In order to be fully objective we will talk not only about positive sides of deep tissue massage, but also about the negative sides.
When you look into a deep tissue massage you will mostly find the positives. Mostly, there is a lot of talk about blood flow stimulation and applied pressure, but not so much about what it really does. Many times I keep hearing from my customers:” I went for a massage and it was completely useless”. There is a good reason for it.
Let’s first look at the benefits:
Stress relief. Long strokes promote relaxation. Swedish massage is meant to be as relaxing as possible. No wonder that another variation of the Swedish massage is literally called relaxation massage. The difference between relaxation massage and deep tissue massage is applied pressure. Light pressure is relaxation, strong pressure is deep tissue. That is all. The reason for pressure is to release trigger points (knots).
When trigger point is released the muscle is released.
Deep tissue massage also helps to stimulate rib cage and artificially stimulate breathing. One of the reasons why people who work at the office the whole day feel better after the massage is their ability to breathe with more ease. Intercostal muscles that are getting tight during prolonged sitting and shallow breathing finally have their moment of functionality.
Now let’s look at the negatives:
1. Prolonged strokes do not release the muscles. They are only to create calming effect. Releasing a muscle this way takes very long time and sometimes even 90 minutes would not be enough to create a significant impact.
2. Most of deep tissue massages are focused on the back with some focus on the low extremities. Say 45 minutes back, 15 minutes legs would be a fair split. None of the front muscles would be addressed during this type of massage.
3. No assessment. One size fits all approach.