The female I use is good. Elbows a lot. But I donāt get much pain anymore.
Its not just how hard they push, but feeling the muscle to see if itās releasing.
I have been going to the same person for 3 years. She was literally a life saver.
I had a nerve in my lower trap that was being compressed in a knot of muscle. I had tried everything.
tb500
bpc157
chiro
Physio (did get some results from that but he also did massage to an extent)
accupuncture
Xrays to see if there was nerves being pinched by disc issues.
Nothing was conculsive.
I was in pain for 5 years and it progressively got worse. In the beguining by days end at work, it would feel like I was being stabbed with a burning hot knife in the top of my forearm.
Then it progressed into aching pain in my left arm, thumb and index finger would fall fall asleep, other times my pinky finger and ring finger.
Driving was excruciating. Just the angle I sat created so much pain in my arm, I would hold it above my head and rest my forearm on the top of my head to get relief. Long drives I had to take Advil and Tylenol for pain relief, constantly trying to position my left arm to get relief because it would only be temporary.
Then it got worse, the pain would be in my neck, burning pain at the base, my shoulder felt like the joint was gone, it would crack and pop, I could hardly sleep, no position would give comfort for more than 10 minutes. Taking Advil with robax every 4 hours then take Tylenol with robax every 4 hours, so every 2 hours I was taking something while awake so I could work without extreme pain. At home Iād tough it out.
Lifting my arm would help in extreme bouts of pain, I would get angry and yell, āgo away fucking painā because it would be the most pain I had ever had in my life. Now remember I can stab my arm and keep working, get hernia surgery and be working in a week, Iām not a pussy with pain, my tolerance is really high.
So it got to the point where I went to the doctor, they couldnāt figure it out after tests, only offered 24 Tylenol 3, thatās it, all I wanted to do was sleep. I actually kinda begged for some relief.
So I got desperate, bought t1ās and started to cold water extract the codeine. Was taking about 80 mg 3 times a day, the caffine was fine during the day, but you canāt sleep, but I could work.
Then I started to get worried that maybe not enough Tylenol was getting filtered out and I didnāt want to kill my liver, so I asked a friend for some morphine. He had a bunch of short acting hydromorphine pills from all his back surgeries, gave me 300 pills. I was taking about 60-80 mg at a shot.
Iād get super high for about 30 minutes, had to be careful working, then Iād get about 60 minutes of clarity, zero pain, and Iād run as fast as I could to get my work done while pain free, then it would come back. After a month my tongue started to peel from the dry mouth. I knew I couldn't keep this up.
I was at the point that my life sucked so fucking bad and if this was how it was going to be from now on, I was seriously going to kill myself, I checked to make sure my wife would still get my life insurance and she would. All I did was work and try and sleep.
Then I was chatting with a customer who powerlifted, telling him what was going on. He said, āfuck the rest go to massage therapy, find someone who strips the length of the muscle and go every weekā
We had a place next door to the shop. I booked and went.
It was brutal at the start, the next day pain would be worse, then it would subside a tiny bit. I went every week for3 months, worked on it at home a bit myself, now that I finally thought I knew what it was, her elbow would bounce over the knots, I had 8 on both sides, huge ones in my traps from upper trap, all the way to lower trap. I would roll on the wall with a lacrosse ball in a sock (this way you donāt drop it), and bounce over all the lumps, trying to slowly grind them out.
Anyhow after 3 months I changed to every 2 weeks, the pain has massively subsided, I could sleep again, it would irritate from working, but it was slowly getting better, I kept on it myself as well.
After 18 months I changed to once a month. I was now down to 2 lumps in my left trap from 8, and they were far smaller, now the right trap started to act up, I was told because now that the pain was gone on one side, it was the other sides turn, lol.
Anyhow 3 years later I go once a month wether I need it or not. I do not want that pain coming back again. I am completely pain free. The shoulder pain I had for years is gone.
My left hand still shakes a bit, but I likely have a bit of nerve damage after 7 years of being compressed. But it doesnāt effect anything.
This is why I push massage therapy so much. I have learned so much, and believe that the vast majority of our injuries is from tight muscles causing poor movement. Or trapped nerves. Poor movements over years causes joint issues.
I thanked my massage therapist after about a year, told her that my pain was so extreme that I was seriously going to kill myself because of it and after years of trying to figure it out, couldnāt believe it was something as simple as a tight muscle knot restricting the nerve and itās proper movement. So that she essentially saved my life.
I know this sounds too much, but the pain was that bad, Iād groan, swear, scream, nothing would make it go away. Worst pain in my whole life. After my last colon surgery where the took out 10ā of my colon, that wasnāt pain, it was nothing, I didnāt even use pain meds the second day after surgery, and I was offered a spinal tap because of the extreme pain they thought Iād be in, shit I went home in 3 days, was working after 7. So when I say it was bad, it was a 20 out of 10, so when I say extreme pain, I mean extreme pain. And I was in this kind of pain for over a year.
Anyhow thatās my stupidly long story.
So my moral is go to massage therapy, go enough for it to work, it takes months to undo years of tension.
