How Often Should You Get a Massage?

The short answer

If you are fixing a specific problem, weekly until it changes, which is usually three to five sessions. If you are maintaining a body that works hard, every two to four weeks depending on how much you train. There is no single right number, and anyone selling you a fixed schedule before they have seen you is guessing.

This is a different question from how many sessions it takes to fix something. That one has an end point. This one is about what to do once you are there.

How often for back pain

While the pain is active, roughly a week apart. Close enough that each session builds on the last, far enough apart that the tissue settles and I can see what actually held rather than what felt good on the table.

Once it has calmed down, stretch the gap to two or three weeks, then to monthly. Most people with recurring back pain find a maintenance interval where it simply stops coming back. Finding yours takes a bit of trial and error.

How often for knots and tight muscles

Every two to four weeks for most people. Trigger points reform if whatever created them is still happening, so the interval depends less on the massage and more on your desk, your sport and your sleep.

If you are back in exactly the same state every fortnight, that is useful information. It means the maintenance is holding you steady but something in the week is undoing it, and that is worth fixing rather than massaging around.

How often if you train

Through a heavy block, every one to two weeks. In a normal block, every three to four. In the week before a race or a tournament, keep it light and keep it early: deep work two days before an event is a good way to compete stiff.

Golfers playing several rounds a week in the Algarve season tend to do best on a fortnightly rhythm, with an extra session if they add a trip.

How often for stress

Monthly works for most people as a baseline. The effect on the nervous system is real but it is not cumulative in the way tissue change is, so there is less argument for going more often unless you also have something physical going on.

Can you have a massage too often?

Yes, though it is rarer than people think. Deep work more than once a week on the same area does not give tissue time to respond, and you can end up permanently slightly sore without making progress. Lighter work can be more frequent safely.

The clearer sign of too often is that you have stopped noticing any difference. If the session has become a pleasant hour rather than something that changes how you move, stretch the gap.

What actually decides your number

• How long the problem has been there. Years of adaptation do not undo on a fortnightly schedule at first.
• What you do between sessions. The person doing their homework needs fewer appointments, which is in my interest to tell you.
• Whether the cause is still happening. If your job or your sport is recreating the problem weekly, maintenance is managing it rather than fixing it.
• Your budget. A realistic monthly rhythm you keep beats a weekly one you abandon after three weeks.

Booking

Clinic sessions in Almancil are €37 for 30 minutes, €52 for 45 and €60 for an hour, and mobile across the Algarve is €140 per hour. If you are not sure what rhythm suits you, come once and I will give you a straight answer afterwards rather than before. WhatsApp 925 382 490.