It doesn’t cease to amaze me how people always want to get “more”for the money they pay, or perhaps, to put it more politically correct – to make the best of the money they paid!

What do I mean?

Having worked as a complementary therapist for over twenty years in London, I have met clients from all walks of life, within a very different range of income. What I have been detecting throughout the years was that a very high proportion of the clients have the perception of the treatments they receive as some goods they buy on the market. As massage is officially classed as “service”, they think they have to make the best of the money paid for the service.  They seem to forget that this is a treatment,  which the therapist performs on the client, according to the consultation they have done prior to treatment and according to the therapist’s knowledge, experience and expertise on human anatomy and physiology and how the environment affects us. Of course the client will tell me what they think they need most from this treatment and how they like it, this is an intrinsic part of the consultation and I will take it into consideration. But the trouble starts where the client thinks primarily about their “entitlement” of having something because they pay for it.

What do I mean?

Nowadays it is largely popular clients to ask for “deep tissue”,which is sometimes is also called “sports” massage, in the meaning of massage for the muscles, not only for skin.

Firstly, I need to clarify that both types of massage are very different and they do not have to be listed together as the same thing on the spa lists. Sports massage is to be performed on athletes prior to a sporting event, aiming to bring blood to the skin surface and to make it readily available to the muscle underneath it. It cannot be measured in hours (only in minutes). I doubt any spa has to take care of athletes prior to their participating in a sports event, people who look for a “sports massage” in a spa would be amateurs after participating in a sport event, or lay people who have overdone some practising in the gym. I assume the name has become popular as the training courses (I did one twenty years ago) were called “Sports massage” courses, and we focused more on the “deep tissue” or “remedial” massage, the treatments suitable after sports or any exertion. Sports massage/deep tissue massage course was the next level after completing the Swedish massage course, which is for treatments at skin deep level.

Recently I found out that a category “invigorating “ massage is on the list of a company providing visiting therapists in London. Again, the invigorating treatment should last 15-20 min maximum. Invigorating techniques could be used at the end of the Swedish or the “deep tissue” massage, in case the goal is to wake up the client who has been falling asleep during the relaxing part of the treatment. I personally don’t do it in order to prevent my clients from catching chill after their treatment. Again, most of my clients are not athletes nowadays.

So, “deep tissue” and “sports” or “invigorating” massage are completely opposite and it is not to expect  sports massage to last one hour.

Back to the clients who think that “deep tissue” massage is the best value for their money and that they get “more” benefits as the therapist seems to use more pressure. Here I need to disappoint you – not always the deep tissue massage gives you the best benefits.

For twenty years in London I have massaged thousands predominantly female professionals, some of them very athletic, most of them with a very sedentary life-style, some of them in between of these two categories. Occasionally, I had for clients some male athletes to whom I was recommended due to my own sports background and my remedial massage practice at the time. I know the difference of how muscles feel (under my hand) due to suddenly strenuous exercise, due to regular exercise or due to none exercise at all.

When somebody comes to me asking me for “deep” massage, only because they have heard of it and because they think it is the best deal for the money they pay, I try to find out what exactly the problem is. I know they think it is going to best help their painful body, but I also try to educate them a bit on how the body works and to offer them the best known to me solution to the problem, my holistic massage. It incorporates some manual lymphatic drainage, which opens the pathways of the toxins elimination form the body by speeding up the function of the lymphatic system, followed by deep tissue remedial massage techniques, which then release even more toxins in the circulation, and use of aroma oils, which enhance the capability of the body to manage the aforementioned processes as well as the immunity.

What shocked me recently, after I came back to private from my work for NHS, was that my offer would be very rarely accepted by the clients who had come to the spa with “deep tissue” massage in mind. (Perhaps the corporate managing of the industry nowadays has removed the clients TRUST in the therapist, that the therapist would do their best to give give them individually tailored treatment, suitable for their needs?)

If a client thinks they would get the most for their money by having” the most”, which in their view is ”deep tissue” massage because the therapist uses the most strength and physical energy, I would not argue with them. I would do the treatment according to the client’s request because I also want the client to feel happy that they received the best treatment. They are sent home knocked out, they feel very “relaxed”, actually tired, as the toxins in their circulation are so much, the client feels exhausted and sleepy. Nothing wrong with feeling sleepy after a massage, perhaps even this is an achievement for a professional in London who doesn’t get enough sleep during the week anyway. But, the toxins released into the circulation would take long to get excreted and the client may feel painful body till the middle of the week (the healing crisis).

Besides, due to feeling lethargic and tired in the working days following such treatment, the client may keep awake by increasing their coffee intake without even noticing it. This can lead to increasing the amount of alcohol taken in the evening to bring them down, or just staying up late and not getting enough sleep, so more or stronger coffee is needed the next morning, back to the vicious circle of stress. They could also be exercising heavily in the gym in order to “burn it out”, while still working hard in the office, putting on themselves an amount of stress so large that the body “forgets” to excrete the toxins and the congestion of the whole system gets even worse. So, a week after their deep tissue massage, the client may feel knackered, instead of getting better. They need another treatment. Some may even get to think that the money invested in their “deep tissue” massage was wasted as they cannot see the positive effect of it. Again, I could argue with this, there was a positive effect from it, only it was happening so slowly that there was no time for smooth getting back into the stressful lifestyle. This is where I give you my example of how “less” could be “more”. My holistic treatment, which is not all “deep tissue” and may look to you “less” of a treatment as less pressure is applied to your body, could also give you less toxin to excrete at once, while opening the pathways for the toxins to get excreted faster. At the same time you fell relaxed and your sleep is improved, so the “healing crisis” is not that hard on you. When you come for your next treatment, the capacity of your body to excrete is already increased and the positive results from the treatment are tangible.

Of course, everybody has the right to be treated according to their view of how this is to be done, and this is how I do my work. My question is: why don’t you relax, trust me and believe I will do the best for you and we can work in synergy, which will multiply the positive effect?!

(to be continued)