Congratulations! You have just completed your first deep tissue massage treatment to resolve muscular discomfort or pain. Taking action to attend a session is an important first step. We applaud you and hope that you have already experienced some relief. Most successful outcomes take a course of treatment to effect physiological changes that last. Your first session is an investment to stimulate momentum.

First massage sessions with a new therapist/clinic can be overwhelming. There is the necessary consultation, sometimes assessment, and fear of seeing a new practitioner. You may have had your fill of client education. First sessions can also be the most painful of a series, where subsequent sessions begin to feel better and sometimes enjoyable as condition improves. The most important thing is that you felt understood, your therapist found the correct treatment strategy to get your muscles to respond, and you feel that you are making progress. So, what can you expect from your next massage appointment?

• A recap – if recovering from a symptom your therapist will want to know how you felt after your last treatment. They really want to give you the best possible treatment outcome and will therefore be interested in how you responded. The more that you tell them the more they can adapt the techniques, pressure, and focus to get it right for you. Sometimes symptoms get worse, sometimes pain moves. Progress is not always linear, but your feedback will enable your therapist to discover possible causes and get you feeling better as quickly as possible.

• A sense of continuity and feeling of progress – your therapist will have recommended a treatment plan during your first visit. On each visit they should be able to benchmark how far you have come and set the expectations for the following treatment. They will have become more familiar with your tissue response and learned to get faster releases of tension. Although it is normally after the third session that a constructive muscle memory kicks in, second sessions give a good indication as to how progress is going.

• An opportunity to adapt and go ‘off track’ – it is OK to go ‘off track’ on your second visit. Priorities can change between sessions and your therapist will welcome your choice. For example, a painful shoulder may have been a 10/10 priority in your first massage treatment, but with some relief already gained that slips into second place with a knee issue to get right for an event. Other times you may feel stressed, and the treatment style may need to be changed to get you feeling relaxed with less focus on the fixing. It is our job as therapists to adapt to suit you and your wants. Feel free to talk about priorities. It doesn’t have to mean this or that. Progress can still be made, albeit a little slower, and still give you what you want.

We recognise that entering treatment, especially for remedial outcomes for symptoms, can be a daunting process. Rest assured that we want to get this right for you. Results may not be guaranteed but we can deliver value every time. You will either get better, or learn that another course of action is required, or perhaps instead of fixing, a condition may require treatment management. Either way, your therapist wants to get this right for you.