Today’s post is about placing your massage ‘order’ and how to get exactly what you’re looking for from your therapist. Most clients come in for one of two reasons: 1. They came to relax and maybe have some reoccurring pain, or 2. They hurt something specific and want it fixed. Which ever camp you fall into, your LMT will alter the overall composition of the massage to meet those goals. As with most things in life, communication is key – here’s a look at what’s going on in the therapist’s brain, and how you can direct them to help you reach your wellness goal.
Now, I’ve talked about relaxation in another post, but here we’re going to focus on words to use, and how LMT’s might interpret your request. When clients come to me looking to relax, I focus on delivering a full body massage experience; making sure to massage head to toe, using slower techniques, and moderate pressure as to not jostle the nervous system. When client’s suggest they want to relax, therapists are less likely to use deeper or orthopedic approaches, because they require more communication with the client, meaning less time ‘relaxing’.
This does not mean deep and orthopedic massages don’t help relax the muscles, but that your therapist is likely to interpret your request for a ‘relaxing massage’ as ‘I’m here for stress, and massage helps me let go of my tension by giving me a quiet space and time to check in with my body’. These clients often receive massage frequently, and use it to fine tune their fitness lifestyle or treat themselves on a special occasion, thus they often book add-ons such as face masks or foot baths as well. Your therapist will consider the totality of the package you are requesting and infer your depth and interaction preferences from those, so be sure to clarify during the intake process what will lead to your preferred experience.
However, next we will talk about managing your own expectations before jumping into getting a specific issue fixed. As I mentioned, your therapist will alter the massage composition to meet as many of your goals as possible in the allotted time, but you cannot expect a therapist to achieve more than one goal in a session, without subtracting from a different section or having more time. Often clients will mention a few issues that bother them (low-back, shoulders being the most common combo), and the therapist then has to figure out what the client wouldn’t mind getting less of, to achieve this. I recommend, that clients come prepared to say ‘This is what I want worked on, and this is what I don’t mind getting less of (head, neck, back, arms, hands, legs, feet).’ The alternative, which most therapists’ prefer, is booking longer sessions – this gives them more time to listen to your body and work into deeper layers as well.
Now, if you’re looking to get a specific area fixed, note that the therapist might need to do more diagnostic work before getting you on the table, and that the session should involve more interactions and communication, as mentioned above. To begin with, the therapist will want to figure out what muscles might be causing the issue, and they do so by having you go through ranges of motion to assess which ones are limited or asymmetrical. From there they will often work the less-impacted side before, to evaluate the natural state of the client, and know what to work towards. Every body is different and it’s important to listen to the subtle differences of one client to another.
This is another topic I’ve touched on, but we will talk briefly about it here again. If a client comes in looking for pain relief in a specific area, they will not likely require deep work in that area, but instead slow and patient work, that can work into deeper layers. I encourage clients that are looking for a ‘no-pain, no-gain’ massage to think about their tension during the session, and meet my pressure with awareness. The mind is after all the true gatekeeper of pain and pleasure, we cannot force our will upon it but simply work with it to achieve your goal.
As our customer, we want to always make sure you’re comfortable and happy with your experience, but because of our industry, it’s not as easy to clarify your order as being ‘with or without cheese’. Know that your therapist is there to first and foremost listen to your needs, but that specificity leads to better outcomes, and it’s never to late to speak up. Don’t be afraid if you forget to say it before you’re on the table, you’re always in control and we want to make sure we earn your business again in the future.
