Medical Massage For Arthritis
Massage therapy can be a game-changer for individuals suffering from arthritis. Not a cure, certainly, but a huge support in managing pain, stiffness, and mobility over time to avoid advil becoming a staple of your diet.
Heres how massage can help:
What kinds of arthritis can massage help with?
Massage can be very helpful in lots of different conditions involving arthritis. Importantly, massage can be helpful in finding relief from many symptoms, even though massage by itself cannot reverse or stop symptoms of arthritis.
- Osteoarthritis (OA) – Degenerative wear-and-tear, often in knees, hips, spine, and hands
- Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) – Autoimmune, inflammatory, tends to come with flare-ups
- Psoriatic Arthritis – A mix of joint inflammation and skin involvement
- Ankylosing Spondylitis – Affects the spine and sacroiliac joints, leading to stiffness
- Gout – Sudden attacks, often in the big toe (massage isn’t used during flares)
Massage is especially helpful in OA and RA between flares to reduce base level pain and function to keep you moving better and enjoying life more.
How does massage help with arthritis?
Arthritis causes a lot of pain both in the affected joint in surrounding areas. Massage can usually have a big impact in calming down surrounding areas, helping balance out compensations caused by avoiding the arthritis pain, and sometimes improve symptoms in the affected joints.
Some of the key ways that massage is able to help people with arthritis is by:
- Reducing inflammation by encouraging lymphatic drainage and circulation
- Reducing pain by encouraging production of natural painkillers (endorphins and serotonin) and reducing stress hormones like cortisol, leading to less overall sensitivity to pain
- Improving movement and reduce stiffness by encouraging gentle, healthy movements in joints
- Improving sleep quality by decreasing discomfort and stress, and increasing sense of wellbeing. Conversely, getting better sleep makes you less sensitive to pain and helps your body heal
- Support mental health and energy massage therapy can be emotionally and mentally restoring, which helps when arthritis pain is constantly exhausting you of your energy
When is massage a good fit for arthritis pain?
How do you know if massage is worth trying? If any of the following are true, you should consider giving massage therapy a try:
- You feel stiff in the morning and loosen up with movement
- Muscles around the joints ache or feel tight
- You’re relying on meds but want to reduce dosage
- You’re exercising less due to pain and need to break the cycle
When to avoid massage
It's also important to know when you should avoid getting a massage to ensure you don't aggravate or worsen any symptoms. If any of the following are true, consider waiting to try massage:
- Active flare-up (specifically relevant to RA or gout - avoid having work directly on inflamed joints)
- Skin breakdown or infection around joints
- Immediately after joint replacement (indirect massage might be okay - ask your massage therapist and your doctor)
- High-dose steroids or blood thinners may require caution (ask your doctor and your massage therapist)
Looking for arthritis relief in the Lehigh Valley, PA?
Please reach out to me! I would be happy to discuss your situation and recommend myself or another professional provider depending on what will suit you best. I offer in-home medical massage therapy appointments, and stay in touch with some other great local health professionals. I would love to talk with you!
