“Wow. I feel so much better.”
Great!
But here’s another question:
What actually changed?
Feeling good after treatment matters. But if we’re using massage to help with a specific problem, we should probably have something more useful to measure.
Start With Something Simple
Before treatment, think about what your problem is actually stopping you from doing. Maybe you can’t comfortably:
- turn your head while driving
- raise your arm overhead
- bend down to put on your shoes
- sit through a working day
- walk or exercise without discomfort
These everyday activities can give us a useful starting point.
Instead of simply saying: “My shoulder hurts.”
We might say: “I can only lift my arm this far before it hurts.”
Treat. Then Test Again.
Now we have something we can check again. After treatment, repeat the same movement.
Can you move further?
Is the pain different?
Does the movement feel easier?
Perhaps nothing changed at all. That’s useful information too. Because treatment isn’t successful simply because we did a lot of techniques. Something should eventually be changing.
This is where things become interesting.
Immediate improvement is useful, but what happens after you leave the clinic may tell us even more.
How does it feel tomorrow?
What about several days later?
Can you still move better?
Did the original problem return?
This is one reason we may sometimes allow time between remedial sessions rather than immediately treating the same area again.
We want to see what your body does with the change.
Maybe your pain hasn’t completely disappeared.
But now you can sleep through the night.
You can turn your neck further.
You returned to training.
Or you can finally put your socks on without performing some strange morning gymnastics.
That’s progress.
Good treatment shouldn’t be measured only by how much pressure was used, how sore you were afterwards, or how many sessions you’ve had.
Can you do something today that was difficult before?
That’s a much more interesting question.
Your Body Talks. Learn to Listen.
What would you use to measure your own progress pain, movement, sleep, work, exercise, or something completely different?
Tell us below.
Ask it. Even if you think it’s a ridiculous question.
Someone else has probably wondered exactly the same thing.
