As we spoke about in last months article, there are several different types of massages, and your experience can therefore differ greatly.

At Health In The Bay, our massage therapist Marcos Julius will use his experience and extended knowledge to not only give you a massage that relieves symptoms, knots and tension in your body, but also help by making changes leading to long term changes in symptoms.

On your first visit you will be asked to fill out a new patient form, possibly even if you have been to the clinic to see a different practitioner. This form has some questions that helps Marcos determine what’s going on and how best to help you. When you go in to see Marcos he will go through the form with you as well as ask some more questions about your reason for your visit, and some other history that could be relevant.

The next part is an assessment, which is usually visual, motion and palpation. First he will look at how you stand, your posture and the position of your arms and hands, legs and feet, and head which can all give clues as to where the problems lie. Then Marcos will feel how the muscles feel, and sometimes, if relevant he’ll check the range of motion of related areas. Information he obtains from these assessments together allows him to determine any patterns of tightness and/or weakness that are significant and meaningful to him.

Marcos will massage and use releases to help relieve your symptoms, but he will also look at the whole picture and at times work on areas and muscles that may not obviously be connected to your symptoms. It may not be always be obvious to you but it is to Marcos. He is always happy to explain to you how it is connected, his plan of treatment, and if helpful, he may give you some advice/suggestions on amendments to your daily behaviours and activities that may be contributing to your issues. This all results in a very effective massage with you coming away with a greater understanding of your body and causes of your symptoms.