Before Your First Session
In other forms of massage therapy, the client is a passive recipient of the work. In PNMT, you will be actively engaged in the process of therapy so that we can provide not just excellent results, but results that last. To receive the maximum benefit from your PNMT sessions, here are some important guidelines that can be very useful.
What To Expect
At the beginning of your session, the therapist will sit down with you to discuss your pain, what makes it worse, and what makes it better. This is really important to the process of discerning how to create an effective approach to your particular discomfort. The more information you can relay to your PNMT therapist, the better. After listening to your description, the therapist will begin to explore some assessments and muscular examinations to discern possible muscular causes for your pain.
The important point here is that no two sessions are the same, and the causes for one person's midback pain could be very different from another person with the same symptoms. In PNMT, there are no routines and recipes, each session is tailored to your needs. That necessitates a high level of skill from the therapist.
What To Wear
Unlike traditional massage therapy, completely disrobing is not necessary. If your pain is reproduced with a specific movement, then it is likely that the therapist will ask you to get up and replicate that movement at least a couple of times during the session. This is important to assess whether the correct approach is being used. Waiting until the end of the session to reassess is unhelpful. If we aren't on the right track, we want to know as soon as possible. And yes, you should see some effect almost immediately.
Your Feedback Matters!
You will participate in this process in a very pleasant yet engaging way. Your feedback is crucial, so expect to let the therapist know what areas seem important. As therapists, we know what we feel, but we do not know what you, the client, experience. We need your feedback. If the area we are working on is sensitive, let us know. You will be surprised at how much you will be able to discern not just whether something is painful, but if we are approaching it in the right way. Your nervous system will know if how we are addressing the tissue is productive or not. When we are absolutely on target, it is an incredibly satisfying experience for the client. In many ways, these centers of tissue disturbance are like an itch; you need to direct the therapist to exactly the right spot.