It took me several days to process this massage and reflect on the experience. I'll preface this by saying that I've had hundreds of intense massages and non-Western procedures in my life, including authentic shiatsu, Thai, trigger point, deep tissue, and Korean body scrubs that left me feeling like my skin was flayed off. I am the client that normally requests deeper pressure and more intensity, but nothing prepared me for the pain, aggression, and lack of consent of the recent massage here with "Chi Chi," which caused me to go into total hypoarousal and shut down, feeling trapped on the table unable to advocate for myself.
There was a language barrier that may have contributed to the issues here, but during our consult, I mentioned that I only wanted the upper body and hot stone, and she confirmed understanding. She said, "Hot stone good for circulation," and then she got very quiet, kneeled down, and looking paranoid at the door to the room, she whispered something about "Chinese rehabilitation" massage. Based on how she talked, it seemed like she wanted to do something potentially illegal, and she whispered that she would "ask the manager." I had next to no idea what she was talking about, and trying to gain clarity was unsuccessful due to the language barrier. There was no discussion of pressure or injuries.
When she came back, she started to work on the upper body, and it was strong but tolerable at first. However, after 20 minutes she gasped and proceeded to explain to me that my spine was bent. She again whispered something incoherant about Chinese rehabilitation massage, and that she would fix it, and without asking me, pulled my underwear down and started to work on my low lumbar and sacroilliatic joint. It was beyond painful. There was zero informed consent. I tried to explain that I had been diagnosed with some ligament issue in the lumbar. "I know, I know" she responded as she kept going. I felt truly shocked and went into hyperarousal, clenching the whole time and feeling stuck. She said "most therapists don't know what they are doing and she was going to get me results."
I asked for less pressure several times, and she just said "I know I know pain is good." I started to sob. Throughout the massage, it felt like she was targeting non-muscle, like joints and tendons, which felt horrible. She did some kind of acupuncture on my hands which was painful-- she pressed into veins where therapists never usually apply pressure or focus. I pulled my hand from her, and she grabbed it back forcefully and said, "like accupuncture." She also jostled my entire body around a lot and poked me in areas like my stomach sides and kidneys-- again, didn't feel great. She punched/ poked my IT band above my knee REALLY forcefully and I screamed and told her to stop. She insisted and did it anyway. She also did some adjustments to my body like a chiro, which felt inappropriate.
At one point I was sobbing during the massage, audible and loudly. She proceeded, saying, "I know, I know." She prescribed me exercises at the end, and told me to "listen to music that feels good while exercising." I was in a fog when I left the room, again, because my nervous system had gone into shut down during the massage and I went into a freeze response. I dropped my phone and felt faint.
Here is the ironic part to all of this. I am literally a trauma psychotherapist lol. In fact, I spent all weekend at an EMDR therapy training and came here in an attempt to REGULATE my nervous system as self care. I understand dissociation, freeze, fight, flight, and fawn responses. And yet, on that massage table, with all my knowlege and skill, I was unable to advocate as my nervous system went on freeze/ fawn. I felt like a little kid.
Part of me was curious if this massage would be somewhat helpful. I have attached photos of the bruising and can confirm that I've felt terrible: sore, achy and in worse pain all week. Correlation does not equal causation, but I also believe the work she did on my wrist may have damaged it, as now I am unable to put pressure on my wrist in extension and I have never had issues with it before. She put immense pressure on the area that is impacted. I also never recieved the hot stone I requested.
I was inititally not going to post a review, because I realize there are cultural elements at play here. I believe this therapist means well, and wanted to help me with a modality that she uses. However, I can easily imagine some of my clients experiencing a full trauma response to this kind of approach, which is why governing boards require informed consent and adherance to ethical guidelines. I have sat across from too many clients with trauma from massage encounters and honestly, I never fully *got it* until I experienced this, and for their sake, I will be reporting this establishment to the FSMBT and California Massage Therapy Council and LA County Massage Establishment. read more