QuestionHello Chris,
I'd love your feedback on my current situation. I got my first deep tissue
massage two days ago, for the general stiffness I had over the years in my
neck and shoulders. I never had any mechanical injury of any kind anywhere
in the past, and the only two massages I ever got were those done by a spa
practitioner, the "pour oil and rub" kind. No known allergies to food or drugs.
The massage therapy was administered by an intern RMT student in her last
term of study, she was very friendly and helpful- she did some maneuvers
using her hands and fingers primarily, lot of pinching and pulling of the SCM
muscles and others, which at some points hurt more than my normal comfort
level but never long enough that I thought I should mention anything. I
enjoyed the massage overall and left feeling that she might have worked our
few kinks.
The trouble began about an hour later. I started to feel a headache come on
with a bit of chill, and interpreted it as a cold/flu. But by the evening, it
became full blown, I was in excruciating pain in my head, with fever and
chills. Because I don't have a family history of migraine and never had one
myself before, and without a reasonable guestimate as to what's causing such
pain, I asked my friends to take me to the ER- I was only half conscious at
this point from the pain. On ascale of 1-10, it was worst headache I
personally ever experienced and 9/10 in comparison to any other kind of
pain I've had. It was bilateral and diffuse, throbbing and crushing especiaaly
in the back of my eyes.
Because I was exhibiting some nuchal rigidity and photosensitivity, the doctor
did a CT to exclude tumor/internal bleeding first, then went on to investigate
the possibility of meningitis. After series of blood tests and a lumbar
puncture, all results came back negative. In a matter of 10 hours my fever
resolved completely and I was discharged yesterday morning with just a
lingering headache.
I took Advil extra strength twice throughout the day which I didn't feel helped
much but by last night I felt as though the headache was subsiding and with
it came hope that I can probably sleep this away and everything would be
shaken off by the morning. Unfortunately it's morning now and while my
headache has seem to resolved a little, now I'm in nearly intolerable pain in
my neck and shoulders that's radiating down to my back and my arms into
the axilla.
I'm afebrile, no current sensitivity to light, no nausea or vomiting, no rash- I
can eat and hold down my food- I just have no idea what's happening to me. I
requested a call back from my family doctor, I talked to a RMT who didn't
seem to think massage was related to this, and this is my last resort before
heading back to the ER.
Is there anything I should suspect like nerve or vascular damage? I don't want
to end up with anything permanent if I could prevent it now. Please help. I
thought this wasa complex form of migraine but the way I'm feeling right now
in my neck and shoulders, even that doesn't fit the picture anymore.
I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance.
AnswerDear Janey,
I received your question in my inbox even though you addressed it to Chris, so I'll do my best to try and help.
First off I have to say I'm sorry for the pain you are experiencing.
My first instinct is to tell you that this doesn't sound massage related.
However, if your body was in a state where it was fighting off an infection, it is feasible that having a deep tissue massage could have hastened the pathogen to move throughout your body. I say this especially since you mentioned specifically that the RMT was working on your SCM and neck area where your cervical lymph nodes are located. Lymph nodes filter and destroy bacteria from your body. So technically it is possible, through the circulatory nature of massage, that bacteria was "pushed" through your system, causing the flu like symptoms.
Normally with a deep tissue massage, a client may feel sore the day after. In some cases if the therapist does not warm the tissues up properly, a client can be sore for a few days after (due to some trauma to the tissue). In your case the pain you describe as "intolerable" seems out of the norm.
When you say the pain is radiating down your back into your arms and axilla, this can mean a few different things.
Is the pain sharp and shooting or lightning like? Are you experiencing any pins and needle like sensations? This could indicate nerve damage.
It is also possible that the therapist could have activated some latent trigger points in your musculature.
For more information about Trigger points :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_point
Whether your condition is related to massage or not, I do think that you should be seeing your doctor especially if your symptoms persist.
I hope any of these ideas have helped, and I wish you good health.
Rachel Zebede, L.M.T.
