Pain Management Massage
Discover The Peace, Ease, And Pain Relief You Need
The Experience
Pain management massage blends clinical precision with indulgent pampering to help you achieve the peace, ease, and pain relief you need. Your treatment is more than a standard massage; it is an experience. In every second of your session, you will feel like the center of the universe as your therapist provides you with their undivided attention and care. Using a pattern of pleasurable sensations, evidence-based methods, and pain neuroscience, your therapist will help you experience the massage of your dreams.
Imagine being massaged on the most comfortable, heated table, with the softest, silkiest sheets, all the while feeling like you are floating on a sea of peace. Simply lying on the table is an immersive sensory experience that promotes deep relaxation. Using vibrotactile and vibracoustic technology, this table welcomes you to experience a harmonious blend of gentle vibrations and therapeutic sound frequencies.
Celebrate the delightfulness of being alive as you savor the scent of your favorite aromatherapy. Nourish your skin with lotions, butters, and oils infused with argan, squalene, and hyaluronic acid. Fall in love with being massaged with the finest USDA-certified organic massage oil, heated to perfection.
How Does it Work?
Pain Management Massage uses patterns of safety to help retrain your brain so it refrains from creating unnecessary pain. The goal is to use sensations that feel good so your brain can identify patterns of safety through touch.
When pain persists after an injury has healed, it is often due to the brain’s fear that the area will sustain further injury. It does this to protect the body from harm. If the area is threatened or hurt again, it will reinforce the brain’s belief that it needs to create pain to protect itself. As a result, it will lead to more pain.
Experiencing a massage that feels good will lower perceived threat levels, stress, and anxiety, which can result in reduced pain. However, the duration of these benefits is limited because the brain lacks the opportunity to identify a pattern of safety. In a standard relaxation or deep-tissue massage, most therapists perform a flurry of random techniques on an area to provide relief, rather than precise, calculated movements. This makes it nearly impossible for the brain to discern a pattern that could lead to prolonged pain relief.
The brain must be provided with discernible sensory patterns of safety to learn that it is not in danger and doesn’t need to create pain. Pain Management Massage creates these patterns by using each technique in a sequence that the brain can easily identify and follow. On the first application of a technique, your brain will say, “I like this.” Then on the second, it says, “Oh yeah, this feels good.” Finally, on the third, it anticipates the sensations by saying, “This is going to feel good!” Once the brain anticipates how good something will feel, it has identified a pattern of safety.
Safety is the key to pain management
A pattern of safety creates a positive neurotag. Neurotags are what the brain uses to determine whether it is safe or in danger. The goal of Pain Management Massage is to create and strengthen positive neurotags so that the brain’s neural network turns down the volume of pain, rather than increasing it. In a single session, your brain will create new positive neurotags; over several sessions, these will strengthen, and, over time, your brain will begin to default to a perception of safety rather than danger. Safety is the key to pain management. When your brain feels safe, it refrains from creating unnecessary pain.
This approach to pain management is based on the research by David Butler (BPhty MAppSc EdD) and Lorimer Moseley (DSc PhD FACP).
Thoughtful and Calculated
Patterns are important, but so is variety. Experiencing the same sensation over and over would quickly become boring. When the brain becomes bored, it leads to annoyance, which in turn leads to pain. This is what I call the pleasure, annoyance, pain (PAP) threshold.
The predictability of a pattern must remain pleasurable in order to encourage the development of a positive neurotag. To ensure a positive outcome with every technique, they are packaged into microformulas, interlinked techniques that maintain variety while promoting a common goal.
Every application of touch in your massage is used with the intent of helping you feel safe, cared for, and pain-free. Your Pain Management Massage is not a series of random techniques; it is a thoughtful and calculated process designed to help you live your highest quality of life.
Experience the Pain Relief You Need
Take a Breath, and Breathe
Pain management massage uses a process called layering. This is when multiple techniques and methods are used in an area to create a robust sensory experience. The brain loves variety because it prevents a perception of stagnation and boredom. When the brain is exposed to too much of a particular tactile sensation, it becomes bored, which can lead to annoyance. If the sensation persists, it will lead to pain; this is what I call the pleasure-annoyance-pain (PAP) threshold. Layering helps ensure every sensation in your session remains pleasurable.
In your session, your therapist may include red light therapy, leg air compression, hot stone massage, cold stone and ice massage, percussion and vibration therapy, or other approaches to help you experience the peace and ease you seek.
These May Include
Red Light Therapy
Leg Air Compression
Hot Stone Massage
Cold Stone & Ice Massage
Percussive & Vibration Therapy
Red Light Therapy
Your session may include up to 20 minutes of red light therapy. This treatment is intended to help reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, promote lymphatic flow, and expedite recovery.
If you have photosensitive epilepsy or seizure disorder, have photosensitivity, or are taking medications that cause it, red light therapy will not be appropriate for you.
Hot Stone Massage
Hot stone massage is a quick and effective way to reduce muscle discomfort and tightness. It soothes the nervous system and promotes an overall sense of ease. When I use hot stones, I never place them on your body and leave them there. As the name suggests, they can be very hot. If the stone is too hot for my hand, it is definitely too hot for you.
Many massage therapists use hot stones like hot packs; you can see this in most spa stock images, and they do so because they learned to use hot stones by looking at these photographs. I use the stones as an extension of my technique to enhance your massage experience. When I want you to enjoy some additional heat, I will use professional tools designed for that purpose, like hydrocollator packs and heated flaxseed pillows.
Percussive & Vibration Therapy
Leg Air Compression
Used to encourage improved lymphatic flow and circulation, reduce swelling and edema, and relieve muscle soreness and fatigue. When I include this option, it is used in conjunction with red light therapy or massage. When used with massage, it feels like you are being massaged in several areas at once, creating a gentle, rhythmic tandem massage experience.
This is not appropriate for people with severe peripheral arterial disease, Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or active blood clots, severe heart failure or decompensated cardiac insufficiency, Active skin infections, open wounds, ulcers, or recent injuries/fractures on the legs, or severe diabetic neuropathy or microangiopathy.
Cold Stone & Ice Massage
As uncomfortable as cold stone and ice massage may sound, it is a highly effective therapy for tired, sore, and achy muscles. People who experience sharp, persistent neck pain often benefit greatly from a cold stone neck massage. When my clients have hypersensitive areas that hurt to the touch, massaging with cold stones can be a quick and comforting way to reduce pain sensitivity. When an area is extremely sensitive or experiencing higher levels of pain, ice may be used to significantly reduce the intensity of that discomfort.
When I use cold stones and ice, I always communicate with you and give your body enough time to adapt to the temperature to ensure the therapy remains pleasurable and effective.
Pain Neuroscience Education
Pain is an output, not an input. When your foot hurts, it is because your brain has decided it is in danger and needs protection. Like a loving parent, the brain will do whatever it must to shield us from harm. When it detects danger, it becomes afraid and uses that fear, in the form of pain, to protect us.
- Pain is an out, not an input, it is a mechanism the brain uses to prevent injury. Although your foot may hurt, it is not the source of the pain; it is actually in your brain.
- Nociceptive signals are not pain. Instead, they warn the brain of potential and actual injury. Additionally, healed wounds do not transmit nociceptive signals.
- Anxiety magnifies our perception of pain. If you are stressed, your discomfort will worsen.
- The brain can learn. The more pain your brain creates, the better it becomes at making pain. The same applies to safety, comfort, and peace.
- Pain is not an indication of tissue damage. While we may experience pain due to an injury, it may also result from other biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Pain is a Protector
Sometimes our body transmits a nociceptive signal, yet we do not experience pain. This is because the brain relies on neurotags, not nociceptors, to determine whether it needs to provide protection. Neurotags are positive and negative patterns formed from thoughts, memories, and emotions. If the brain associates a negative pattern with a current experience, it will create pain.
This is why the site of an injury continues to hurt even after it has healed. Our brain is afraid of it getting damaged, so it creates discomfort to protect it.
All pain is in your brain, but that doesn’t mean there is a magical switch that can be flicked to turn it off. I know this personally. When my right lung was removed, I went two hours without painkillers immediately after my surgery. The pain was unimaginable. If there were a switch to turn off the pain, I would have found it. Instead of searching for a nonexistent switch, we can create new neurotags. With massage, hope, and healthier living, you can create new life patterns, experiences, emotions, and memories that tell your brain everything is okay and that it doesn’t need to create pain to protect you.
Pain Management Massage
I want to help you develop a healthy relationship with your pain so that you may experience your most wonderful days. As someone who has lived with chronic pain, I know how it feels to hurt. I have endured the gauntlet of cancer, the loss of my right lung, the horror of chemotherapy, and the relentless agony of peripheral neuropathy. For years, I lived in constant pain, but I learned how to manage it, and now I want to help you.
I want you to feel spectacular every second of your session, to rise with an inspired mind and a heart full of hope. Receiving a pain management massage is more than finding ways to cope; it is a stepping-stone to reclaiming your day and living in wonderful ways.
I will help you achieve this by guiding you toward peace and ease, teaching you to understand what pain is and why we hurt, and inspiring you to celebrate every second.
Lasting Pain Relief
Lasting pain relief is the byproduct of perceived safety, healthy routines, and the pursuit of peace. Pain management massage introduces simple patterns of safety into your session to lay the groundwork for you to apply them to the rest of your life. When you experience a pattern of frequent massages, it creates a healthy routine that, over time, retrains your brain so it no longer makes unnecessary pain.
- Your first step is to schedule a pain management massage.
- After your first session, schedule your next appointment within 2 weeks. Over the next 2 weeks, note when the massage benefits begin to wane.
- After your second massage, your third appointment will be scheduled based on how many days it took for your pain to return. To maximize the benefits of your treatment, you need to receive your next massage before the pain is anticipated to recur. The purpose of this is to create a pattern of safety, comfort, and peace.
- Once we have established a pattern of pain relief, we will increase the time between sessions. The goal is to increase this number until you are receiving a massage for maintenance and pampering.
Give your future self the gift of hope by scheduling your next appointment today.
Shawn is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFTME), and Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP).
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We are located at 2717 Hwy K, O’Fallon MO, 63368