My pain/tension came back 3 days after my massage – I can’t afford a treatment every 3 days!

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Tuesday, 03 May 2022

As with most of our clients, it is highly possible that you are already feeling great improvement after your first treatment. This really is fantastic as it indicates that the techniques used during massage are effective and can create positive changes in your body. It is likely that you now feel less pain or tension, can take a deeper breath, or even sit up straighter. Awesome!  

At this stage, it is very important that we manage your expectations. It is quite possible that your pain or tension might come back around 3-4 days after your initial massage. A feeling of disappointment could therefore appear or a belief that massage cannot solve this problem for me. And of course, only naturally you might worry that you can’t afford receiving massage treatments every 3-4 days to stay pain or tension free. 

Well, the good thing is, we don’t expect you to, and you don’t have to! The answer is in the “Power of Three”! The “Power of Three” explains that in order to change unhealthy and negative muscle memory (which usually has developed over months or years through incorrect posture or overuse of certain muscles) into new, healthy and positive muscle memory, we need to reboot the brain’s muscle response and repeatedly bring these muscles into a balanced and optimum state. This way, muscles start to function as designed and this change usually occurs after three sessions.

Putting science aside, what does it really mean for you?

After your first treatment, your entire body and especially the areas of focus may feel great - a lot looser, more freedom of movement, and significantly less painful or tense. And although it’s great and we want you to feel this response, it’s important to remember that this state won’t last forever. Your body remembers tension, and its habitual dysfunctional muscle behaviour. Afterall, this is what it has experienced for significant amount of time. Naturally it will want to revert to what feels familiar. After the second treatment, the release you felt originally should come back again and this time, thankfully, it should also stay a little longer - around 7-10 days. The pain or tension are still quite likely to come back afterwards but usually at this stage it won’t come back to the same degree or intensity. After the 3^rd treatment, the repetition of techniques used will reinforce the healthy muscle memory and that 3^rd session is usually what makes the brain “click” and enable muscles to follow a new pattern a lot more naturally. 

It is quite likely that you will still need further treatment if you choose to remedy the source of your pain or tension which often is a lot more complex. But in most cases, the key is to receive 3 massage treatments, each treatment being no more than 7 days apart, to relieve the pain or tension.

If you would like to arrange a conversation with a clinic director to better explain how massage works and what your options are by choosing to take your massage care further, then please call our reception team on 02037949760 or send us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Thank you for your trust in using our service.

Agata and team.

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