WHAT TO EXPECT DURING THE SESSION
The 1st session will have 5 different stages:
INITIAL CONSULTATION
In order to assess your problem and give you the best quality treatment adapted to your needs, I have to gather some information.
You will be asked several questions about your current problem but also about your medical history and your lifestyle. You can share anything you consider relevant.
This consultation will help me understand not only your problem but also its possible causes, how it is affecting you, your expectations and also how to adapt the treatment and the aftercare to your specific needs and routine.
I need to get to know you a bit better in order to know how to help you.
POSTURAL ASSESSMENT AND TESTS
This is when I make you stand in front of me for a bit.
By looking at the way you hold your body while you
stand I can assess muscle imbalances and areas that
might need treatment. I might then make you move in
specific ways to see what your body does and might
then do some tests to assess joints and/or soft tissue
structures. Observing, palpating and
testing specific areas of your body will make me
understand what is going on in your body and how
I need to address your problem.
You might be requested to take some clothes off, so I can
see better. Make sure you bring appropriate underwear or
sports shorts and top so we can both feel comfortable.
TREATMENT PLANNING
I'll share all my findings with you, what I think the problem is and different ways to address it. We can set some goals to work on on the following treatments and put a treatment plan in place together. The areas to treat and the techniques will be discussed here before the treatment starts. We won't need to do these 3 stages every time, but I usually do a brief evaluation every time and a new assessment every 3-5 sessions to see where we stand.
MASSAGE
Depending on your problem and its severity the treatment might include different techniques.
Some of the more effective ones rely on the active collaboration of the patient, which means that you might be asked to move your limbs in different directions while receiving the message unless you really fancy a passive and more relaxing session. Also, you might need to change position on the couch in order to adapt the techniques and achieve the best result. this can be agreed before it all starts and during the treatment.
The muscles that are short and tight can be
painful to touch and pressure, it wouldn't
be painful if your muscles were completely
supple and relaxed. That means that the
more pain you experience, the more
attention those muscles need.
It is true thought that the less pain you
feel during the treatment the better results
we can achieve because you won't get tense
and protective. So don't hesitate to communicate
about the pressure and how you feel all along so
I can adapt the techniques to your pain tolerance.
You might still experience some soreness, but
contrary to the common believe, remedial and
sports massage does not need to be extremely painful!
ADVICE AND AFTERCARE
Aiming for a faster and full recovery you'll be offered some advice to put in practice between sessions. Some stretches to lengthen short muscles, some strengthening exercises for weak muscle groups, some postural advice, self-massage of specific areas... Also, the better your compliance is with the homecare, the less painful the next treatment will be and the fewer sessions you will need. There is plenty you can do at home to assist the recovery.
