It is the question we are asked more than any other, usually about ten minutes into a first appointment. The honest answer is that it depends on why you are here — and anyone who gives you a single number without asking about your problem first is guessing.
Here is how we actually think about it at our Bromley clinic.
If you are in pain right now
When someone comes in with an acute problem — a locked lower back, a shoulder that will not lift, a calf that went during a run — we usually want to see them weekly for the first two to four weeks.
The reason is simple. Tissue that has been guarding for weeks will not stay released after one session. Treat it, give it seven days with the right exercises, treat it again, and each time the improvement holds a little longer. Leave a month between those early sessions and you spend half of every appointment undoing the ground you lost.
Once the pain has genuinely gone rather than just quietened down, the gap stretches out. Most people move to fortnightly, then monthly, then to maintenance.
If you are training for something
For runners, cyclists and anyone in a structured training block, every two to four weeks works well, timed around your training rather than your calendar.
- Mid-block: a deeper session in a lighter training week, when you have a couple of easy days to absorb it.
- Race week: lighter, flushing work only, and no later than three or four days before. A hard deep tissue massage two days out is a genuinely bad idea.
- After the race: wait until the worst of the soreness has passed, usually three to five days, then come in.
If you sit at a desk all week
Once a month suits most desk-based clients. Office posture creates a slow, predictable accumulation of tightness through the neck, shoulders and hip flexors, and monthly treatment tends to keep ahead of it.
If your neck is bad enough that you are getting headaches, start closer together — fortnightly for the first month or two — then ease back.
If nothing hurts and you just want to stay ahead of it
Every four to six weeks is plenty. This is maintenance: catching the small things before they become the reason you cannot train for a fortnight.
Can you have too much?
Yes. Deep tissue work is a stress on the body and it needs recovery time like any other. More than once a week is rarely useful for most people, and if you find yourself needing weekly deep tissue massage indefinitely, the massage is treating a symptom of something that has not been addressed — a movement pattern, a strength deficit, a workstation.
That is the conversation worth having, and it is one we would rather have with you than keep booking you in.
A rough guide
- Acute pain: weekly for 2–4 weeks, then spread out
- In a training block: every 2–4 weeks, timed to your programme
- Desk-based aches: monthly
- General maintenance: every 4–6 weeks
- Race week: light work only, 3–4 days before
None of this replaces an assessment. If you are not sure where you sit, book an initial consultation and we will tell you honestly — including if we think you need fewer sessions than you expected.
