How Often Should I Have a Remedial Massage?
Tristan Woodward 
Advice to guide you in creating a treatment plan that suits your health and fitness goals
This is a common question we get asked about Remedial Massage.
The short answer is "It depends".
There is no one size fits all answer to this and many factors can influence the frequency of your ongoing treatment.
- How does your body respond following the treatment
- Do you complete the stretches & exercises recommended by your Therapist
- Do you go back to the poor patterns/habits that caused your issues
- Do you have a physically active job
- Do you operate in a highly stressful environment
We can factor all of these things in, but as a general guide, here's what I usually recommend to my clients.
You have an injury
Firstly your injury needs to be assessed to determine how Remedial Massage can help. If it is an acute injury, like a sprain or contusion (think corked thigh from sport), then massage is not likely to assist when it first occurs. Follow the RICE principles (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and speak to me about your injury. I can recommend strategies to manage the acute phase, or where required assist with a referral to a Physiotherapist, Osteopath, etc.
You have pain due to muscle tension
Every day we work our bodies in different ways. We sometimes force ourselves to sit still in a chair at a computer for many hours or we are out on the sporting field running around like crazy. Muscles have a mechanism where they go into spasm to protect your body from sustaining further injury. Your muscles need some specialised attention to get you moving better again. As a general guide, initially I recommend having a Remedial Massage weekly until the pain settles. This would be for 2-3 weeks maximum. Once you are seeing improvement, we begin to stretch the timeframe between appointments to fortnightly. This will continue until your pain has settled. At the end of your treatment I will recommend how long until you should come back based on your progress.
You are preparing for a particular event
Remedial and Sports Massage can be very effective incorporated into a wider Strength and Conditioning or Sporting Program. The events could involve a training program in preparation for a one off event or could also be as part of the pre-season training. Massage can be scheduled every 1-2 weeks to assist with recovery during the intense phase of training as well as assisting with improving athlete performance.
You are feeling stressed
If you are feeling stressed you can book as often as you need. As busy people we sometimes just need an hour without talking or even an hour of venting to feel better again. Massage has the ability of relaxing the body and in turn calming the mind.
Maintenance
If you are lucky enough to be without pain or an injury it is still a good idea to stay on top of potential musculoskeletal issues by coming in for regular Remedial Massage. I have clients that come in every 3-4 weeks and others who make it a habit to come every 6 weeks. Once again, it depends on what works for your schedule, your finances and your personal needs.
If you have an issue and would like to find out if Remedial Massage can help, please get in touch and we can have a chat.
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Categories: : Remedial Massage, Sports Massage