Summer Massage

The weather has been PERFECT this week! Nothing makes you want to get outside and be active like low humidity and sunshine! With the warm weather comes all the fun summer activities we love. However, sometimes we forget that we haven’t done these activities since last summer so our bodies are a little rusty. Make sure you are ready for your summer sports and activities by doing some regular cross training in the off season, warming up very well before the events (even yard work/gardening!) and keeping your muscles healthy with regular massage! Massage is beneficial in many ways. It helps you keep track of how your body is feeling and if there are any tension spots you weren’t aware of. It helps to keep your muscles loose by increasing circulation. It can help you to recover as you get back to doing what you love and have sore muscles. Massage is not benign. It absolutely feels great just generally, but it can also be a great tool to keep you doing the things you love!

Email or call today to schedule your next appointment!! 919-322-8382!

Package Pricing

At Oak City Massage, we understand the benefit of receiving regular massage, of course. We also understand that this can be a financial burden on some folks! While getting regular massage can help you to avoid injuries, lower other health costs and keep you in the activities you love, it can still be hard to justify. With this in mind Oak City offers some great package pricing to help lower your overall cost of massage therapy. Our packages do not expire and you are welcome to use them as frequently as you would like. We also allow you to share your package. 

Check out our package pricing before your next session! 

A package of 3 massages is 5% off (60 minutes are $95/session, 90 minutes are $137.75/session)

A  package of 6 massages or more is 10% off (60 minutes are $90/session, 90 minutes are $130.50/session)

Email or call to schedule today!! 919.322.8382

Temporary change in hours

Hi Everyone!

For those of you that don’t know, our therapist Alanna will be out of the office until August. This will be impacting our schedule for the time being.

Our new hours will be Monday-Friday from 8:30am-5:30pm.

We will begin scheduling clients on Alanna’s schedule starting the last week of July. If you are a regular client of Alanna’s and would like to schedule something with Amanda or Alicia, please email(oakcitymassagetherapy@gmail.com) or call the office 919-322-8382.

Thank you and we look forward to working with you soon!

Price Change

Happy Spring!!

Starting in May, we will be increasing our 90 minute massage price to $130(previously $120). Our therapists work very hard to give you a great massage and we want to compensate them in a way that reflects their hard work. This is the only change to our pricing we will be making at this time.

We are so grateful for all of our clients and appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing Oak City Massage for your bodywork needs!

Massage for Injury Prevention

As the weather turns warmer people start getting out more to enjoy it, get back to warm weather activities and in some cases to get back into shape. Often this is a time of year when many folks come in for massage because they have injured something trying to get back into an activity they haven’t done in a few months. There are several ways to avoid these injuries. Continuing with an exercise program indoors when the weather prevents outdoor training will help to keep you in shape so you are better prepared to get right back into your activity. Starting back slowly into your activity is another way to help avoid injuries. Some spring sports, like adult soccer leagues don’t have practice and instead only meet for games, make sure to do some running and drills ahead of your first game on your own in order to be able to compete(without getting injured) when you want to at the game.  Similarly, an activity like gardening requires lots of repetitive movements with weeding and planting. Try to pace yourself, start small and take frequent breaks especially at the beginning.  

  Another great way to avoid injury as you are getting back into your outdoor activities is to get regular massages, of course! Massage is beneficial for injury prevention in many ways. First of all, massage is a great way to “keep stock” of your body. Often in a massage, I’ll hear my client say “I didn’t know that was tight”. The massage isn’t causing the tension, only bringing it to the clients’ attention. Our bodies can only process so much pain at a time, so if one area is especially tight you may not notice that another area is tight. This is important because now that client knows which areas in their body need more attention via stretching, foam rolling, heating etc. The less aware of your body you are the more likely you are to injure yourself.  Getting regular massages also helps to reduce overall tension. When you start back at an activity you haven’t done in a while muscles you haven’t used in a while will get tight. Chronic tension that hasn’t been bothering you in the off season can also come back quickly. Having a regular massage will help to reduce chronic tension and keep up with any new tension that may be developing with activity. Lastly, with regular massage any new tension, pain or injuries that come up can be dealt with quickly. The sooner you address an issue, the better. Ignoring pain in your body can lead to chronic injuries. Massage can be relaxing and great for general stress relief, but it can also be a great tool in injury prevention. 

Before you get back to your favorite warm weather activities, consider starting a regular massage routine. At Oak City Massage we offer different package pricing to help make regular massage more affordable. Our packages do not expire, can be used as often as you like and can also be shared with family and/or friends. Email or call today to schedule your next massage! 919.322.8382

A story on my discovery of Sports Massage- Alanna Harley

A couple of years ago, right before covid, I was Muay Thai training in Thailand (Thailand’s national sport) in the city Bangkok. After training & dinner, I would walk a few blocks away from the place I resided in (& near the gym) to get some body work done with Thai Massage. It wasn’t very relaxing, it was done on the floor on a blanket & there were deep stretches involved & some deep pressure with knees. Afterwards I would feel looser and relaxed. Some parts were relaxing. Especially the hand massage, which was my favorite. With all the muay thai training, twice a day, five days a week, I knew my body would be tight with all the hard repetitive movements. The massages were super affordable in Thailand so I would get one every couple of days. One day, after training, a friend who is an olympic boxer and MMA professional fighter to this day, Jennifer Chang, asked me what I was up to that evening. I told her that I was planning on getting a massage. She has been a fighter for over a decade and she is knowledgeable about recovery as an athlete. Because I was training hard the next day, and or if I were to compete, she advised me not to get deep pressure massages. She explained that athletes like us (I was still a freshly new amateur (amateur who doesn't get paid in the sport) must not confuse our muscles by lengthening them before an event because we need our fast twitch muscles to function properly and no soreness. Then I remembered what my massage therapist teacher discussed in school. At the gym, and right before a fighter goes in the ring to fight, their coaches would get them ready by massaging thai oil on them (warming oil) and vigorously massage their bodies (without deep pressure) just to increase the fighters circulation and warm up their bodies for performance and some active stretches -nothing static. Here are a few useful things to consider if you are an athlete curious or wanting a sports massage. Special concern for sprinters, dancers, gymnasts, fighters, springboard divers, etc. “The closer to a period of physical exertion the less intrusive the massage should be”. Two reasons, inflammation and neurological familiarity.

Inflammation: it is best not to reinflame or further traumatize the tissue with prematurely applied or deep pressure. It's not fun feeling sore and moving a bit slower because of that and it may also increase recovery time, adversely affecting performance. 

Neurological Familiarity: Like Jennifer was telling me, I need my fast twitch muscles to perform accurately. Deep tissue or deep pressure before an event may also cause spasms and muscle cramping. 

Benefits of sports Massage

Increase:

Circulation

Body Awareness

Relaxation

Feeling Good

Performance (Readiness and Focus)

Muscle Balance and Joint Mechanics

Flexibility and Range of Motion

Muscle Function

Training Quality

Decrease:

Hypertonicity

Post Work Soreness

Recovery Time

Cramping and Spasm

Adhesions and Scarring

Pain

Lost Training / Competition TIme

Risk of Injury

Nervousness / Performance Anxiety

Three Modalities

Pre Event

Post Event

Maintenance

-Alanna Harley

Give the gift of massage this year!

It is always so difficult to decide what gift to give a loved one. More and more folks are more interested in experiences than things. Receiving the gift of massage and relaxation is always appreciated! Any regularly priced Christmas gift card will be 10% off for the month of December. To purchase a gift card, please email or give us a call so we can schedule a time for you to pick it up or have it emailed to you. 919.322.8382 or oakcitymassagetherapy@gmail.com

What to Expect at Your First Massage

Massage can be helpful for so many things including muscle pain, headaches, anxiety, trouble sleeping, sport training, pregnancy aches/pains, as well as many more! So why do people opt for medication and expensive treatments before trying massage? I think one of the big reasons is they are unsure of what to expect when they get a massage.  I  think knowing what to expect at a massage will give some folks a peace of mind and help them to be more open to this treatment option. So, today we are going to discuss just exactly what to expect at your first massage. 

At Oak City Massage Therapy, we do our best to be as professional as possible. Our main goal is that you feel you are getting the best treatment possible and leave feeling better than when you came in. Knowing exactly what to expect when you come in will only give you a better experience at our office.

The first thing that will happen when you come into the office is you will be greeted and given a health history form. This form gives the therapist information that may pertain to your injury whether it is the cause, making it worse or not effecting it at all.  It is helpful to look at past injuries and surgeries and deduce whether they may be playing a part in your current situation.  It is also important for your therapist to know of any known allergies as well as medications you are taking as these may affect the treatment.  Next, your therapist will discuss your form with you as well as what you are specifically hoping to accomplish during your session.  This is very important as it will shape the entire session. We will use techniques that will best suit each complaint. While we do our best to listen to our clients, we will also explain why some things we do may seem pointless, but will address the probable cause of the pain rather than only the symptom.  After going through the treatment with you, we will then step out of the room for you to undress to your comfort level. To your comfort level means if you would rather leave your clothes on, that is completely fine. If you do prefer leaving your clothes on we may suggest wearing comfortable shorts and t-shirt/tank top for your treatment. You will then get onto the massage table underneath a sheet and blanket. You will be completely covered during the entire session, we will only uncover each area as it is being worked on. During the session, your therapist will check in with you to confirm the pressure with you. It is extremely important for you to let your therapist know if something is painful, you are getting a massage to reduce pain not add to it. It is also important for you to let your therapist know if you feel like you need more pressure in an area. At the conclusion of your massage, your therapist will let you know that the session has ended and you may take your time to get up and dressed and meet them out front. At this point your therapist may offer some suggestions based on what they found during the massage, whether that is some stretching that may be helpful or setting up a return visit to continue working on an especially difficult area. 

It is important to note that one massage is not going to be a cure all.  Chronic pain, which is usually a result of everyday stress on your body takes time and a change of habit to truly feel better. Though massage will give a temporary relief, if you continue in habits which cause the pain in the first place it will certainly return. In some cases massage is not the answer and your therapist will do their best to refer you out the best practitioner for your complaints. 

We hope this helps and look forward to working with you soon!! To schedule your appointment email or call 919.322.8382

Now open on Sundays

We are excited to now offer Sunday hours! Starting this week, we will now be open on Sundays from 10:30am until 4pm. If you are busy on the weekdays or find it more relaxing to come in on a Sunday please email or call to schedule your session today! 929.322.8382

Spring is almost here!!

As we start to see more and more sunny days with warmer temperatures, it’s important to take care of ourselves and not over do anything.  Warming up before a workout or activity you have not done in a while is SO important along with stretching afterwards. It’s easy to get carried away when the weather finally makes a turn for the better! Another way to help reduce the risk of injury when starting new activities is, of course, massage therapy! Massage can help loosen tight overworked muscles and help them stay healthy. Massage is also great as it gives us an idea of what is going on in our body. Often our clients are surprised that a specific muscle was tight and they hadn’t noticed. It’s important to be aware of what is going on in our bodies so we know when things are getting overworked or stressed. Regular stretching and massage are great tools to keep our bodies in check as we start new routines with the warmer weather.

We are still accepting new clients and would love to have you at our office. New clients receive a 20% discount off their first one-hour appointment! Call today to schedule your next appointment 919.322.8382 !!

Medical Massage and Shoulder Pain

As the warm spring weather has opened opportunities for more outdoor activities, the shoulder pain that wasn’t a big deal in the winter may start to pose some serious issues.  If you have had a general relaxation massage in the past and it didn’t help your shoulder pain, perhaps now is the time to try medical massage. Though a relaxation massage has many benefits to your general health and wellness for shoulder pain it will likely require something a bit more specific.

  The shoulder is a very complex joint because it can move in so many different directions. Some movements can feel completely fine, but as soon as you move a little bit in the wrong direction you feel intense pain. Of course massage therapy does not replace a visit to your medical doctor, and it is recommended that you see your doctor first to be sure there is nothing more serious going on such as a complete tear, broken bone etc.  If your doctor feels surgery is not the answer, along with physical therapy, massage therapy can be your next stop.  Medical massage can help with frozen shoulder, rotator cuff injuries, limited range of motion and many other shoulder problems.

       With medical massage we spend time asking questions about how the injury came about, what causes pain, and what makes it feel better. It is important to consider working conditions, activities outside of work, as well as older injuries in the area as well as surrounding areas of the body. Past injuries and regular overuse can cause the body to create compensation patterns, which can lead to injury or make existing injuries worse.

         In most cases, the cause of pain is due to an imbalance. It is our goal to find this imbalance and correct it. In a typical session, we will begin by loosening all the muscles around the joint with a specific order in mind depending on the intake. Working on all of the muscles in the area is crucial because sometimes where the pain is, is not where the cause is. By only treating the pain, you are less likely to get long lasting results as the cause will still  be at work. As different muscles get loosened it is common to find that the pain will move around making it even less effective to focus only on the pain. As we release chronically tight muscles and activate underutilized muscles the joint begins to loosen up and client guards come down as balance is restored. This allows us to use different muscle testing and movements, so we can discover what exactly is going on whether it is a muscle strain, an issue with the joint capsule or both. Once we figure out the cause and correct it, we can suggest exercises specifically for the imbalances we found during the session. We can also look at daily habits that may be causing the imbalance and work to change those. It may also be beneficial for the client to follow up with a physical therapist for a more in depth rehabilitation program.  

     If you are becoming more active with the warmer weather and are noticing some limiting pain in your shoulder, don’t let it hold you back! Medical massage can get you back into the activities you enjoy.

We are looking forward to working with you as you recover from shoulder pain, Call today to schedule your appointment. New clients receive 20% off their first visit! 919.322.8382 !!

Convenient to Cary, Morrisville, Apex, and Raleigh for Medical massage, Sports massage, Prenatal massage, and Relaxation massage.

Oak City Massage Therapy