If you are coming for treatment work, and have never had treatment massage before, here are some things you could expect:

• You could be a little sore afterwards. It should feel as though you went to work out at the gym, and should not last more than 24 hours. After the soreness from the massage work has receded you should be able to start feeling the benefits from the massage session.
• You could feel dehydrated. Massage moves fluid around the body, enhancing normal body processes. I encourage you to keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water so that your cells have enough water for metabolic and waste processes. If you drink alcohol, I suggest you avoid it for the whole day on which your massage occurs.
• You could feel extra tired or extra relaxed afterward. If you are worried about how this might affect your ability to drive, I suggest that you have another person drop you off and pick you up for your session.

If you are a new client coming for treatment work, here is what you can expect to occur on your first appointment:

• Health intake - Discussion of your health status, current and past. The health intake can take up to 20 minutes on your first session. As part of that, you will be filling out some of the following forms/paperwork:
  • Health History
  • Health Report - Today’s status of what you would like to work on
  • Accident Information Form
  • Range of Motion testing
  • Pain/Disability Index(es) - as applicable
  • Insurance Information Form - if insurance is paying
• Massage - The hands-on therapy part of the session.
• Follow-up - After the massage, we will discuss your thoughts and feelings about the work. You might receive some homework to help you along your road to recovery. I have found that clients that do the suggested homework recover/heal more quickly than those that do not (and I realize that the choice is yours). The follow-up time is also a good time to schedule any further appointments.

If you are coming for relaxation work, the Health intake and follow up are both less time consuming.

Here is what to expect on follow-up appointments:

• Health intake - This is an abbreviated version of the health intake process of your first visit. This helps us get up-to-date on how you are doing since your previous session. The health intake process can take up to 10 minutes on follow-up appointments.
• Massage
• Follow-up