Get More From Your Massage

Hands-on therapy has officially gone mainstream. Follow our instructions to maximise the benefits of your next session.

- Paul Ingraham

I WAS A massage therapist in Vancouver for 10 years and gave more than 10 000 rubdowns to every kind of client you could possibly imagine, from the body builder twice my size who winced and pleaded for mercy to the doctor who was so calmly demanding that I needed a massage myself afterwards.

Of course, every job has its share of characters, but I’ve always been surprised by the high rate of dissatisfaction with massage among male clients. Men often made appointments for help with injuries, pain, performance, recovery, stress or depression, but all too often they ended up leaving with lighter wallets and unhappy endings instead of relief from the problems they came in with.

With massage therapy now a multimillion-dollar industry and chains such as Sorbet opening more than 170 franchise locations across the country, it’s easy for consumers to get confused about what they really need.

During my years in the business, I kept track of the most common client com plaints about massage therapy. Now you can reap the benefits of my firsthand research and make sure your next (or first) massage delivers everything you want.

PROBLEM 1

Finding a good therapist is difficult

SOLUTION A few hundred thousand massage therapists and massage school students are currently working and studying in South Africa, according to the Massage Therapy Association (MTA). Unfortunately, while practitioners are encouraged to register with the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA), many choose not to – and are able to avoid regulation.