Learnings: I got hurt at a cheap Chinese massage place
There are many who think that a massage is just a massage. I was one of these people until I got hurt.
It’s when you have had a bad massage that you realise price is far from the only issue when it comes to selecting massage.
My issue is not with cheap massages per se. The best massages I’ve personally had were less than $5, but they were in Bali and the Philippines.
My issue is with cheap when it’s dodgey. If it’s cheap because the Australian company is using one provider number across 20 staff.
My issue is when the “therapists” can’t get my feedback because they can’t speak basic English.
My issue is all the “therapists” are being paid badly and presumably are under some form of duress. It’s not economically possible to employ 20 staff with prices so low, dwell-time so high and still be making a profit (legally). Check out all the Chinese Massage centres that have been busted.
It’s possible — in fact probable — that the person giving you that uncomfortable massage has no idea what they’re doing.
Have you gone for a cheap Chinese massage and felt worse afterwards?
Plenty of people have this issue. They justify to themselves that it will feel better in the long run, but that’s debatable.
Some remedial and sports massage can hurt after treatment and in such cases the therapist should be specifically qualified and the treatment should be part of a recovery regime that has been tailored for you based on assessment of your needs and goals.
Normally one-off massage should not hurt because the therapist does not need to go that hard or deep. Going hard and deep without the necessary warm-up poses risks like increased pain, decreased mobility and if someone makes a mistake that mistake could ultimately lead to injury or paralysis.
Going once-off to a Chinese massage business and getting the cheapest massage possible is asking for trouble. If that massage treatment then hurts then you have probably done more harm than good.
One of the key benefits of massage is that it should make you feel better. If yours doesn’t then it’s probably being done wrong. This inherent understanding is often dismissed because the person selling the massage says “you’ll be fixed and feel better later” the “no pain no gain” theory being applied incorrectly.
If something can be said in defence of this style of massage it is that you are no longer focused on the niggle (probably now you are focused on the whole region that hurts).
When I got hurt it changed my mind. Price is not the only issue.
For all your workplace massage needs head to 3 Minute Angels 1300 662 022.