Deep Tissue Massage
Deep tissue massage is not a “Hard” massage where the therapist is exerting a lot of energy and pressing hard; you don’t need to use exceptional strength or be a large person. Deep tissue doesn’t require a lot more effort than lighter massage and is beneficial for most clients.
Deep tissue is meant to be used as a tool to affect deeper muscles in the body and should be done at a slow speed as to not damage or tense the upper layers of tissue you are going through. If you are getting a deep tissue massage and are holding your breath or having a hard time due to the pressure, it’s probably because the therapist is going too deep too fast. If that’s the case ask the therapist to let up a bit or move on to another spot.
Deep tissue is used to help the healing process, and if we go too deep too fast it can cause a setback or cause the session to not be as productive. It’s one thing if it “hurts good” but if you feel it hurts in a bad way tell your therapist. Our goal is to get you out of pain as fast as possible and we cannot feel what you feel.
Deep tissue massage is the understanding of the layers of tissue and the ability to work with the layers to relax, lengthen, and release muscles.
Also, a massage should never be entirely deep tissue work. This would be overwhelming to the client and therapist. Deep tissue techniques are supposed to be used when the need arises up to several times a session. It’s like riding a bike you are not always going to be in low gear sometimes you need to switch to a higher gear for example if you are going up a hill or (a really tight area on the body).
In short deep tissue massage is the understanding of the layers of tissue and the ability to work with the layers to relax, lengthen, and release holding patterns in the body in the most effective and energy efficient way.
With deep tissue massage there is less emphasis on pleasure and more emphasis on changing patterns in the body that are restricting the muscles. We are trying to get the body back to pre-injury state.