Physiotherapy is often prescribed by a doctor after a person has suffered an injury or has gone through surgery, and it may be used by those who are very athletic and who then put added demands on their muscles and joints. Massage is often included as part of physiotherapy, but these massages are often very different than the type of massage you might get at a spa. Note a few of those differences here so you can know what to expect with this massage and will better understand how it benefits your overall health.
Interview before the massage
When you arrive for a physiotherapy massage, your therapist may ask you a number of health-related questions before beginning your session, including problems you have with circulation or other conditions that affect your muscles and joints. They may ask about pain you're experiencing and also how you feel physically since your last session. These questions will help them to determine the best type of massage for your particular health-related needs.
Not necessarily relaxing
A massage you get at a spa is meant to relax your muscles and make you feel calm and restful; a physiotherapy massage may be relaxing and may alleviate some pain, but the main purpose of such a massage is to treat specific conditions related to the muscles, not to relax you. This massage might be meant to increase circulation after an injury or surgery, to relax muscles that are now working harder after an injury, or to elongate muscles that have been damaged. These techniques may not necessarily feel relaxing, so don't assume that the massage has then been ineffective simply because you don't feel relaxed after leaving a session; you may see the results of the massage in better athletic performance, less muscle pain, and faster recovery times after surgery.
Duration
The duration of a physiotherapy massage may actually vary greatly at each session. Remember that this massage is to help muscles heal and get stronger; too much attention on weak and sore muscles may cause damage, whereas your therapist may need to spend a longer amount of time on those muscles and surrounding areas of the body during one session in order to speed healing and recovery. Your therapist may even tell you to expect a different duration of massage during each session, depending on the condition of the muscles, but don't assume that they're not doing their jobs if one session seems particularly short.
Share22 March 2017
Before I had my kids, I pictured that I would be much more relaxed staying at home and looking after my kids. I thought that the shoulder twinges and neck strains from sitting at a desk would go away, but little did I know they'd be quickly replaced by lower back pain from leaning over cleaning up and hip pains from carrying kids all day long - let alone recovering from birth. These days I have done a lot of research on how to look after my body and mind with massage treatments, which I collect on this site to share with other new mums.