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Deep Tissue vs. Swedish Massage

You might have heard we specialize in Deep Tissue Massage; in fact, you might see us because we specialize in deep tissue. However, many people don’t understand the difference between Deep Tissue Massage and a Swedish Massage.

 

Swedish Massage focuses on relaxation. Using 5 different types of strokes, Swedish Massage doesn’t typically use a huge amount of pressure to achieve its goals. It’s only called Swedish Massage in English and Dutch speaking countries and in Hungary; everywhere else, it’s called “classic” massage. The majority of clients who seek a Swedish Massage also want deep pressure. While technically, that would classify the massage as a Deep Tissue Massage, we understand what the client means. We can integrate deeper pressure into a standard massage.

 

A Deep Tissue Massage focuses on manipulating the deeper tissues of the body, specifically the fascia and muscles. Deep Tissue Massage has been proven to be a viable option for many different ailments. Livestrong posted an article about the benefits, including:
  • Reduces Chronic Pain
  • Improves Blood Pressure
  • Breaks Up Scar Tissue
  • Rehabilitates Injured Muscles
  • Stress Relief
We specialize in Deep Tissue Massage Therapy at Under Pressure Therapeutics because, while we want to help people relax, our mission is to serve Fort Collins with quality massage therapy services, and we believe the best way to achieve this goal is through deep tissue massage. By giving Deep Tissue Massage, we offer our clients an opportunity to recover from surgeries with breaking up scar tissue, to decrease chronic pain by stretching fascia, and to help athletic training and exercise recovery.
Please note that Deep Tissue Massage does not exclusively mean pain! And you shouldn’t be writhing in pain, either. This is wherecommunicating with your Licensed Massage Therapist is key! When giving a beneficial, therapeutic Deep Tissue Massage, we want you at about a 6 or 7 on a pain scale out of 10. We want it to be a little high, but we want you to be able to breathe through it. If you’re not breathing, then you’re not getting benefits–you’re just paying us to torture you. A 6 or 7 is kind of a “hurts so good” kind of pain. If you can breathe through it, great! If you are tensing up the rest of your body to “deal” with the pain, not okay. As a tip: when it hurts, take a big, deep breath in, and see if your Massage Therapist does need to lighten up, or if you can breathe through it. If you immediately start wincing, that is NOT okay!
Deep Tissue Massage is the best option for setting the body on course of recovery for a full, pain-free life. If you noticed, we work within YOUR pain tolerance–a 6 or 7 for one person is another person’s 25, which is another person’s 4. Don’t feel “bad” for telling us it’s too much! Don’t apologize to us if you can’t handle that much pressure! That’s what YOUR body needs! And we work to give you what your body needs!