not, especially if they’re gentle. But some exercises may be harmful to you. And some that you shouldn’t try without a proper assessment from a qualified instructor, as well as guidance to ensure you’re doing the exercise properly. To misquote the tagline from Alien – “in your lounge room, no one can hear you scream”…except for the other people in your household, your pets and the neighbours (the walls are thinner than you think!). The point is, it can be very easy to hurt yourself if you’re not shown how to do some exercises correctly and safely, particularly if you have a musculoskeletal condition or another health issue.
Which leads to our next point – can you ask questions or get more info from the instructor? If you can, it gives you the ability to ask if they’ve instructed other people with your condition, make sure the exercises are safe for you to do, and get advice if you’re not quite sure you’re doing things correctly. If you can’t interact with them in any way, maybe look for another online exercise class/video/app.
What’s the cost? Is it free, or is there a fee? Or can you access a free basic version, and another version with additional features, which you need to pay for? Is there a free trial period so you can make sure you actually like it? And if you do have to sign up for anything, make sure you read all the fine print so you know exactly what you’re agreeing to.
Does your equipment support the tech? If you’re downloading an app, can your desktop, tablet, phone, watch, etc, handle it? Do you need to download additional software to use it? Are you prepared and/or able to do that?
Are you set up for it? Is your computer in a location that allows you room to exercise? If you only have a smartphone or tablet, can you view the exercise videos clearly? Is your internet able to cope with any downloads or streaming? If the answer to any of these is no, maybe look at alternative formats such as DVDs. And with DVDs ask yourself all of these questions as well. There are a lot of good exercise DVDs and a lot of variety as far as types of exercise, but there are also a lot of dodgy ones. So take time to evaluate them carefully.
Is the exercise something you enjoy doing? If you don’t enjoy doing it, you’re unlikely to continue to do it. So find something that you find fun, engaging, challenging and enjoyable.
Can you set goals for yourself? Exercise needs to challenge you so you continue to get the health benefits. If it’s too easy or doesn’t progress over time, you won’t see any improvements. Setting yourself SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed – can help with this. Find out how you can create SMART goals.

For more information, visit our website or call our B.A.M Helpline weekdays on 1800 263 265. Or email helpline@muscha.org

More to explore

Get active @ home
VicHealth – This Girl Can
We tested these home workouts for you
Life Hacker, July 2021
Home exercises
Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA)
ESSA accredited exercise professionals have put together a range of workouts that you can do in the safety of your own home.
The World’s Biggest Sit In
- Access a range of free chair-based exercise workouts, train for and participate in a world record attempt for the largest chair-based exercise class

Musculoskeletal Health Australia

24/Jan/2020

Trying to eat well can seem daunting. Every day it seems a new diet hits the media, endorsed by a celebrity or twelve. And eating healthfully sounds expensive and like too much hard work.

So what can you do to make sense of it all, eat well, and stay on budget?

When it comes to working out what’s best for you and your family, it makes sense to go back to basics.

Plan your meals/snacks and write a list of the ingredients you need before you hit the shops. This is a must, because it’s easy to forget things, buy the wrong quantities or buy items you don’t need in the heat of the moment (hello Tim Tams 🙂 ).
Go generic. Check out the generic, home brand and no-name versions of your staples, such as flour, tinned tomatoes, legumes, oats. They’re generally cheaper and are often the exact same product as the name brand, just with less fancy packaging.
Read the nutrition panel on your foods. It’s a good habit to get into so that you can track the amount of energy (kilojoules), fat, salt, sugar etc in your foods. It’s also useful when you’re comparing different brands of the same product.
Swap a meat dish or two for a vegetarian meal. Research has found that a vegetarian diet costs less than a diet that includes meat. You don’t have to go all out vego, but simply swap a few of your meat dishes for plant-based meals. They’re tasty, healthy and cheap. Just make sure you do your research and use healthy recipes. You can find a lot of yummy recipes online.
Reduce your kitchen waste. Shopping with a list will help here, and also only buying what you need. Take note of the foods that you often throw out because you didn’t use them before they became an unidentifiable furry blob in your fridge. Avoid buying that item, or buy less of it when you shop. Or look for ways to use food that’s becoming slightly less than fresh, but is still good. Soups are a great way to use the last of the vegies in your fridge crisper. Also check out the Foodwise website. It has lots of tips to help you reduce waste, as well as recipes, meal plans, info on what’s in season and loads more.
Buy fresh fruit and vegetables that are local and in season. It’s cheaper, fresher, yummier and supports our local farmers. The Foodwise website can help you find what’s in season. They even have a seasonal meal planner. Very handy!
Grow your own. If you enjoy gardening, why not try growing some of your own produce? Whether it’s small scale with a few pots of herbs on your balcony or larger scale vegie patch and fruit trees in your backyard, you can experience the pleasure, and reap the rewards of growing some of your own foods.
Frozen and canned vegetables can often be used in place of fresh vegies. They’re still healthy and they’re often cheaper. They’ll also keep longer.
Read the unit price when comparing products. This will enable you to see the difference in price regardless of brand or quantity, and you can work out which provides the best value for money. Unit pricing works by using a standard measurement across all products of the same type. So for example, if you compared orange juice X with orange juice Y, orange juice X costs $5.25 for a 2 litre bottle, so its unit price is $2.63 per litre; orange juice Y costs $5.74 for a 1.5 litre bottle, so its unit price is $3.83 per litre. So orange juice X is cheaper per litre. Luckily, you don’t have to tie yourself up in knots doing this math when you’re shopping – the unit price is provided on the shelf label and online. Thank goodness! Shopping is hard enough!
Shop around. Just because you’ve always shopped at [insert shop of choice here] doesn’t mean you always have to shop there. Keep an eye on catalogues, visit the local farmers markets, join online groups with other savvy shoppers so you’re always in the know about who’s providing the best value for money for your groceries.
For items that last, and that you use regularly, buy in bulk. This includes things like rice, dried/canned legumes and pasta.
Finally, don’t shop when you’re hungry. It’s a really easy way to suddenly find lots of yummy, and unhealthy things in your basket, that weren’t on your shopping list. It’ll blow your budget and your plans for healthy eating right out of the water. So shop after you’ve eaten, or munch on an apple or banana or handful of nuts before you even consider walking into the bright lights and air-conditioned aisles of your local shopping centre. Your budget will thank you for it.