How To Get All the Benefits of a Massage

 Receiving massage therapy near you isn’t the only way to prioritize self-care, but it’s a great one. Once you’ve made the wise and rewarding choice to spend some time and money caring for yourself and your well-being, do everything you can to make sure that investment pays off. Here are a few common sense tips about how to make sure you get the fullest range of benefits from time spent with a massage therapist in SW Calgary. 

Do your homework in advance

There may be more types of massage than you realize — Swedish, hot stone, aromatherapy, deep tissue, sports, trigger point, reflexology, shiatsu, Thai, prenatal, couple’s, and chair massage. They all have different goals and priorities. Every type of massage uses a different combination of massage movements called strokes that vary in pattern, length, pressure, depth, frequency, and location. Even within each type of massage, every chiropractor in SW Calgary has different styles. Especially if massage is new to you, be sure to talk to the staff at the clinic about your goals when booking a massage. What do you want to achieve? What parts of your body do you want to focus on? What makes you most (or least comfortable)? 

The more information that you provide to a chiropractor near you, the more likely that your massage experience will be a rewarding one. Then, when you’re not a massage rookie, take the information you learned from your early experiences and explore until you find the most rewarding, refreshing and revitalizing massage experience for you. 

Set yourself up for success

If at all possible, don’t rush from one tense or high pressure moment to the chiropractor’s clinic, scramble to get ready and onto your massage table and expect — snap! — to enter into a state of rewarding relaxation. Try to schedule a cushion of time around your appointment to allow yourself to arrive early without rushing to park, to deal with any paperwork, to take a few deep breaths, to clear your mind, and to anticipate your session with, well, anticipation. Rushing around anxiously to get to a massage session on time while racing against the clock is hardly a recipe for peace of mind. 

Then what?

We talked about what to do (or not to do) before a massage. What about afterwards? Not every day can be scheduled to maximize your moments for relaxation, but what should you do if you could? We recommend taking an hour or so after your massage appointment to focus on relaxing — physically and emotionally — after a massage. The ideal scenario, and one to help you relax while also easing any soreness that can occasionally occur after some forms of massage, is to have time for a hot bath after undergoing massage. The best (worst?) the recipe to undo all the good work done by your chiropractor is to immediately rush to stressful or strenuous exercise or exertion from the massage table. Rather, focus on consolidating your gains by letting your body and muscles relax after getting a massage. 

Your massage therapist will do everything they can to arrange your massage appointment in a way that supports all the relaxing benefits of massage. Ask your chiropractor for suggestions about how to prepare and follow upon your massage appointment to make sure that you get all the benefits — physical, emotional and mental — of your massage appointment. After all, opportunities for relaxation and rejuvenation are rare; don’t waste a moment of them.