Is it normal to have neck pain after massage?

If you experience pain after massaging your neck, you must pay attention. We know that the most common cause of neck pain is cervical spondylosis, which often leads to degenerative changes in the bones near the neck. If the massage technique is not mastered well, it will cause neck pain. There have been reports in the media that improper massage has caused paralysis in patients with cervical spondylosis, so you must avoid improper neck massage.

Improper massage can cause many harms

The neck is an important part of the human body. There are many nerves and blood vessels leading from the cervical vertebrae to the brain. One of them is called the internal carotid artery, which supplies most of the blood to the brain tissue. Many elderly people suffer from atherosclerosis or calcification of the internal carotid artery due to vascular diseases such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia. If you massage your neck casually, it is easy to cause hardened plaques to fall off, enter the brain with the blood, block the blood vessels in the brain, and cause a stroke.

Elderly people with "three highs" should be especially careful

Middle-aged and elderly people, especially those with risk factors such as "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and high blood sugar), smoking, and obesity, should undergo regular carotid artery ultrasound examinations. If you find that you have carotid artery stenosis, do not massage your neck casually to avoid a minor illness turning into a major one. Moreover, it is best to ask a professional to perform the massage.

Do not move your neck vigorously

Elderly people with neck discomfort should avoid strenuous neck movements and avoid head shaking movements. If they have not undergone imaging examinations such as X-rays or CT scans, they are not suitable for the "M-shaped exercise." Otherwise, it will cause blood vortex in the carotid artery, impacting the hardened plaque on the arterial wall, causing it to rupture and fall off, resulting in arterial thrombosis and cerebral vascular embolism.

If you have cervical spondylosis, don't press it casually.

Experts suggest that muscle pain can be treated with appropriate massage, but bone pain is best not to be treated with massage, especially in the elderly whose bone structure has degenerated and can be easily damaged by forceful massage. In addition, if patients with cervical spondylosis have symptoms such as numbness in the fingers, arms, legs and feet in addition to neck and shoulder pain, it means that they may be suffering from radiculopathy of cervical spondylosis, and such patients should not be massaged casually.