Deep Tissue Massage
Deep tissue massage therapy isn’t just a Swedish massage with deeper strokes or harder pressure. Deep tissue massages use firm pressure and slow strokes to massage deep layers of muscle and fascia, which is the connective tissue that surrounds your muscles.
Deep tissue massages are used to break up scar tissue and break down muscle adhesions (the “knots” that we feel in our muscles are muscle adhesions, which are bands of rigid and painful muscle tissue). These knots can inhibit our circulation and cause pain and inflammation.
The common techniques used in deep tissue massage therapy include stripping, which is deep pressure that glides along the length of your muscle fibers and friction, which applies pressure across the grain of your muscle to break up adhesions and align tissue fibers.