How often do I need a massage anyway?
- Amy Coughlan
- Jul 19, 2017
- 3 min read
The answer to the question "do I need a massage?" is probably "yes."
-Do you have back pain of any kind? you need a massage
-Do you have pain in any other part of your body? you need a massage
-Do you exercise? you need a massage
-Do you find it difficult to make time for yourself? you need a massage
-Do you suffer any kind of stress in your daily life? you need a massage
yada yada yada you get the picture; the benefits of massage are endless.
But what about the other question? How often do I need a massage? Well lets explore that for a moment by asking another question; what are your goals? What do you really want to get from your treatment?
If you're a casual massage receiver, you eat well, you sleep well, you exercise, you can keep stress levels pretty low, don't suffer any major pain issues then the truth is you don't need to get a massage all that often. About every 3 months. That's only 4 massage sessions a year.
What about pain management? What if you've ignored the pain in your back or neck, you just didn't have the time before now but you've decided enough is enough, you're going to invest in yourself and put an end to the pain. There's no doubt that pain can be reduced, managed and even eradicated with massage but lets be realistic. That pain didn't happen over night, it built up over time, so one deep tissue massage session isn't going to cut it.
To make a real difference to how you're feeling throughout the day you're going to need one session every week for 6 weeks (give or take) after that time you should be feeling a whole lot better. Remember, the aim is to get you through your day without that nagging pain weighing you down. After those intensive treatments you can start to spread out your treatments, every 2 weeks, every month, every 8 weeks and so on. This will let you know how long you can go between sessions before pain starts to creep up again.
If you exercise regularly a massage a month is the way to prevent injury and keep the muscles in good shape. If you exercise intensively, one every 3 weeks is the way keep the physio at bay!
For stress related issues that's really up to you. You may just need a one off boost of endorphins which massage can offer or you may find that getting a regular treatment is just the trick for keeping stress (and all it's nasty side effects) under control. But be open & honest with your therapist about keeping on top of stress (and of course, all of it's ugly side effects) The likelihood is your therapist will be able to offer advise, some techniques for you do to at home and possibly refer you another therapy if needs be.
Different muscle groups will also dictate the length of time between sessions. Personally, I know that I can easily go about 8 weeks before I'll need a good Glute & Hip treatment, but I'll need an intense massage for my shoulders every 4 weeks and no longer.
What's the bottom line?
Listen to your body; You know your body best. If you feel you need the session, go for it.
Listen to your therapist; she knows what she's talking about, she's been massaging muscles just like yours all day.
Don't expect miracles; if it needs to be fixed, it's going to take time.
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