Medical & Integrative Massage Therapy FAQs

Medical Massage Therapy is a special type of massage therapy that addresses both chronic and acute pain by targeting certain muscles to restore balance between major muscle groups.  Medical Massage therapy is holistic in that the main goal is to identify the root cause of the imbalance, because that provides the most useful clues in getting to the bottom of the pain, discomfort, and dysfunction.  Medical Massage therapy visits can last anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours.

Integrative Massage is a high-end blend of multiple techniques to achieve more than one goal. Some of the techniques used are common and familiar, like Swedish relaxation techniques and targeted Deep Tissue techniques, while other modalities may be less familiar, such as Hot Stone therapy and Neuromuscular/Medical Massage techniques. Integrative Massage therapy visits can last anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, with 90 minutes (1.5 hours) being ideal. One can also enjoy an Integrative Mini-Massage in 30 minutes.

This depends on what you hope to accomplish through massage therapy. If your #1 goal is pain relief/management, or you’ve had some injuries in your past, Medical Massage Therapy may be best for you. If you’re under some heavy stress and you’ve got some everyday stiffness and soreness or minor aches and pains, then Integrative Massage Therapy may be the way to go.

This depends on a couple factors, including what you hope to accomplish, your injury/trauma/accident/surgery/childbirth history, the quality of your diet/nutrition and water intake, how much stress you’re under at work or at home, your overall physical activity (type, duration, intensity, and frequency of physical activity), your other daily activities at home and at work (sitting, computer, phone work, long-term standing, heavy lifting, etc), and even a few genetic factors.

For the average person under chronic stress and a sedentary lifestyle, a massage every 1-2 weeks is best. Athletes who cross-train, lift heavy weights, or train for endurance (i.e. marathons) should ideally get a massage once a week. Moderately active people under less stress who drink plenty of water and sleep well can get by with a massage every 4-8 weeks (or 1-2 months). People with physical injury in their past (through car accidents, abuse, work injuries, or serious sports injuries) should work with their chiropractic doctor and massage therapist to develop an individual plan that includes more frequent sessions at first that gradually taper off into occasional maintenance visits as the symptoms and muscle balance improves.

Massage therapy should feel good, or at most, mildly unpleasant. Deeper massage may give you that “hurt so good” feeling, but it should never “cross the line” into pain. Massage therapy should never out-and-out hurt. Having to hold your breath, tense your muscles, wiggle your toes, or otherwise mentally distract yourself are all signs that your therapist is using too much pressure. If this happens, you should always speak up. (And of course, unless you’re taking prescription medication or have some other health condition that leaves you vulnerable to easy bruising, massage therapy should never be hard enough to cause bruising.)

Not necessarily. Most massage types and techniques are more easily performed using a thin, pleasant oil or other lubricant, in which case you will be completely covered with a sheet(s) and/or blankets the entire time except for the part of the body currently being worked on. Other types of massage can be done through clothing, especially if it’s thinner and looser-fitting clothing. If you have concerns about undressing, please feel free to bring them up with our therapist and she can either answer questions and resolve your uneasiness or tailor her techniques to your wishes.

Nope! Anyone is welcome to schedule a massage at our clinic, whether you’re under care of one of the doctors (Functional Medicine and/or Advanced Chiropractic) or not. We welcome any client seeking massage therapy, whether Medical Massage or Integrative.

For your safety, however, we do require that you have a brief clearance evaluation before getting massage at our clinic. (If you’re already seeing one of the doctors, the physical evaluation you had at the beginning will do just fine.)

This is for your safety, as well as ours. Many other doctors are rushed and may not always be able to take the time to evaluate/screen you thoroughly for health issues. There have been many instances where we have uncovered health issues or found abnormalities that dozens of other doctors have missed for decades. We are a doctor’s office, but not a run-of-the-mill clinic; we’re extremely thorough.

It’s easy! Simply download the Massage Therapy intake form packet from our website. It’s located under the New Patients tab, and then select New Patient Forms from the drop-down menu.

Once you’ve completed those forms (no blank questions), please submit them to our office – we welcome you to drop them off in person but if that’s not convenient, you may also fax them to (210) 428-6428 or email them to safaminfo (at) gmail (dot) com.

Once we receive your completed forms, we’ll call you to schedule your first appointment.

This is for two reasons. First, it gives our licensed therapist a chance to review your paperwork so that she can tailor a massage to fit your needs and help you get relief. This way, if she has any follow-up questions for you, she can contact you beforehand instead of having to take time during the massage visit to discuss them.

The second reason is, we respect and value our therapist and her time. If a time slot is given to a client, it cannot be given to anyone else. If the client fails to show for the appointment, she loses out on both the income and the opportunity to fill that spot. One can imagine the effect this would have if that scenario happened often! By requiring the intake forms first, this brings late-notice cancellations and missed appointments to a minimum.