I have moderate pain in my neck & shoulder area. How long of a massage should I request?

Answer 1

Hello,

Very good question. I have clients that ask me this as well.

I like to tailor my massage to my client's needs. So, if I have a client that really needs extra work done in this area I prefer to devote the whole one hour massage to the neck, shouler and the ENTIRE back area so that I can be more muscle specific. I incorporate the arms as well because I like to stretch the pectoral muscles and other back muscles with the arm movements and this releases the whole shoulder area.

To me, doing the rest of the body is more like doing... please excuse the term... a "fluff and buff" massage.

I do get better results and my clients agree that it helps them a great deal. Some clients, upon returning for another massage, start requesting that I totally focus on these areas and leave out the lower extremities.

So, that was a long answer to your question. One hour would be sufficient. But, if you want the full body you might want to go for 1.5 hour with the major focus being neck, shoulders & entire back.

Hope this has helped you make a decision.

Namaste,

Hermene Anderson, LMT

Answer 2

As others have stated, 30 minutes to 1 hour should be sufficient. Every therapist works differently but typically, the first time to visit any therapist, a full body is the best way to go because it allows the therapist to assess your condition and figure out your holding patterns as it is not uncommon for other problems to manifest once your primary complaint is taken care of.

One thing to realize about the neck and shoulder area is that they are notoriously difficult to rehab.  Most people only really relax thier neck when they sleep and sometimes not even then.  Much of the same is true for general shoulder tension because we are constantly using those muscles to maintain posture and allow us to use our hands.  

Personally, no matter which you chose, i would use 30 minutes to focus on the neck and shoulder area.  As you work with a therapist, you will gradually be able to tolerate more pressure and more targetted techniques with less discomfort and the work you are doing will hold for longer. This means that you will get more relief for longer and can start scheduling farther apart until the problem eventually resolves.  I wi ll caution you not to belive that 1 massage will fix the problem even if it does completely alliviate symptoms which is rare. 99% of the time it takes more than 1 session to work on these types of issues simply because it requires re-education of the soft tissue in this area which is slowed by the fact that we used these muscles all day everyday.