In order to understand my title and be able to ask for the massage you really want, you first have to understand the lingo…
Four Phrases
- “Deep Tissue” is not a massage. It is a deeper tissue area in your body, such as deep/large muscles, tendons, deep fascia, and joints.
- “Deep Tissue Massage” is an area-specific massage that targets deeper tissue and may require tools & more advanced techniques to address more serious tissue dysfunction. Heavy pressure may or may not be necessary or even required for effective treatment. Try our JustFIX Me™ for this type of massage.
- “Deep Pressure Massage” is a full-body massage with slow, heavy pressure. Try our Muscle Meltdown for the slowest, deepest intensity available in massage.
- “Full Body with Deep Pressure” at MassageFIX is called The New York Style Signature Massage and can be delivered from light to the heaviest pressure, depending on the therapist you choose (see below). As an added bonus, we can save approximately 15 minutes of this massage (if you’d like) and focus on one area of focus with this extra time. Keep in mind, 15 minutes will not solve any problems. If you really want something solved, you can add more time or switch to a different service.
Communication is Critical
Deep Tissue Massage is a set of techniques designed to progressively reach the deeper targeted tissues. This is not a full-body approach, as you will see. Therefore, “Deep Tissue” refers only to tissues deeper in the body, not to heavy pressure. If you like deeper pressure during a full-body massage, all you have to do is let your therapist know before it starts. If they are capable and willing to do that, they will show you what that means to them. Do not assume all therapists can rip and strip your muscles. One massage therapist’s medium pressure may feel like over-the-top, extreme pressure to one person and feather-light to another person. It’s all relative to your experiences and your nerves. No therapist can know that in advance. So, you have to communicate that as you go along.
MassageFIX’s Pressure Scale
Scale: Light – Medium – Medium/Firm – Heavy – Heaviest
- Light to Medium: Melissa
- Light to Medium/Firm: Jenna
- Medium to Heavy: Noe
- Medium/Firm to Heaviest: Michael
Complicated Steps in a True Deep Tissue Massage
In a true Deep Tissue Massage (i.e., area-specific), the Massage Therapist zeros in on a specific muscle, muscle group, myofascial area, or joint by assessing only the dysfunction and implementing a session protocol to restore function. Every muscle associated is assessed, stripped of adhesions, tissues lengthened, layers separated, congested metabolites (waste products) removed, and nerves reset. This is time-consuming, and one shoulder could easily take sixty to ninety minutes for a first visit. At MassageFIX, we call this targeted area massage a Just FIX Me™. The therapist works in layers that start lightly to address the superficial structures (skin, nerves) first – we call this warming the tissue up.
Warming up with Basic Tools
- Hot moist packs or heated instruments (stones, vibrating scrapers)
- Hands – three degrees of pettrissage to separate layers and increase blood/oxygen flow
- Skin scraping (gua sha) – desensitize nerves
- Cupping or MediCupping – stretch/desensitize/lengthen fascia, fluid circulation
- Magnetic acupressure – calm/restore and reboot errant nerves
- Heating liniments to increase blood flow and desensitization
A good professional massage therapist will not skip these first steps and go right to brutalizing the muscles – that would be uneducated, and just plain dangerous. Once the body allows (without resistance) for deeper, more effective work, the therapist then uses tools, such as…
More Advanced Tools
- Heavy manual force/pressure with elbows, forearms, knuckles – to reach deeper tissue (muscle, tendon, deeper/stronger fascia)
- Muscle scraping – lengthen and separate layers of deeper muscle and tendon
- Different types of stretching to lengthen larger or deeper muscles
- Range of motion with and w/out resistance (PNF stretching)
- Trigger point therapy – to turn off a nerve
- Numbing and or cooling liniments
- MediCupping for deep muscle/fascial manipulation or adhesion removal
- Myofascial vibrational tapping for reducing contractions in larger or deeper sections of muscle
- Kinesio Taping – to hold tissue layers open, keep errant nerves from firing, and drain fluids.
- Reassessment with range of motion or muscle testing – and then documentation
As you can see, there are many complicated steps used in just one single area. That is why “Deep Tissue Massage” cannot ever be done in a full-body massage session, because you don’t have enough hours in a week to do it. Also, doing a ton of deep work on the human body would be super traumatic (bruising, inflammation, tissue tears) and cause you to be very ill – not helpful. Full-Body Deep Tissue Massage is NOT a real thing.
Final Thoughts
So, I think you see that the phrase “Deep Tissue” has often been misunderstood and misused. I hope this helps you decide what you need and how to communicate it to get what you are actually looking for the next time you book a massage.