Why the same knot keeps coming back

You had the massage. The shoulder loosened, you walked out lighter, and for a few days it was wonderful. Then somewhere in the following week the same tight band crept back into the same place. It is one of the most common things people say when they book again, and it is not a sign that the treatment failed.

Tension is usually doing a job

A tight muscle is rarely tight for no reason. It may be holding a joint that is not well supported elsewhere, or working overtime because something nearby is not taking its share. Release it on the table and the symptom goes. The reason it was working that hard is still there, waiting for the same desk, the same drive, the same run.

Which means the question worth asking is not how often you should book a massage. It is how to need one less often.

What hands find, and what movement shows

Annabelle runs the sports massage sessions here, and she also teaches in the studio. She qualified in 2000 as a Pilates Foundation comprehensive mat and equipment teacher, added Gyrotonic in 2002, and has been working with the technique for more than thirty years.

That pairing is the useful part. Hands find where tension has settled. Watching someone move shows why it settled there. A shoulder that keeps gripping often belongs to a ribcage that does not rotate, or a hip that has quietly stopped extending. You can feel the first. You can only see the second when the person is upright and working.

What that changes about the treatment

To be clear, this is a sports massage. You come in, you get treated, you leave feeling better. What the teaching background changes is not the session, it is what she is reading while she works, and what she can tell you afterwards.

Hands-on work buys you a window in which the tissue is more willing to move, and what you do in that window decides whether the change holds. So you may leave with a thing or two to take away, chosen because they are the ones that matter for you. That is an offer, not a homework sheet.

So how often?

Honestly, it depends on what you are asking of your body and what is causing the load. Someone training hard may want regular maintenance. Someone whose neck tightens every September when the desk hours climb may be better served by fewer treatments and a change in how they sit and move.

Most people start with the initial hour, which allows time to get to know each other and work out a plan, as well as to treat you, and decide from there.

Sports massage works alongside medical care, not instead of it. If you have a diagnosed injury, persistent pain or you are under a GP or physiotherapist, tell us before your session and keep them in the loop.

Does this mean massage on its own is pointless? Not at all. It is excellent at what it does. It simply does not change the habit that created the tension.

Do I have to do Pilates to book a massage? No. Plenty of people come only for treatment.

Browse our movements, or read more about sports massage at the studio.