Do you feel uncomfortable when your massage therapist suggests that he or she will need to see you more than once? Are you unsure why this is necessary? Does it make you worry that you are just being strung along to make the therapist more money?!

I often see a look of concern and hesitation on a clients face when I talk to them about having a series of weekly treatments or coming to see me on a monthly basis. So why is it that your therapist will want to see you again?

I can’t speak for all therapists but here on my thoughts on this……

As a massage therapist I am in the business of making people feel better.  I know that what I do works and am passionate about wanting to help.  It is important to me that you get what you came for and see some positive results.  The ideal outcome for me is that you go away feeling better and I get the job satisfaction of seeing your pain reduced, range of movement increased or quality of life improved. However, I also know that we can rarely achieve this in one short hour and if that is your expectation you are likely to be disappointed.  If your condition has been developing gradually over months and years due to poor posture, playing a sport or repetitive movement we will not be able to reverse all of that in one treatment. I’m afraid there is almost never a quick fix!

Pain conditions can often be complex and my approach will evolve over the series of treatments.  For me the first appointment is all about assessment and gathering information which will inform what I do next. It is about getting to know you and understanding your condition and your body.  This is done through observation of posture, testing range of motion and assessing the feel of your tissues during the massage.  This information all helps to inform which techniques will be most effective and which areas of the body need most attention.  This can then be incorporated into a plan for the next few treatments.  Massage has a cumulative effect and it may take several treatments to encourage muscles and fascia to relax and release. If you only come to see me once you are not giving yourself the opportunity to feel the benefit of the gradual improvement that comes with a series of treatments.  There are no guarantees as everybody and every body is different but the clients I see who invest in the process and have a series of treatments are undoubtedly the ones who see the best results.

So when I suggest that you will need a series of treatments, don’t think of it as a cunning plot to make you spend more money but as a way of making sure that you get the most from the money you are spending. I am very aware that massage involves significant financial investment on your part and I want you to get a great return on that investment. I will encourage you to have a series of treatments because I know that is the best way to get results. I don’t want you to have one treatment and go away feeling like you have wasted your time or your money and I don’t want to feel that I have not had the opportunity to do what I do best.

So please don’t give up on massage after one treatment because you are not ‘fixed’. Find the right therapist for you, ask lots of questions to ensure you understand what they can do for you and make an investment in your health and well being.