Forty-five minutes £50, an hour £65: the maintenance treatment for people who train, and for people who just hurt
Sports massage
The treatment most people book: firm, specific work on the muscles you use most, to keep you training through a block, undo a week of hills, or deal with the calf that has been "a bit tight" since March. Forty-five minutes is the usual; an hour if there are two areas; thirty for a top-up.
Sports massage is not a reward for finishing a race, though it is a good one. It is maintenance: finding the muscle that has shortened and is pulling on everything around it, working it back to length, and sending you away with the two things that will stop it coming back. Most of our clients come every three to six weeks through a training block and once a quarter the rest of the year.
The slot starts with ten minutes of talking: what hurts, how you train, what you do at a desk, what you have tried. Then the therapist assesses how you move (a squat, a lunge, a reach) and goes to work on the two or three areas that matter rather than everything from neck to ankle. Techniques are the ones that work: deep effleurage, trigger-point pressure, friction on the tendons, muscle energy techniques and stretching, at a depth you can breathe through.
Forty-five minutes is enough for one area done properly (both calves and the feet, say, or the lower back and the glutes) with time to teach you the stretch and the drill. An hour covers two areas. Thirty minutes is a top-up on something we already know. Ninety is for the week after a marathon or the week before an Ironman, when everything needs attention.
You leave with two things written down: what we found and what to do about it, usually one stretch and one strength drill. If you need to come back we say when; if you do not, we say that too. About a third of first-time clients are told they need two or three visits a fortnight apart and then a gap, and that is what most of them do.
What is included
- Ten minutes of history and a movement check
- Two or three areas done properly, not everything lightly
- Pressure you can breathe through
- A stretch and a drill, written down
- An honest answer on when, or whether, to come back
- The same price every visit
What it costs
Thirty minutes £38, forty-five £50, an hour £65, ninety £90. The same price for the first visit. No VAT. The prices page has every length and block side by side; the treatment picker says which one fits what is bothering you.
Questions about sports massage
Does it hurt?
It is firm and some of it is uncomfortable, especially the first time on a muscle that has been tight for months. It should never make you hold your breath or tense against it, and we check. You may feel bruised for a day; drink water and walk.
How often should I come?
In a training block, every three to six weeks; the rest of the year, when something starts to nag. Nobody needs weekly massage unless they are training like a professional, and we will say so.
The next free slot is on this website. Take it.
Forty-five minutes is £50 and the usual first booking: ten minutes of talking, thirty-five hands on, a stretch and a drill written down. Pick an hour on the book page up to two hours ahead, or ring the clinic and we find you one.