Massage therapy can be the cure for a wide range of ills, from stress to back pain and from headaches to depression. Even if one requires other treatments to bring a halt to their condition, massage therapy can make management of these conditions so much easier that it is a great option. However, few things ever work perfectly without feedback, so it is important to make a massage therapist aware of your needs, your concerns and the overall effect of what they are doing for you.

For the sake of courtesy, so many of us are reluctant to really say what we feel at any given time, especially if there is a danger that it will hurt someone’s feelings. Nonetheless, a massage can go badly wrong if the person receiving it stays quiet. Even if the massage therapist is highly qualified and very intuitive, there is a danger that things can go wrong. Different bodies react in different ways to different treatment. Unless the therapist is made aware of how what they are doing is working for you, they can still make mistakes.

This much is true of any form of massage. If you are having hot stone massage, for example, you may find that the rocks are too hot for you. Although the massage therapist will go to some lengths to ensure that they are not, different people have different thresholds for such things. What seems fine to them and numerous other people might not work for you. Don’t be afraid to speak up if this is the case. Shiatsu is another example – while for most people, the slight discomfort falls under the banner of “good pain”, it may be so painful for you that it causes you to tense up.

So if you are feeling pain, if the way a therapist is touching you makes you feel uncomfortable, or you just need to adjust your position, don’t be concerned about speaking up about it. You will benefit much more from the massage if you are ready to tell people when things are not right for you. And if that doesn’t convince you, think on this: You may have to deal with longer-term pain if you don’t talk.