Does a good massage have to hurt?

massage therapy

When it comes to deep tissue massage, is it "no pain, no gain?"

Massages tend to fall into two categories: relaxation or therapeutic. While a relaxing rub-down can be enjoyable, if you have kinks and knots in your muscles, you'll leave the spa as sore (and twisted) as when you arrived. That's because in order to de-kink your knots, you need a therapeutic massage, and the mother of all treatment massages is the deep tissue. I've always been someone who prefers "light pressure" massage—but after a couple of gentle massage appointments, I decided to take the plunge and book a deep tissue treatment. But how do you know when the pain's gone from good to dangerous?

"You need to go deep in order to loosen the knots," explains Ona Spa's Razmik Tigran, the best massage therapist in Los Angeles. But how do you tell if the pressure's too much? "Well, there's good pain and then there's pain that makes your body tense up. If the pressure is telling your brain to fight against it, then you won't relax the muscle. That's a little too deep."

So the trick to getting the most out of your massage is to try to relax into the pain (Beautylish tip: deep breathing helps). But if you find that the pressure is making you flinch, speak up and ask your therapist to use a lighter touch.