Deep tissue massage works the deeper layers of muscle and the connective tissue around them, using slow strokes and sustained pressure rather than speed or force. It is not simply a hard oil massage. The technique is different: fewer strokes, held far longer, aimed at specific places rather than moving over everything.
It is the treatment for a problem you can point at. A shoulder that has been tight since March, a lower back that seizes after long flights, calves that will not release after running. If you cannot point at anything and just want to feel better, the oil massage will serve you better and cost less.
On this page
How it differs from a firm oil massage
An oil massage covers the whole body in an hour. A deep tissue session might spend twenty minutes on one shoulder, because releasing a knot properly is a matter of waiting rather than pushing.
The therapist sinks in slowly until she meets resistance, then stays there while the tissue gives way underneath her. That waiting is the technique. Forcing past resistance makes the muscle guard and tighten, which is why simply asking for a harder oil massage rarely fixes anything.
She will also use her forearm and elbow rather than just thumbs, partly for the depth and partly because thumbs do not survive a career of this.
It should be uncomfortable, not painful
There is a difference and it matters. Good deep tissue work sits at the point where you are breathing deliberately and it feels like something is being released. That is the right place to be.
Sharp pain, a burning sensation, or anything that makes you hold your breath and tense up is too much, and at that point the massage has stopped working. A guarded muscle cannot release. Say so immediately and she will back off.
The most useful thing you can do is breathe out as she sinks in. It sounds like advice from a yoga class but it genuinely changes how much the tissue gives.
Tell her where it hurts, specifically
The single biggest difference between a good session and a wasted one is the first two minutes. Point at the place. Say how long it has been there, what makes it worse, and whether anything has already been tried.
Desk workers are usually tight through the upper trapezius and the levator scapulae, which is the ridge between neck and shoulder. Runners tend to want calves, the outside of the thigh and the glutes. People who have been on a fourteen hour flight generally want the lower back and hips.
None of that needs to be said in anatomical terms. Putting a finger on it works perfectly.
The day after
Expect to feel it. Mild soreness for a day or two afterwards is normal and is the same mechanism as post-exercise ache, not a sign of damage. It usually peaks the following morning and is gone by the second.
Drink more water than usual and avoid a heavy gym session the next day. If soreness is sharp, or if it lasts beyond three days, that was too much pressure and we would want to know so the next session is adjusted.
When to book something else
If you are on blood thinners, have a clotting condition, are recovering from surgery or have a diagnosed disc injury, deep tissue is not the right choice and you should speak to a doctor before booking any strong massage.
If you simply want to relax, this is the wrong treatment and you will not enjoy it. Nobody falls asleep during deep tissue.
Which length to book
Not sixty, if you can avoid it. An hour of deep tissue spread over a whole body achieves very little, because releasing one area properly takes fifteen to twenty minutes of patient work and there are not three of those in an hour once she has warmed the tissue.
Ninety is the sensible minimum for anything that has been bothering you for more than a fortnight. It gives her time to warm the area, work it, and then check it again before the end.
If you have two separate problems, a shoulder and a lower back for instance, book two hours and say so at the start. Trying to fit both into ninety minutes usually means neither gets sorted.
Where we bring deep tissue
Across the whole city, and it is the treatment most often booked by people who live here rather than visitors. Expat residents in Thonglor, Ekkamai and Phrom Phong book it on a rhythm, usually every two or three weeks, and treat it as maintenance rather than a treat.
Business travellers in Silom and Sathorn tend to book it once, on the second night, after a day of meetings has reminded them what the flight did to their back.
Questions about deep tissue massage
- How is this different from just asking for a hard oil massage?
- The technique, not the force. Deep tissue uses slow sustained pressure on specific spots and waits for the tissue to release. Pushing harder and faster makes a muscle guard, which is why a hard oil massage often achieves less.
- Will I be sore afterwards?
- Often, for a day or two, in the same way as after a hard gym session. It should be a dull ache rather than anything sharp, and it should be gone by the second morning.
- Can I book it for the whole body?
- You can, but sixty minutes of deep tissue spread over the whole body is not enough time to change any of it. Most people get more from picking two areas and giving them the hour.
- Should I book 60 or 90 minutes?
- Ninety, if the problem has been there a while. The extra half hour is where the stubborn areas actually let go.