FAQS

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM MY FIRST SESSION?

Intake:

Your massage therapist will ask preliminary questions to determine your overall health and your health and wellness goals.

The massage therapist will consider information about your physical condition, medical history, lifestyle, stress levels, medications and any areas of physical pain that could affect your massage therapy outcome.

This information will help the massage therapist structure the session to achieve your health and wellness goals.

In Session:

Your massage therapist should check on pressure and comfort throughout your appointment. If you're uncomfortable at any time, tell your massage therapist.

Massage therapists often use oil or lotion. If you're allergic to oils or lotions, tell your massage therapist beforehand.

Depending on your needs, the massage therapist will massage either the full body (except private areas) or only specific areas that need attention, such as especially tight muscles.

Mutual respect, courtesy, professionalism, confidentiality and dignity between you and the massage therapist

Being draped appropriately by a sheet, towel or blanket, with only the area being massaged exposed

A licensed/registered/certified professional massage therapist, working within their scope of practice and in an ethical manner. Expect them to be a member of a professional association with a code of ethics.

The right and option to ask questions of the massage therapist and receive professional responses

The right to determine if there will be conversation, music or quiet during the massage

An explanation of the nature of the massage and techniques to be used before the start of the massage

The right to consent to the massage techniques and approaches, including the level of manual pressure, used in the massage and the ability to request adjustments to pressure at any time during the massage

The right to stop a massage and report anything they feel is inappropriate during the massage.

HOW SHOULD I PREPARE FOR MY FIRST TREATMENT?

Please arrive anywhere between 10-15 minutes before your massage to take care of any paperwork you may need to fill out, as well as getting your massage started on time. Anyone who shows up late to their appointment will set back and drag later appointments behind.

Please be clean for your massage, to include your feet. It makes the session a lot more enjoyable for you and your therapist.

Please acknowledge any injuries or surgeries you’ve had and let your therapist be aware of these issues. This could affect the type of techniques and course of treatment your therapist will be able to use and make your experience a hundred times more beneficial.

Enjoy your massage. Take the time to let your muscles relax and really get into the moment of letting your mind and body escape. There is nothing good about getting a massage and staying tense. It makes the treatment harder for your therapist and really takes a toll on your body.

Be sure to keep your body fully hydrated before and after your massage. Before will help the therapist work out those knots more smoothly, and after will flush out all toxins that have been trapped in for the last couple weeks, even months.

Do not come in for a session while you are sick or have consumed any alcohol or drugs within the past 24 hours. Wait at least a day or so to let the substances pass through and your immune system to process what it has been fighting.

WHAT IS NEUROMUSCULAR THERAPY?

The goal of neuromuscular therapy is to reduce pain, discomfort and stress in the body by using precise manual techniques that maintain relaxed and lengthened muscles.

Neuromuscular therapy first appeared in Europe in the mid-1930s. In the 1950s it emerged in the U.S. with the work of Raymond L. Nimmo, DC, a chiropractor who conceptualized the trigger-point phenomenon in soft tissue manipulation. Nimmo’s work was furthered by Janet Travell, MD (1901–1997), a leader in neuromuscular therapy research who co-wrote, with David G. Simons, MD (1922–2010), the most widely used textbook on neuromuscular therapy, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual.

Travell theorized that the buildup of metabolic waste products in stressed muscle fibers stimulates nerve endings in muscles, which in turn sends impulses through nerve pathways that activate a pain response to a specific area of the body. Those areas are known as referred pain zones and are theoretically activated by trigger points.

One of the factors that differs neuromuscular therapy from general deep tissue massage is most neuromuscular therapy sessions will focus treatment on the area of discomfort and may not include a full-body massage; however, neuromuscular therapy can be integrated into a full-body massage.