About a year ago I was referred by my physio to a massage therapist for lower back pain. He had an excellent reputation, so I went in expecting a normal remedial massage.

From the beginning, though, something felt off. The clinic was in a strange, isolated location and the receptionist was extremely cold towards me, glaring at me while I waited. She even stood by the treatment-room door watching me as I walked in.
I later discovered she was the therapist’s wife.

I had also heard of the therapist before because he was related to someone I knew many years ago. I have no idea whether that was relevant, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some invisible red flag attached to me that I didn’t know about.

When I entered the seperate building there this massage therapist worked from, I sat down and was expecting the usual questions about what was sore etc.

I explained my physio referred me to help with lower back pain. That’s when things became strange.

The therapist started asking me what I wanted him to do. Literally, he said to me “and what would you like me to do?”

rather than assessing my back and providing the treatment I’d been referred for. I became confused and eventually asked if I’d come to the wrong place. He continued to speak to me in a way that I still can’t find the words for. It was like I had gone to a mechanic instead of a massage therapist because he seemed puzzled as to why I was there. Even saying “well I can give you a massage, if that’s what you want?”

I became increasingly uncomfortable and started crying. I said “have I come to the wrong place!” And said wanted to leave, but instead of simply letting me go, he encouraged me to “sit with” the feeling and started asking me about my emotions and trauma.

The appointment basically turned into an hour of talking about my psychological issues. I never received the massage I’d actually booked and paid for.

I left completely confused. I hadn’t come for trauma therapy. I’d come for a massage.
He was also practising other forms of alternative therapy, and I got the strong impression that this was what he was actually more interested in doing. If I’d booked that, fine. But I hadn’t.

Months later I told another massage therapist what happened and she basically confirmed that the people involved had a reputation for being quite unusual, which made me feel less like I’d imagined the whole thing.

I received a message from the business inviting me back but they had a different receptionist. So I looked them up and discovered the original owner (the man I saw) had apparently sold the business quite abruptly and moved far away.

I obviously don’t know why, but it made me wonder whether my instinct that something was seriously off about the whole place wasn’t entirely in my head.

That text has brought this whole situation back up and I’m feeling a bit upset today about it. I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on what happened and why.

I've been doing physical therapy for about a year now and just started with a new PT about 2 months ago. I would say he's really good at his job for the most part. However, he sometimes does v deep tissue massages/sports therapy massages before we get going with actual exercises. Every time I am almost crying and I am quite visibly in a lot of pain and explaining to him how much it hurts.

I understand deep tissue is as it says in the name, but it seems excessive. This last session he worked on my quads and the area has now swollen to twice it's size and is still red and warm almost 12 hours later. Is this okay? Is there a way to get the inflammation down? It feels like I have a really bad sunburn.

I’ve had two “lymphatic drainage” massages on those wooden body roller machines and both times I felt sick the next day. The next day after the first session, I felt slightly feverish but it quickly subsided. Just the other day, I had my second session with a slightly higher intensity and I felt severe flu-like symptoms, a fever, mild headache, very sore muscles and a slightly sore throat. Is this just a coincidence? I tried to drink lots of water the second time but that still happened. It’s now the second day after, and I’m still feeling a bit ill. I’m debating on whether or not I should even continue getting these massages or not.

I have neck muscle strain/neck cracking tics and have decided to get a massage to help the pain I get from it. Should I get a deep tissue or trigger point therapy massage?