Massage Treatment Types at Hands On Massage
Sports Massage
Sports massage is designed to use all the techniques of Swedish & Remedial massage, in a way that is designed to enhance athletic activity and performance.
Most athletes or sporty / gym-orientated people have an excellent idea of their strengths and weaknesses and of what muscle or joint issues are holding them back. Sports massage can be used for simple activity such as warm-up or warm-downs to reduce the risk of injury or DOMS; or for stretching out or activating muscle groups that are damaged or out of balance.
An individual programme can be developed to achieve the treatment goals we set; whether you are just starting out on a sport or activity, or an olympic athlete
Remedial Massage
Remedial massage is used to assess and treat specific muscle or joint problems, in order to physically rebalance the body, improve function and reduce pain or tightness.
Some of the techniques used include:
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Trigger Point Therapy: location and treatment of small areas that trigger pain to other areas;
Myofacial Stripping: a deep slow pressure on muscle fibre causing slipped muscle sheaths to re-sheath and lengthening shortened muscles
PNF Stretching: use of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to fool muscles into thinking they are relaxed and getting them to achieve stretch they could not before, without pain; and increasing range of motion through a joint
Cross-Fibre Friction: fast, vigorous, sometimes deep movements across tight muscle fibres or knots, to force relaxation, improve oxygenation and blood flow to the area.
Swedish Massage
Unwind and de-stress with our Swedish massage therapy. Our therapist uses light to medium pressure strokes, combined with soothing essential oils if desired, to give your body and mind the break they deserve. It can either be slow, gentle and relaxing; or fast and vigorous to get you going again - or a combination of both.
The benefits of this therapeutic massage technique are numerous, including improved blood circulation, pain relief, and reduced anxiety levels. This treatment type can also improve range of movement to some degree.
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Swedish massage consists of 4 stroke types:
effleurage (a shallow, circular motion or long strokes);
pettrisage (squeezing or picking up and turning the skin and muscle tissues);
friction (deeper, fast movements);
tapotement (tapping or drumming movements)
Some or all of these will be used during your treatment depending on what your goal for treatment is.
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Fusion Massage
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If you are not quite sure what you would like from a massage, or would like to combine fixing an issue with relaxation; why not try our most popular treatment -the Fusion Massage...
East meets West in this combination of long flowing, sensual, full body strokes and deeper more intense targeted techniques and muscle and joint stretching. Therapeutic and delicious.
Add-Ons to your treatment: what's available and what does it mean?
Several add-on options are available for services:
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Extra Time: as you may expect gives the opportunity to add 30 minutes extra
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Flavours:
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Deep Tissue - the treatment will be a firm pressure (not painful!) treatment that focuses on your muscles, range of movement, and ultimately relaxation.
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Gentle Meditative - the treatment will be mostly soft, supportive with some focus on mindfulness and aromatherapy. You can choose silence or talk about any issues you need to get out or let go of.
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Full Body Contact (Thai style) - uses body movement and pressure points, sometimes more vigorously and therapist will use feet, legs and at times whole body pressure during massage and manipulation.
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Naturist - Both you and the therapist will enjoy a naturist massage (this is not an invitation to grope the therapist!). Please be respectful.
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Tantric with Chakra Alignment - This will be a partially tantric massage; Focus will be taken to your body, your breath and your thoughts and feelings throughout and through the lead of the therapist. Every area of your body will be brought to your focus and ends with a Chakra relalignment (These are body energy lines or centres, 7 of them from top of the head down through the solar plexus in the abdomen and ending at the root or 1st chakra in the pubic area / lingum). You will be encouraged to continue focus on breathing, centering yourself and the sound and colour of each chakra while it is manipulated by the therapist). This can be a very emotional, draining and cathartic experience.
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