Another common style of massage is deep tissue and there are multiple variations on this modality pending on the practitioner.

 

It started in the 1800’s as “Canadian Deep muscle” and was formalised in the 1940’s by Therese Phimmer , still practised today as Pfrimmer Deep Muscle Therapy. Around the same time James Cyriax created a similar technique called transverse deep friction.

 

Notable is also the development of Neuromuscular Therapy that was practised in the same period in Stanley Leif’s health resort, Champneys, at Tring in Hertfordshire, England. (Champneys is now a chain of resorts, Forest Mere being a resort I had the pleasure of working in for a few years).

 

Over time the concepts of trigger point (ischemic) compression or/and myofascial release developed and practices like Rolfing appeared.

 

Since it’s inception deep tissue massage has been used to address soft tissue injuries and chronic pain.

 

Today the term deep tissue massage is used loosely and can mean anything from a Swedish massage with harder pressure to any of the therapies mentioned above or a combination of them.

 

Performed by a practitioner as myself, with knowledge about how the neuromusculoskeletal system functions, it takes at least  90 minutes for a full body massage and can be tailored for a specific target. Les time like 60, 45, 20 minutes we will target specific muscle groups and joints and 5-15 minutes will cover just a few muscles.

 

 

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