With the new year well into the swing of action now and people getting into their routines, it seems like a great time to pose the old question again: How often should you be getting a sports massage? 
 
This question probably gets asked at least once a day - it is a very valid question after all. 
 
The short answer is it varies from person to person. There are therefore some questions you should consider when determining how frequently you should get a sports massage. What are you looking to achieve? How long have you been suffering with your condition? Are you committing to a routine outside of the treatment? 
 
The good news is sports massages can’t really be overdone! To give a short and easy breakdown, we like to work by a couple of rules: the first is the ‘3 treatment rule’ and the second is ‘monthly maintenance’. 

What is the 3 treatment rule? 

This is the basic estimate of how many treatments will be needed in order for us to give enough time to do an initial assessment. In the initial assessment, we identify any problematic areas including what you have initially presented, do some massaging work in order to break down any possible adhesions in the structures in and around the problem and also provide either assisted stretching therapy or a program of home therapy - your “homework”, if you like! 
 
It is important to have an initial assessment in order to get the best possible idea of how your treatment sessions will progress. You may have a good idea or no idea of what’s going on with say a football injury, but further investigation may show up some other areas of concern or improvements to be made. 
 
3 treatments also gives you a reasonable amount of time to assess whether you feel you are making progress. As much as we would like to fix years and years’ worth of built-up pain and tension in a single half an hour session, the reality is we aren’t wizards and it’s not likely to happen. 

What are maintenance massages? 

A maintenance massage is what we move you onto once we have cracked the initial problems. Think of it as a car MOT. Every now and again you have to take it in to make sure it’s fully functional and roadworthy. So why wouldn’t you do the equivalent for your body?! The human body comes under massive day to day pressures, and you need to do all you can to look after it, as you only get one body! 
 
The length of time between each maintenance massage can also vary from client to client. In general, we advise the 4-week mark, as this tends to be the average amount of time it takes for tensions to have started to build back up from the previous session. If you imagine the amount of wear you get through in 4 weeks, then it’s easy to imagine why. Four weeks’ worth of 40 hour working weeks for most people, maybe an average of 3 gym visits per week, perhaps you’ve played a couple of football matches too… and that’s before you consider your household duties! As previously mentioned though, this varies, so there is no right or wrong answer. However, the average tends to be between 4 to 6 weeks. 
 
Now hopefully with a little more guidance and understanding you can decide on the right amount of time to allow between your sessions. And remember our massage therapists are very accommodating and are always willing to help at any time. 
 
Do you think you’re due to have another sports massage? Contact us today to arrange a massage session, or book online. 
 
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