How often should you get remedial massage?

When you are in an acute flare

If you are in genuine pain, sessions are usually closer together at the start. Something like weekly, or occasionally twice in the first week if things are very reactive, gives us a chance to build on the previous session before the tissue tightens back up and the protective pattern re-establishes itself.

The point of that early cluster is not to keep you coming in forever. It is to get on top of the pain quickly and give the area enough consecutive good days to calm down. Once symptoms drop and stay down, the spacing should stretch out.

When you are recovering and rebuilding

Once the sharp phase settles, most people move to something like fortnightly or every three weeks. At this stage the exercise plan is doing more of the work than the table is. Appointments become about clearing the tension that builds up as you increase load, checking that the movement is coming back the way it should and progressing what you are doing at home.

This is the stage people most often abandon too early, because they feel fine. Stopping at the point the pain disappears but before capacity is rebuilt is the single most common reason the same problem returns three months later.

• Acute pain: roughly weekly until symptoms settle
• Recovery: fortnightly to every three weeks alongside exercise
• Maintenance: every four to eight weeks, based on how you actually track
• Heavy training or physical work: often closer, driven by workload

Maintenance and prevention

Plenty of our regulars come in monthly or every six to eight weeks with nothing much wrong. That is a legitimate use of remedial massage. If you have a physical job, train seriously, sit at a desk all week, or have a long standing injury that grumbles when you neglect it, regular treatment keeps small things small.

The right interval is the one where you arrive with mild tightness rather than in pain. If you are consistently limping in at the end of your gap, shorten it. If you turn up feeling great with nothing to work on, stretch it out. Your body gives you the answer over a couple of cycles.

Signs your spacing is wrong

Too far apart usually looks like starting from scratch every visit, symptoms returning fully in the last week before each appointment, or feeling like you never quite get ahead. Too close together usually looks like nothing much to treat, no meaningful change between sessions, and treatment doing the work your exercise plan should be doing.

A good myotherapist should be actively trying to space you out over time, and should tell you when they think you no longer need regular appointments. If nobody has ever suggested lengthening your gap, it is a fair question to ask.

What actually changes the frequency you need

Workload is the biggest factor. A tradesperson in the middle of a big job, a runner in a marathon build or a parent lifting a toddler all day will need more support than someone in a light week. Sleep, stress and how consistently you do your home exercises all matter too.

Rather than committing to a rigid schedule, we would rather set a plan, review it, and change it. You should always know why your next appointment is booked when it is, and what you are doing between now and then.

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