Who doesn't love a good massage. Whether you're looking for an hour's relaxation or need to relieve chronic bank pain, there's a massage out there for you. Whatever your motivation to get a massage, it's not a bad idea to know your Craniosacral from your Hot Stone and what treatment is the right one to ask for. Here's our guide to the 7 most popular massages.
Swedish Massage
Typically the treatment that you'll receive if you just ask for 'one massage please'. Relaxing, full body and soft touch. The Swedish Massage will help with small knots and tense muscles but it's main attraction is an hour of chill time.
Thai Massage
Second on our list is the Thai Massage. Made famous by the therapists walking on the client in bare feet but there's much more going on. Thai Massage Therapists use most of their body to get into every nook and cranny applying pressure in all areas of the body. The Thai Massage experience can come with some short term pain but long term benefits. A good session will improve flexibility and circulation whilst ironing out those nasty muscle strains.
Sports Massage
When a massage is more a necessity than an luxury, a Sports Massage is for you. Sports Massage is recommended before and after a major competition, marathon or extreme event to prevent muscle strain but also not a bad investment every so often if you're a casual runner, baller or otherwise.
Hot Stone Massage
A familiar treatment for an spa goers, the Hot Stone Massage loosens the muscles by placing smooth, flat heated stones along the back's pressure points. The process is often accompanied by a Swedish or relaxing massage after.
Acupressure
This ancient healing technique focuses on certain points of the body to pinpoint the pain. An alternative medicine technique, it's similar in principle to acupuncture and is based on the concept of life energy which flows through "meridians" in the body.
Shiatsu
In Japanese, shiatsu means "finger pressure". The Shiatsu techniques feels like a kneading of the muscles with use of fingers, thumbs, and palms. It's great if you're very tense or suffering from back or shoulder pain.