A question I often get asked is how often should I have massage? What length of treatment is best? Sometimes I get asked this before I know anything about a persons issues and imbalances which makes it really tricky to answer. Recently I listened to a podcast about marketing massage businesses and they were promoting the idea of encouraging the same regularity and treatment length for everyone, I feel it is a more complicated question, with a different answer to every person.
I have never been able to answer the question easily, there are many factors to consider, including the persons responses to treatment, their time, their funding, their priorities in life…the list goes on.
In an ideal world I would have a 3 hour Thai Massage every week, and I am sure many people would agree with me, but the reality of course is a little different.
Often the answer lies in listening to your body, it knows how to heal and what you need. This applies to choosing a treatment too, have a look around at different treatment styles, which jumps out at you? Often this is a good place to start with your treatment journey. Sometimes your choice of treatment will take care of the treatment length choice for you, some of my treatments are only available as short treatments, others are limited to longer times. Where there is choice, consider how much time you can spare to really relax, if you are thinking about needing to get back to work, a shorter treatment where you trust you can relax and not loose time may be best, if you have the time to invest in unwinding, longer may be better. If the idea of a 3 hour treatment sounds like heaven then book it in, at least once, you really should experience how deeply relaxing this is..If however 3 hours sounds like way too long, try booking a 90 min treatment.
It is important to see how you respond after treatment, think about what you have to do later that day and the next day, what seems most appropriate? The same consideration should be taken for treatment frequency, try to be aware after your treatment, how long do the benefits last for? If you feel your tension creeping in again withing a few days then we have lots of unwinding to do, its worth considering a regular treatment for a short while, and then as the effects last longer the treatments can be spread further apart, an example here would be to begin with weekly 1 hour treatments to focus on the area you have trouble with and unwinding your tension a little at a time, then we gradually move to fortnightly, then monthly, adjusting until we find a frequency and treatment length which keeps you well balanced.
Recently I worked on two clients with similar areas and levels of tension, I found it quite interesting to compare, the first has booked in for a 3 hour treatment, this allowed me to take my time and unwind all of the tension that I found, his mobility and movement was much improved after the treatment and he contacted me the next day to say that he had slept better than he had done in months. This rebalanced feeling stayed with him for a few weeks, and when he returned in 4 weeks while there was still a lot of tension to work on, he relaxed in to treatment much quicker on this second visit, allowing me to work deeper and to encourage more movement in stiff joints. The second client came to me twice in one week, for 2 x 90 min treatments, this is quite unusual but it was interesting to be able to feel the difference my treatment in the first session had made after a few days. In the first treatment I was able to unwind the surface tension and with the second treatment I was able to work a little deeper, following the patterns of tension. Both clients had similar results from their treatments and both felt this was the right treatment patterns for them, and this is the most important factor in the choice.
Holistic therapies are all about prevention, keeping you balanced and well so that the stress and stagnation don’t build up in your system causing restrictions and illness. Regular treatments are an important element in any health, wellbeing, exercise or stress reducing lifestyle or plan. Once you have found the treatment length and frequency that works well for you, make sure you set a standing appointment or book your next one before you leave your treatment room.
What will your pattern be? An hour a week, 90 mins once a month or a 3 hour treatment once every 6 weeks? There are so many options and it can of course be flexible depending on what is going on in your life, more stressful time? Change your booking to a longer treatment, or add an extra one in between. Feeling good and the effects are lasting longer? delay your next treatment be a few weeks or take the chance to try a different type of treatment…Of course the first step is to have a look at the treatments available and book your first appointment to get yourself set on your way to unwinding that tension!
The Barefoot therapist 