Massage Therapy

[ElkinFencer10]

So I'm wondering if anyone here has experience in or knowledge of massage therapy and can give me some advice. I want to surprise my mom with a massage appointment sometime in the coming months because she needs something nice and relaxing. She's 63, diabetic, has high blood pressure, has high cholesterol, and is more than a little overweight (not quite "morbidly obese," but she could stand to lose 30 some pounds). She works two jobs, takes care of my 96 year old grandmother (who is blind and has bad arthritis as well as trouble keeping her balance) and my 65 year old aunt with Alzheimer's. She's also very active in church and community theater, which she loves, but needless to say, she's always tired and rarely has any time to time to just enjoy herself. She also makes significantly less money than I do (and I don't make much), so there's no way she could ever afford to get herself a nice massage.

I live three hours from them, so I'm not able to help her directly with much except for the few days I'm able to visit, but I've got a couple weekends free this summer, so I was wanting to make an appointment, surprise her with a trip to Winston-Salem and a massage appointment to give her at least a couple hours of the relaxation she deserves. The problem is that I don't know enough about massage therapy to know what type of massage would be best for her in terms of general relaxation and stress release. From what I've seen in ads for the area, a 2 hour massage will run me about $100, but truthfully, I'm not too too worried about the price; my mom deserves this whatever it costs me.

If anyone has experience with it, I'd greatly appreciate some input or recommendations for types of massages and such. Thanks guys.

[BoneSnapDeez]

My wife and her family members give each other massage gift certificates all the time. Ya know, you can probably just get a gift card in a dollar amount and let yo momma choose whatever she wants. If not, the "standard" type of massage is the safest. Not everyone is into them hot stones and I'm guessing your mom isn't pregnant.

[ElkinFencer10]

My wife and her family members give each other massage gift certificates all the time. Ya know, you can probably just get a gift card in a dollar amount and let yo momma choose whatever she wants. If not, the "standard" type of massage is the safest. Not everyone is into them hot stones and I'm guessing your mom isn't pregnant.

That ship sailed loooooong ago. She's also been divorced for a good 30+ years (I was the result of throwing untold dollars at a sperm bank).

[Xeogred]

It's awesome. 2 hours sounds insanely extensive to me though, but I'm no expert. I did it for awhile with some neck issues from years back, after I started to hate chiropractic treatment. I think I did deep treatments though, so the guy really beat me up. I have a high tolerance for pain, but yeah they can really destroy you haha.

But to be more unorthodox, acupuncture is the best by far. I absolutely love it and basically never want to do anything else again. I don't have neck issues anymore for the most part but I've been meaning to get a session in again, just to work out some kinks and get that mental clarity. It's a really cool experience. But anyways...

[MrPopo]

A gift card is definitely the way to go. It gives her an excuse to go in and the people running the place can suggest whatever might be best. If the best one ends up being one of the cheaper jobs then she can go in a couple of times.

[racketboy]

2.5 years back, I had some major tension issues -- mostly in my arms. I thought I had carpal tunnel issues (I've been periodically wearing an arm brace for the good part of a decade while working on the computer).

It got to the point where it actually hurt to drive on the freeway with my arms needing to do simple steering wheel corrections. I made an appointment with a specialist, but I couldn't get in for a few months.

Because of the wait, I was desperate... so in addition to doing stretches for my arms (which I had done before as well), I made an appointment for a deep tissue message. At the place I go to, they listened to what my issues where and really worked on my problem points. Each visit, they gave me recommendations for what care to do at home (types of stretches, heat, ice, etc) and they kept chipping away at different ways to easy my tensions that remained.

For the first few weeks, I visited once a week and then tapered off as I got better. It was also very relaxing.

The deep tissue massage had a few parts that kinda hurt a bit, but nothing that made me actually make an audible sound.

I still go every now and then when my shoulders or arms get right. I probably go once every 2 or 3 months, I'd say.

I almost always do 1 hours sessions. 1.5 would be nice if you have the time, but you're probably better off splitting them up into multiples for maximum effect. I only do 30 minutes if I really need one, but have a super-tight schedule that week.

Not sure how much this helps your situation, but I figured it would add some context

[TSTR]

make sure you ask about the happy ending

[ElkinFencer10]

make sure you ask about the happy ending

You owe me a laptop since I just threw up all over mine.