Regular deep tissue massages, potentially on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, can help prevent injuries, reduce muscle soreness, and enhance overall performance. This frequency ensures that muscle knots and trigger points are addressed promptly, supporting optimal athletic function.
A weekly or bi-weekly session could prevent these knots from escalating. Conversely, severe knots, causing considerable pain and restricted movement, may require more frequent attention, possibly two to three sessions per week initially. Knowing the severity is key in how often you should get a massage for knots.
Massage therapy techniques can help to relieve, reduce or even prevent muscle knots. Deep tissue massage or sports massage techniques work on the muscles that are tight or have the knots. Trigger point massage can be firm and specific pressure to the areas of restriction or “knots” and cause release of that knot.
Simply find the knot and press on it as hard as you can tolerate. Do this several times a day until the muscle feels better.
Generally, it's recommended to wait at least one to two weeks between sessions to allow the body to fully recover and avoid overstimulation or strain. However, some people may benefit from more frequent massages, especially if they have specific health concerns or conditions that require regular therapy.
The simple answer is: as often as you want! However, a more realistic answer depends on many factors, including your lifestyle, activity level, pain and physical needs, stress and emotional needs, and of course, your budget. Like many things in life, consistency is key when it comes to massage therapy.
With proper use and caution, muscle massage guns can be an effective tool for managing muscle knots and improving overall quality of life.
Potential Causes of Crunchy Muscles
These knots are areas of muscle fibers that have become tightly contracted and can feel like small, firm lumps within the muscle. When you press on them or move the muscle, they might produce a sensation akin to crunchiness.
This myofascial release has a comparable sensation to being rocked by your mother when you were a baby. It causes a pleasant wave sensation to travel throughout the body. It is, in fact, a relaxing experience. That wave infiltrates the restricted areas to allow for softening.
Since pain is typically the notifying factor that you have a knot in your muscle, it's important to tell your massage therapist exactly where you're feeling the discomfort so they can assess the area. Massage therapists are trained to find knots by locating tension near the spot of the knot.
Lack of blood supply to the muscle causes lactic acid to build up, over time this can solidify with calcium deposits and is often the reason we hear a crunching sound when trying to realise the knots.
It takes a good 48 hours simply for the system to rebalance after a deep massage, so you need at least a 2 day gap between massages.
Turning your attention to the transformative power of touch, exploring massage techniques can be a pivotal strategy for relieving muscle knots. The right approach to massaging your muscles can be akin to conducting a well-orchestrated symphony where every movement works towards soothing those tight, knotted areas.
“Just put pressure on the trigger point or knot for 5 to 10 seconds, and then release it. When a muscle is tight like that, it can limit blood flow in that area. The theory is when you put pressure on it you're limiting blood flow to the knot, and when you release the pressure, more blood flows in,” he explains.
Some require deep tissue work and trigger point therapy which requires a sustained held position and slow movement to release. This can last anywhere from 5-10 minutes per knot depending on the body's holding patterns. Others require sports massage or even a gentler relaxation approach which may seem counter intuitive.
Softly working the affected areas with your hands can be incredibly beneficial for reducing muscle knots. A specific kind of massage therapy called myofascial release therapy relies on constant, deep, gentle pressure to help release the tension and break up some of those constricted tissues in localized areas.
Massage guns are designed to help improve muscle recovery, increase blood flow, and reduce muscle soreness and tension. While using a massage gun may help to improve circulation, it is not designed to burn fat directly.
TENS machines can help with pain relief and easing the muscle tension, but they won't get rid of muscle knots entirely especially if the underlying causes of your muscle tension are things like stress or bad posture and they aren't addressed properly.
It increases blood flow and the release of histamines to the stimulated area to decrease the inflammatory response, decrease muscle soreness, and breaks up muscle knots. The company Theragun has been renamed Therabody, but its devices are still called Theragun.
Lomi Lomi massage originated in the Hawaiian regions centuries back. It was originally an indigenous religious or spiritual practice that evolved. The massage has the peculiar technique of kneading the muscles, which targets body pain and tries to achieve harmony in the body.