posted on April 1, 2021
This is one of the most commonly asked questions I receive as a massage therapist. Now the answer won’t be the same for everyone. Depending on what training cycle you’re in or whether you just need to relax, the answer will vary. If you are someone who just wants relaxation, once a month to six weeks is probably a good fit for you.
Depending on your training cycle, if you were going really hard in training or getting ready to compete, your body is going to need a bit more recovery. You may have areas that bother you often or areas of tightness, and that’s going to require more focused work and that takes time. My suggestion for those clients is that we spend an entire hour working on the problem areas and that they come back every 2 to 4 weeks. If you feel like “I just can’t give up an area of the body” I would suggest going for 90 minutes so that we can have time for focused work but also allowing the whole body to receive the benefits of massage. After a competition or a race it may take multiple sessions for the body to get back to homeostasis so to speak.
In the recovery session the therapist would use lighter strokes paying attention to how the tissue responds to pressure. Using modalities, such as Swedish massage encourage blood flow and toxin removal through lymph drainage and improved circulation. This really helps to alleviate soreness in the muscle. A more focus session or deep tissue session involves applying sustained pressure using slow, deep strokes to target the inner layers of your muscles and connective tissues. This helps to break up scar tissue that forms after an injury and reduce tension in muscle and tissue. This modality can promote healing by increasing that all important blood flow and reducing inflammation.
The body has a mind of its own and after exercise induced trauma the muscles may only allow so much work from the massage therapist. Make sure you are having these conversations with your massage therapist. That way you both can be on the same page about your expectations and the goals For each massage session.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the massage therapy staff here at Union Fitness and we can help to get you started feeling and moving your best.
Sarah Paladin
Read More
