The importance of staying hydrated after massage

If you’ve had an appointment at Phillip Island Massage Therapy, there’s a good chance you would of been advised to drink plenty of water after your massage treatment. One of the main reasons for this is that massage therapy can dehydrate your muscles. Dehydration can lead to muscle cramps, spasms, headaches, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, myofascial pain etc. By drinking adequate water after your session, it will help flush out waste products and toxins released into your muscles during a massage.

Drink water after massage

Toxins build up in your muscles

During a massage treatment, the lymphatic system increases and the fluid in your muscles is pumped out of the muscle tissues into your circulatory system.

Your muscles have fluid which have been building up with toxins. This fluid goes directly through your kidneys during a massage. This is the reason why people have to go to the bathroom after a massage. You have to replenish all that lost water by drinking more.

When your muscles become tight or develop trigger points, it constricts circulation in those areas. This can inhibit the body’s ability to flush out this waste. Since having tension in your muscles are probably the reason why you made a massage appointment in the first place, chances are you’ve got some compromised circulation happening. Massage therapy relaxes the tension, releasing the circulatory pathways and allowing nitrogenous metabolic waste to dump into the system. Drinking provides your kidneys with the water they need to effectively eliminate the newly liberated waste. This is why you need go to the bathroom afterwards.

Drinking water before a massage is also important

Drinking water before a massage makes it easier for the Remedial therapist to perform deep tissue by hydrating the muscles so that they are easier to manipulate.

Water is the most important nutrient for health, growth, and development and it’s the most abundant nutrient in the body. Water also helps out with the lubrication of your joints. It’s an ingredient in the makeup of the synovial fluid, which is the lubricating fluid between your joints. If your body is dehydrated, even for a brief period, less fluid is available to protect these areas.
Muscles are 70% water and your brain is 85% water. Just imagine how fatigued or tired you might feel during the day because you haven’t replenished your body’s water supply. Drink more water and you’ll feel and see the difference in your overall  health.

If you would like more information or are feeling pain and tightness in your muscles please click here.