Why am I sore the day after a massage?
Usually it means the pressure was right and the muscle was worse than you let on. When it means something else, and what to do about it.
It's the question I get by text more than any other, usually about eleven the next morning, usually apologetic.
You aren't broken and I haven't done anything wrong.
What the soreness usually is
If I've worked properly into muscle that has been tight for months, that muscle has been squashed, stretched and moved in ways it hasn't been moved in a long time. What you feel the next day is the same dull ache you'd get from a first gym session after a winter off.
It usually turns up the next day rather than the same evening, and it should feel like an ache you can press on rather than a sharp pain when you move.
It's often the people who told me their shoulders were "fine, just a bit tight".
What makes it more likely
Deep work on a first appointment, because I've no baseline for you yet.
Hot stone, sometimes, because the heat lets me get further into the muscle than you'd tolerate with hands alone, and you don't feel how far until later.
Not drinking anything afterwards. I know "drink water" sounds like the thing every therapist says. Do it anyway.
Going straight back to whatever caused the tension. An hour of deep work followed by four hours at a laptop will hurt.
What helps
Warmth. A bath, a hot water bottle across the shoulders, a shower hotter than you need.
Gentle movement rather than sitting still. Shoulder rolls, a short walk.
And genuinely, water.
When it isn't just soreness
Tell me, and tell your GP, if you get any of the following: pain that's sharp rather than achy, pain that's getting worse after forty eight hours, numbness or pins and needles down an arm or leg, or bruising you didn't expect.
None of those are normal after a massage. They're rare, and I'd much rather you messaged me and it turned out to be nothing.
What to say next time
Say it during, not after. "That's too much" is the single most useful sentence you can give me and nobody says it, because everyone is lying there being polite.
I'd much rather adjust the pressure at minute ten than have you text me the next morning saying you couldn't lift your arm. Tell me and I'll change what I'm doing. That's the whole job.
Where this comes from
Anything here about the body, a symptom or a safe way to work is checked against a named source. The rest is what I've found doing the job.
I'm a beauty therapist of over ten years and a certified Dermalogica Skin Specialist, and I work as a mobile therapist across Sutton. Client stories here are shared with permission and identifying details are changed. More about me.