Deep Tissue Massage – Why don’t we list it in our clinic massage therapies.

We are sometimes asked for a  deep-tissue massage in our clinic and have to explain why it is not one of the therapies we think need to be listed on our price list. What people don’t know is that for £30 and 4 hours of their time a massage therapist can add the title “deep tissue massage” to their list of qualifications. Sometimes it is a one day or sometimes a 2 day course or unbelievably a 12 hour correspondence course with no contact with a tutor or clients can be enough!

Having said that in our clinic almost half the therapists have attended a follow on further training course on deep tissue massage as part of their ongoing learning and development. Some have found a useful insight, a new technique or improved application for a current client, whereas other have observed that it repeated what they learnt early on in the first massage course. So knowing this we decided early on that offering “deep-tissue massage” doesn’t really offer a client and assurance of skill, experience knowledge or even of a “deeper” treatment.

Instead of a title we assess the depth of massage a therapist can offer and that they know when deeper is not appropriate, before they join us. We do this in a trial treatment before they join us and make sure they have the physical ability and skills needed to use deeper pressure where it is beneficial. This also makes sure when you say, I like a deep treatment then we know the therapist can make sure they achieve your preference but not do any harm by applying more pressure than is appropriate, depending on the muscle or injury present.

Currently in our clinic we have one therapist who uses a gently pressure and if someone asks for a deep pressure we make them aware that she may not be the right therapists for their preference (the frustration of not having a preferred depth means clients can tense up and become stressed – not ideal when having a treatment as muscles need to be relaxed”). Having said that, Harumi is a incredibly experience and skilled therapist whose background as a nurse means she brings huge amounts of knowledge to every treatment. She says “I just don’t need to use more pressure to get good results!”

Best wishes

Graham Swanson

P.S. Sometimes a deep-tissue massage qualification may be needed to claim the cost of a massage on health insurance. Our therapist qualifications and  insurance list is at the bottom of this page.