Our Massage Therapy

Having trouble choosing which of our therapists to book with?

For most issues, all of our therapists are excellent. In some instances, we suggest booking your first session with owner David Weintraub, or with our senior therapists. If your case is complex, or you are recovering from or trying to avoid surgery, book with them first.

What to expect when you start your massage therapy service

We want to custom design a massage therapy session that serves you best! So we'll want to spend a bit more time at the beginning of the session doing a thorough intake. This may include asking about any or all of the following depending on your specific situation:

• the symptoms that brought you to us
• what sorts of pain you experiencing
• your medical history
• how you use your body currently on a daily basis
• any older injuries that you may have that could be affecting how you feel now

We will also perform some visual bodyreading to look for patterns that may be contributing to your pain that may include:

• Looking at your body from front, back, and sides for misalignment and compensation patterns
• Evaluating how you sit for ways to improve how desk work affects your body
• Gait analysis to see if there are ways to improve walking and running

In general, with most cases, the intake process will take 5-10 minutes. If your case is complex, we may take up to 15 minutes. We consider this intake part of the session time. Please know that allowing this intake time will make your massage exponentially more effective!

What to expect during your massage therapy service

Your therapist will let you know what position to start in, either face down, face up, or in sidelying position. We may start or end some massage therapy sessions with the client while standing or sitting in clothes before switching to table work. We will then leave the room to let you get undressed and on the table. We'll always knock to see if you are ready and under the covers before entering the room again.

Some points to consider:

• It is always your choice whether to leave on clothing for your comfort. However, we recommend getting used to leaving off all clothing including underwear. Common issues such as low back pain, hip pain, and knee pain will benefit from work on the muscles surrounding the pelvis. It is easier for a therapist to work on these areas without underwear. We can always work around underwear if necessary and your privates are ALWAYS covered by the top sheet according to NYS ethics rules for massage therapy.
• Your therapist will undrape only the body part they are currently working on and again. Privates are always covered according to NYS ethics rules for massage therapy.
• We try for a tolerable level of discomfort with deep tissue massage therapy. A level that is effective but doesn't cause discomfort to the level where the client's body tightens in response. This differs from client to client, so please let us know if the pressure is too much or too little for your preference. We will adjust accordingly.
• Most of our massage therapy sessions are not full body sessions unless requested. In our experience relieving pain issues requires more focus than a full body session gives time for.
• It is common to have you switch positions during the session to work on different parts of your body more effectively.
• Please communicate with our therapists if anything during the session is not to your liking. We are very adaptable and would rather alter our approach to fit your needs than have you leave dissatisfied.

What to expect after your massage therapy service

Your therapist will let you know that the session is over and that they are going to leave the room. Feel free to relax for a couple of minutes then get dressed in privacy. We will then knock on the door to make sure you are ready before we enter. After your session we'll discuss how you feel during an outtake and make a long term treatment plan if warrented.

The outtake may include:

• Discussing how you feel after the massage therapy session and whether the pain symptoms you came to us for help with have been improved.
• Asking you to walk and move and feel if you have better range of motion and ease of movement
• Evaluating what to do in a next session or sessions that would further improve your symptoms
• Giving you practices to do at home and at work such as stretches, relaxation exercise, lifestyle changes, and ergonomics tips from our resources page
• A discussion of what kind of treatment plan will be most effective for your issue (the predicted number of sessions and frequency between them)
• How to craft a series of massage therapy services that works with your schedule and budget that is as effective as possible
• Setting up a series of massage therapy services to work towards a full resolution of your pain symptoms
• Booking follow up sessions
• Checking out today's session and receiving payment for the session

Further Reading

• Medical Deep Tissue Massage Therapy Treatment
• Deep Tissue Massage for Back Pain: What are the Best Therapeutic Techniques?
• Neck Pain Relief: How we assess the root causes and get you the best results
• I Feel Like a New Person
• The Benefits of Sports Massage: NYC Client Experiences