What is massage therapy? Massage therapy is the manual manipulation of the body’s soft tissues and joint structures. This includes the skin, fascia, muscles, tendons, ligaments, sheaths, nerves, bones, and joint areas. Over the past few decades, massage therapy as a profession has grown to include more than hands-on treatment. It also includes assessment, education, homecare and, most importantly, client engagement.
What is it used for? Massage therapy is used to assist clients with their goals regarding quality of life, symptom management, and physical ability. This can include decreasing pain and other symptoms associated with soft tissues and joint structures, increasing range of motion, improving injury recovery, decreasing stress and anxiety, increasing blood flow and lymphatic drainage, and promoting good sleep. It is particularly helpful when paired with other self-caring activities such as stretching and exercise (walking, cycling, swimming, sports, etc.), and other modalities such as physiotherapy, acupuncture, counselling, chiropractic, osteopathy, etc.
What does a treatment include? Your first appointment will include an assessment, hands-on massage, and education/homecare if appropriate. Successive appointments will include on-going assessment, hands-on massage, and homecare if appropriate.
Massage therapy is beneficial for many symptoms and conditions. Some of the most commonly treated are:
Tight/sore muscles of the back, neck and shoulders, high stress, tension headaches, insomnia, low back pain, sacro-iliac pain, sciatica, decreased range of motion in joints, frozen shoulder/adhesive capsulitis, tendinopathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis, scoliosis, stenosis, plantar fasciitis, fibromyalgia, pregnancy (pre/post), sports injuries, strains and sprains, soft tissue tension associated with bone fractures/dislocations, whiplash, stroke, and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ).
How often should I come? If you are coming for chronic muscle tension/soreness, tension headaches, or stress management, every 2-4 weeks is a good place to start. If you are coming for acute/subacute symptoms, once a week is a good place to start.
How soon will I feel better? While everyone responds to massage therapy differently, it is common to feel some benefit or changes in symptoms after the first or second treatment. However, when symptoms are many years in the making, it can take 4-6 or more treatments to feel changes.
Lastly, a good client-practitioner fit is important – when you’re comfortable, you will likely feel relaxed and open to the treatment’s effects on your body as well as the education and homecare given. It’s ok to try several RMTs until you find the right one for you.
coral nast, rmt 