You give someone a treatment.
Later that day they develop a headache, feel tired or generally feel a bit rubbish.
And somewhere along the way, many therapists were taught to say:
“Don’t worry — it’s a healing crisis.”
The explanation often goes something like this: the treatment has released toxins, the body is detoxifying, and feeling worse temporarily is a sign that the treatment is working.
It sounds reassuring.
There’s just one problem.
That explanation isn’t supported by good evidence.
Where did the idea come from?
The term healing crisis has been used in various areas of complementary and alternative health to describe symptoms that supposedly occur while the body is healing or “detoxifying”.
Depending on what you’ve been taught, you may have heard clients could experience headaches, tiredness, nausea, emotional changes, increased urination or temporary worsening of symptoms after treatment.
These effects may then be interpreted as evidence that toxins are leaving the body.
But the human body already has sophisticated systems for processing and eliminating waste products — particularly involving the liver, kidneys, lungs and gastrointestinal system.
Massage, reflexology or other complementary therapies don’t need to “flush toxins” out of the body.
Does that mean clients never feel different after treatment?
Not at all.
Some people do report temporary effects following treatments.
They may feel sleepy.
They may notice temporary soreness after deeper massage.
They might feel light-headed when getting up after lying down for a long time.
A person who has finally relaxed after a stressful week might feel unexpectedly tired.
And sometimes a headache after a treatment is simply… a headache.
Not everything that happens after a treatment was necessarily caused by the treatment.
That’s an important distinction.
Words matter
The problem with calling an unpleasant response a healing crisis is that it immediately gives it an explanation.
We’re effectively telling the client:
“This is happening because your body is healing.”
But how do we know?
Perhaps the client hasn’t eaten.
Perhaps they’re dehydrated.
Perhaps they’re developing a virus.
Perhaps they had an unusually intense massage and are experiencing temporary muscular soreness.
Or perhaps a symptom needs medical attention.
If we automatically label it a healing crisis, there’s a risk that we stop asking questions.
What should we say instead?
A more useful term in therapy practice is often contra-action.
A contra-action is an unwanted or unexpected response that occurs during or following treatment.
Importantly, that description doesn’t pretend we know exactly why it happened.
If a client contacts you after treatment and says they feel unwell, ask appropriate questions.
What are they experiencing?
When did it start?
How severe is it?
Is it improving?
Is it something they’ve experienced before?
That gives you useful information.
You can then respond appropriately within your professional scope.
Don’t explain everything as “toxins”
“Toxins” is another word that has become incredibly common in the wellness industry.
The difficulty is that it is often used without identifying what the supposed toxin actually is.
If we tell a client that massage has “released toxins”, a perfectly reasonable question would be:
Which toxins?
Where were they stored?
How did the treatment release them?
How are they now being removed?
If we can’t answer those questions with credible physiology, we probably shouldn’t be presenting the explanation as fact.
That doesn’t make complementary therapy less valuable.
It simply means we should be accurate about what we claim it does.
Good aftercare doesn’t need dramatic claims
There is nothing wrong with encouraging a client to take things gently after a treatment if they feel relaxed or tired.
You can suggest they get up slowly after lying down.
If you’ve provided a deeper treatment, you can explain that some temporary tenderness may occur.
You can encourage them to pay attention to how they feel.
But drinking litres of water to “flush out toxins” isn’t necessary.
Hydration is good for normal health.
It doesn’t need a detoxification story attached to it.
What if the client feels genuinely unwell?
This is where language becomes particularly important.
If somebody develops significant, persistent or concerning symptoms after a treatment, don’t reassure them that feeling worse means the treatment is working.
Some symptoms may need appropriate medical assessment.
Therapists don’t need to diagnose the cause.
We simply need to recognise when something is beyond our role and advise the client appropriately.
Updating what we’ve been taught is part of being professional
Many experienced therapists were taught terminology and explanations that were completely normal within complementary therapy education at the time.
That doesn’t make those therapists bad practitioners.
Education evolves.
Evidence evolves.
Professional practice evolves.
The important question isn’t:
“Was I taught this?”
It’s:
“Knowing what we know now, should I still be teaching or saying it?”
There are plenty of wonderful things about complementary therapies that don’t require us to make claims we can’t support.
A client may find a treatment deeply relaxing.
Massage can feel fantastic.
Touch can be comforting.
A client may experience temporary relief from muscular tension or simply enjoy having an hour where they can switch off.
Those experiences don’t become less valuable because we haven’t “released toxins”.
So is it really a healing crisis?
If a client experiences an unwanted response following treatment, acknowledge it.
Ask questions.
Record it.
Give appropriate advice within your scope of practice.
And if you’re concerned, recommend appropriate medical advice.
What we shouldn’t do is automatically interpret feeling unwell as evidence that the body is healing.
Sometimes the most professional answer isn’t an impressive-sounding explanation.
Sometimes it’s simply:
“Let’s look at what’s happening.”
