What is Deep Tissue Massage?
Deep tissue massage isn’t just a Swedish massage with deeper strokes or harder pressure. Deep tissue massages use firm pressure and slow stroked to massage deep layers of muscle and fascia, which is the connective tissue that surrounds your muscles.
Deep tissue massages are used to break up scar tissue and break down muscle adhesions (the “knots” that we feel in our muscles are muscle adhesions, which are bands of rigid and painful muscle tissue). These knots can inhibit our circulation and cause pain and inflammation.
When the massage begins, your massage therapist usually starts with lighter pressure to warm up your muscles and then works into deeper pressure.
The common techniques used in deep tissue massage therapy include stripping, which is deep pressure that glides along the length of your muscle fibers and friction, which applies pressure across the grain of your muscle to break up adhesions and align tissue fibers.
Whether you are an athlete, suffering from arthritis, or are pregnant, there are benefits to deep tissue massage therapy that can help you.
Benefits of Deep Tissue Massage
- Stress relief.
- Reduces pain.
- Breaks up adhesion’s and improves flexibility.
- Releases serotonin.
- Helps with arthritic pain.
- Rehabilitates injured muscles.
- post marathon recovery.
- General wellbeing.