My experience with massage in general...
I have been through I think 5 massage therapists, and my current one is doing me more good than the first 4 put together. So a note to anyone reading this, massages vary not only by type but really by person. My current therapist says that even among her own peers, trained by the exact same people and instructed in the exact same techniques, she actually only enjoyed massages from about half of them. And that's a healthy person! So keep in mind that sometimes it's jsut aobut finding the right therapist, and you have to shop around a little...unfortunately most of us can't do much "shopping", I just was blessed to find this.
The first time she did a massage on me, near the end I got major fibro pain in one thigh that began to spread and I jsut had her end it....within half an hour fibro pain was so bad I couldn't wear clothes or lay down....but I still felt good otherwise, with my muscles relaxed. The next day wasn't great but okay, and the next day I woke up with severe PEM, worse than I've had in a long time. I was really not expecting that, since it's never happened with other massages. It hasn't happened since.
I personally have found I can't tolerate full body massages yet; my body starts to say "stop" about halfway through and if I go beyond that I get a major fibro flare. However if I stay within the envelope then I do not get a fibro flare. It's frustrating the end the massage when you're "uneven" but it's better than dealing with the pain.
Now for the exciting part (to me). An unexpected benefit to this different kind of massage is that I'm finding my body is relaxing into good posture. For years I've worked on my posture when I could, and there was jsut no way...it causes me so much pain, and makes the muscles more tense, and I physically jsut can't hold it. But three days after the first massage I was walking a few steps and I felt my back straighten...and it felt good for it to straighten. I was amazed, it was an intense feeling of relief in those muscles, like they are finally where they're supposed to be doign what they're supposed to do. Walked around upright, reveling in the feeling.
That lasted all of two minutes. Then intense fibro pain hit me like a mac truck and lasted a full two days. Very intense pain. THen it went away. The progress in posture remained.
After the next massage, the same thing happened a few days later with a different muscle group. THe sense of relief is beyond description, and my body want to do it automatically...I'm not forcing anything. My muslces really do relax into the posture. Again, it lasts for only a couple minutes max before the intense pain for two days. And after two days I discovere dit again with another msucle group. Again the pain. Again, the progress holds when the pain is gone.
So I'm really excited about how the massage actually seems to be having a more permanent effect. It isn't jsut the massage itself, it's more liek the massage gives me the key to unlocking my muscles, and then throughout the week I can turn the key and let my muscles release their toxins. It's been an extremely painful road so far, and i'm looking into better pain management because it really is borderline unbearable.....but it's progress! Progress that I can feel and see, and even my massage therapist can feel the difference.
I've been getting massages for about a year total, and in the past they've been pretty painful and only helped temporarily. Other massage therapists seemed to try to force my muscles to relax, while this one tends to do more "convincing" and it causes almost zero pain. And it's making a more long-term difference.
I don't always have the energy for good posture, and whe I'm in a lot of pain there's just no way. But the difference is that when I'm not curled over in pain, I have the ability to walk upright in such a way that my back muscles and soon to be my chest muscles and neck muscles are relaxed and happy. THat's got to help something.
And maybe someday I can tolerate full body massages. Lately my legs have been quite jealous of the treatment my back gets. lol