Recently I started going to see a MMT. I decided this year to give massages a try to see if it would help with long-term relief after I did lots of exercise during the week. It started to become apparent that I needed some help when my foot got injured and I was having trouble with heel striking. When I moved back over to the five-finger shoes it gave me some relief but I noticed that the impact from the Lems shoes I used was more intense than I realized so I got a massage a few months back to see if that would maybe help my muscles. The first one I got was normal, nothing fancy really and I felt the relief instantly but after my first run prior to the massage, I felt the strain back on my foot and muscles. 

So I turned to a different approach. Deep Tissue Massage. I've never had one done and this guy I met walked me through the process. He would use cups to help get my muscles back into place. The idea is that the cup brings up the muscle, you constrict the muscle and then relax it and it makes the muscle go back to where it's supposed to. It's an interesting and intense process. Turns out my right side is super wound up and the muscles in my foot need more work than I thought. He let me know that it's not fractured and its not a bruised bone but it could be due to muscle weakness since it usually is sore after I do Long runs. I just got my second session done this past weekend and I feel much better than I have in a long while. 

I've never invested in this sort of therapy before so I didn't know what to expect but to find some long-term relief is exciting and really gives me hope that I can improve my running, climbing, and just general health. I want to feel good while running and I want to find a way to give myself relief from my foot. I certainly don't want that to be long-term and cause more injury while I run the half marathon in September. 

Have any of you done massage therapy? What did you think? Let me know your thoughts.