When Should I Schedule My Next Massage?

Keeping Up With Self-Care

By Daniel Berro, Licensed Massage Therapist

“When should I schedule my next massage?” This question seems simple enough, however, it seems to trip up practitioners and clients alike. Have you ever gotten a massage or an adjustment and felt great afterwards? You think, “I want that again, but is two weeks from today too soon?” Let’s clear that up right now——depending on your treatment goals, the best time to book might be sooner than you think. 

In general, the best time to book a massage is immediately after the massage you just received. Talk to the front desk or your massage therapist and get scheduled. You then have something on your calendar to look forward to. Now we can talk about frequency depending on your personal goals with bodywork and why you booked your most recent appointment. 

What Are Your Goals For Bodywork?

I want to start with goals, as this will greatly affect your treatment plan. Chiropractors and massage therapists frequently see patients who fall into one or more of these categories: 

• Everyday Regular Human 

• The Athlete 

• Addressing Chronic Pain 

• Injury or Surgery Rehab

• Auto Collision Recovery 

• Pregnancy 

Maybe you’re an everyday, regular human who experiences some chronic pain. Or you’re an expecting mother who recently got into a car accident. Perhaps you’re an athlete who is hitting a new training regimen hard or is trying to bounce back from an injury. Based on which categories you feel best fit your needs and goals, here are some guidelines to keep in mind on the best time to book that next appointment.

Everyday Regular Human

This category should include every person in one way or another. You may be seeking a massage to address minor aches and pains. You may be using massage therapy to de-stress and relax. Maybe bodywork is part of your overall wellness routine in addition to acupuncture, trips to the gym and a nutrition plan. Massage can have a profound effect on every system in the body, from the endocrine system to the musculoskeletal system. My recommendation for the everyday human is one 60 to 90-minute session a month. This time frame will keep your blood moving, your muscles hydrated, and stress levels down. 

The Athlete

Let's first come up with a clear definition for the athlete. You don't necessarily need to be getting paid in your sport to consider yourself an athlete. Are you working on your golf swing as a casual competitor? Are you an avid rock climber getting into the gym or outside 3 to 5 times a week? Training for your first marathon coming up in several months? I have news for you—you’re an athlete. 

Here, there is a more specific approach when it comes to scheduling. As your massage therapist, I am always thinking about how best to optimize my clients’ musculature and increase blood flow to areas for recovery. 

For example, I worked with a runner who hired me to help with post-training recovery and a warmup sports massage before the race. I saw this client one to two times a week for two months, yet during competition, I saw them three times in one day–there was a warm-up before the race, a quick stretch immediately after, and then a recovery massage at the end of the day. 

I am not saying that you must be this specific, but we are thinking in terms of optimization. Ask yourself if dealing with less soreness while training help my results. My recommendation for the athlete is once a week to once a month, depending on your goals for your sport and other treatments like the use of kinesiology tape. The closer the competition, the greater frequency is recommended for best results.

Addressing Chronic Pain

When it comes to chronic pain, scheduling may require greater consideration. Here, the best question to ask is what is causing your chronic pain? Is there a fibromyalgia diagnosis, or perhaps arthritis in a specific joint or region? For this category, I usually tell the people I work with to pay attention to what they are feeling day-to-day. 

For example, I am working with an individual who has chronic migraines, and each session provides a 3-week reprieve from significant headaches. With that info in mind, it makes sense to schedule a massage every three weeks. Also, take into account that frequency can yield better results. There is value to getting scheduled before that pain shows itself again. More normalized muscle tissue and less stress on the nervous system can improve sleep and help the body repair itself overnight. My recommendation to address chronic pain is 60 to 90 minutes of massage twice a month to start. As your massage therapist learns more about your situation, they can make adjustments to your scheduling.

Injury or Surgery Rehab or Auto Collision

For those who fall into these categories, it may be necessary to schedule massages more frequently than those with other goals. These categories are made up of (but not limited to) auto collision injuries, injuries from sports or life and post surgery rehabilitation. Get ready for the appointment party because your treatment plan will probably consist of a full array of bodywork, including physical therapy (PT), chiropractic, and massage therapy. 

Simply put, our goals in the post-acute stage of healing either from injury or surgery is to stop the buildup of scar tissue. The clients who saw the best results in their healing were the most consistent in their treatment. Stay on top of doing PT exercises and stretches, work with a comprehensive team of providers, and do not be discouraged with how range of motion and sensations in your body, such as aches, change and progress during treatment. 

The frequency of your massage appointments will probably be dictated not only by your goals and massage therapist, but also by a doctor–so take that into account. My recommendation ranges from once a week at least to three times per week, pending on your overall treatment plan.

Pregnancy

Last but certainly not least, pregnant women are one of the most important–not to mention undertreated–categories of clients with whom massage therapists work. There are several reasons why pregnant women don’t always get the bodywork they need. Often, many expectant parents tend to be a little afraid of hurting their baby during pregnancy. That’s a natural thing to worry about, so let me put your mind at ease and set some proper expectations for your prenatal massage. 

The goals of prenatal massage, unlike the goals for other categories listed here, are not geared towards deep tissue massage. Deep massage tends to be contraindicated during pregnancy as the system is already dealing with a lot of information and rapid change. 

Our goals in prenatal massage are stress relief/relaxation and moving fluids to be processed by the body. This is not to say you will not feel the massage–rather, our primary focus will be you and the baby's overall wellbeing. My recommendation for pregnancy is to book a massage once a month at the beginning of your pregnancy and slowly increase as the body goes through more changes. In the final trimester, when the most significant changes happen in the body, getting a massage twice a month would be best for aiding sleep and relieving discomfort.

So, When Will You Book Your Next Massage?

To be clear, my recommendations are just guidelines based on typical results and clients I’ve seen. I have noticed that there tends to be some apprehension for newer massage therapists to give clear recommendations for clients to return. Massage therapists often tend to undertreat their clients, rather than the opposite. 

Speaking for myself, this is certainly something I have struggled with in my own practice. I do not want to seem pushy or like I’m making a hard sales pitch. However, the result is that I may be gatekeeping the positive results that someone could experience if they received a massage twice in one week. 

I hope this helps with your next booking, and if you are a provider I hope this helps you have the confidence to make a clear recommendation. Our goal as massage therapists is to help our clients accomplish their goals–whatever they may be. Please have a great day, drink a glass of water and see you at Washington Park Chiropractic for your next appointment.

Daniel Berro is a licensed massage therapist at Washington Park Chiropractic in Denver, CO. Learn more about Daniel by reading his bio on our website! https://www.washparkchiro.com/kayce-weaver