How Often Should I Get A Massage?

By Molly Huddle

Massages serve as therapeutic and healing solutions to a lot of issues that cause pain or less than optimal functioning of our bodies. Issues involving pain, anxiety and range of motion can all be improved by enacting a regular massage practice in your routine.

But what is “regular”? How often should we get a massage to see and maintain the results?

Here are some ways massage can serve your quality of life and how often you might want to consider making that appointment:

Athletes

Massage for athletes of any level serve a few functions: it can help you recover from the hard efforts required to improve at your sport. 

It can also prevent injury by maintaining your optimal ranges of motion 

Sports massage has some deep tissue elements so you wouldn’t want to receive them too close together . Depending on your participation level in the sport, kind of sport and training load it could be recommended to see your massage therapist anywhere from once a week to once a month. 

People Living With Chronic Pain:

Massage can improve quality of life or people managing conditions that cause pain such as fibromyalgia, head, neck and back pain, sciatica and arthritis to list some of the chronic pain greatest hits. 

One research review that looked at studies showing positive effects of massage on a vast variety of conditions noted an effective frequency for reducing pain to be twice weekly 30 minute massage sessions,  while another portion of the study looked at effective treatment as 6 massages over 4-6 weeks, and yet another looked at 3 massages per week for two weeks as an effective amount. Of course, a realistic schedule has to exit a science lab and be able to blend harmoniously into your actual lifestyle!

Stress relief:

Massage therapy can also help reduce anxiety . According to the Mayo Clinic, a one hour massage can improve anxiety by boosting serotonin levels while also lowering cortisol levels. According to the article massage has the benefits of “an hour-long hug”, and taps into humans’ basic need for comforting touch. 

This paper recommended 15-90 minutes of massage every 10-14 days for sustained results. 

Myth Busted!

While massage has many benefits, one rumored belief has been disproven recently: massages can’t “flush toxins from your muscles”-not even the lactic acid us athletes are always talking about!

The general consensus seems to be to visit your preferred massage provider anywhere from once every week to once a month for best results but you decide what’s realistic, sustainable and the best fit for your optimal, active, happy and hopefully low in pain and anxiety life!  `