I’m a massage therapist. If there’s any complaints I have about my clients who work out, it’s their refusal to stretch and foam roll/smr.
Other than that, my job is pretty awesome.
Some tips:
-If you are going to go the route of getting an individual therapist who works on their own, have them email you a breakdown of their education (i.e. what classes they have taken and how many hours each class was).
Most states have a minimum requirement of hours for licensing and then a yearly requirement for continuing education. What that sometimes translates into is people taking a bunch of shitty 6 hour courses that don’t amount to much of anything and are pretty much blow off courses. I’d recommend looking for someone who has either taken a Sports Massage and/or Deep Tissue program, Neuromuscular Therapy, or an Orthopedic program (and by program, I mean at least 50 hours or so minimum). This won’t guarantee that they are the best therapist, but they’ll be better than a swedish only therapist.
-If you are going to go with a franchise company (Massage Envy, Massage Green, etc.) most clinics will have therapist bio’s that you can look at that will tell you a bit about their education and preference of massgage.
Make sure you ask how much hands on time you get per massage; at my clinic, each session is either 50/80/110 minutes of hands on time-the rest is for intake/dressing/outtake (not sure if that’s the right term)
-Either route, remember you are the one paying for the massage, so if the pressure is too light or too heavy, tell the therapist to change it to your liking. If they are spending too much time somewhere (i.e. you want back and they are doing a ton of leg work), ask them how what they are doing is going to help your problem areas.
-A tip is an indication of exceptional service. You got a shitty massage, either don’t tip or leave a small tip and then speak with the manager of the clinic and let them know what was wrong with the massage. Most therapists I know crave feedback from clients. If you are seeing a private therapist at their own place, they typically charge enough to where they don’t get upset if they don’t get tipped.
-Last, but not least, don’t joke around at a legit establishment about a happy ending. We take our jobs seriously and have worked for a long time to get people to see massage as a legit form of therapy and not a luxury or a sexual service.
/end rant