Massage Aftercare: How to Optimise Your Home Recovery

Let’s Level Up Your Post-Massage Routine

Your post-massage routine might just be some of the most important work you do when it comes to massage - yet it’s often the most overlooked. Why? Yes, your therapist will spend considerable time easing your sore spots, helping you to relax and recover, but they only get to be hands-on with you for an hour/hour and a half. It’s you that calls the shots when you get home to help take that full-body revitalisation to the next level. What you do when you get home from a massage can be vital in helping to ensure the longevity of your treatment, and to help you to help yourself in maintaining that lovely post-massage glow. Be mindful in what you do when you get home from your appointment to truly reap the rewards, and get the most out of your appointment.

Hydration is Key

This is a key message that seems to be thrown at us all day, every day from all angles - but there is a reason for that. Hydration is so important, particularly after your massage appointment. One of the powerful benefits of massage is that it stimulates your lymphatic system and helps to improve circulation, which in turn can help your body to release metabolic waste. By ensuring you get enough water, particularly post-massage, you are helping yourself to flush out that waste and support overall muscle recovery.

Ways to keep on top of your hydration:

• Bring a bottle with you and keep sipping throughout the day. Try not to neck large amounts randomly throughout the day, be mindful with smaller amounts, frequently as you go about your business

• Hot drinks and squash counts. In an ideal world, yes water is the best option, but if it’s a choice between having nothing or having a cup of tea, your massage therapist would rather you had a cup of tea. Be mindful of added sugar in your drinks, and focus on trying to maintain balance - try and have one glass of water for every one cup of coffee, for example

• Think of hydration less as a chore and as more of a self-care strategy. By re-framing your mindset to think of keeping an eye on your hydration as a key step in ensuring your overall health, rather than as something tedious, you’ll be more likely to stick to it. How we think of things is pretty powerful stuff, utilise it!

In short: make hydration a priority, and help yourself to utilise this powerful tool by thinking of it as a life-line in your post-massage recovery, rather than an inconvenience in your day. You’ll be amazed what a difference this simple addition can make to your overall well being.

Rest and Take It Easy

Okay, we know this can be quite a big ask, and it really isn’t as simple as taking a whole day off just to relax because we’ve had a sports massage. But it is important to try and have a slightly more rested day after you’ve had your appointment. After all, your body needs and deserves to have the time to process the work that’s been done, and to reap all the relaxing benefits of your massage. And, it isn’t all about recovery from a physical perspective - massage is powerful for the mind, too. For many of us, an hour appointment is our space to mentally reset as well as physically. And ensuring you find a little space for relaxation post-appointment is valuable for your physical and mental well being - so let’s get into it.

What do we mean when we say relax:

• Make your massage day your rest day, and skip the gym/workout that day. When you have your appointment booked, be mindful to schedule your exercise sessions on other days of the week and keep that day as free as you can

• Try to avoid stressful tasks that require tonnes of concentration. After all, you don’t want to waste that float-y feeling post-massage on a load of difficult tasks that’ll snap you out of it. We know it isn’t always possible, so think more, avoiding
  pre-planned stressful tasks, rather than trying to evade things that spring up unexpectedly

• Do little things to help take stress off your plate. Try meal-prepping your dinner for that day and have it waiting for you in the slow cooker to save coming home to the cooking chore, leave 10 minutes earlier for school pick up to give yourself more time to get there and avoid the traffic, things like that. It can’t be done every single day, but try and do it on massage day

Gentle Movement Can Help

Yes, it’s important to rest, but there’s different kinds of resting which you can utilise to support yourself post-massage. Whilst we wouldn’t recommend an intense dance class or circuit training, you can definitely still do some gentle stretching, or treat yourself to a peaceful walk. Sometimes after a massage, we can feel so much more ‘free’ - so feel free to utilise that feeling and introduce (gentle) movement into your schedule on massage day.

Final Thoughts

There are so many variables in our relaxation and recovery - and ultimately we are all different. If these suggestions seem out of the scope of your current life abilities, that is okay. You’re not going to get told off for not doing these things, we all know how life can be. Just remember, you don’t have to do everything at once. Even if you can’t commit to resting after your appointment, maybe try to work on hitting that hydration goal instead. Doing a little and doing it well is much more valuable than trying to do a lot and being unsuccessful.

When you’re next at the clinic, have a chat with your massage therapist on ways that you can help your recovery post-appointment - after all, no-one knows your body better than you, and together, we can discuss bespoke options to help support you based on your needs and lifestyle. To book an appointment at our Bishops Cleeve based clinic, get in touch via our contact page and we will get back to you shortly. We can’t wait to see you!