How often should I get a sports massage?

The most important variable in massage frequency is how much physical load you are placing on your tissues each week. Athletes in hard training blocks are accumulating micro-damage faster than passive recovery can address. A runner doing 60+ miles per week needs more soft tissue maintenance than someone doing 20.

Practical guidance for athletes: one session per week during peak training blocks, dropping to every 2 weeks during maintenance phases. This is not about luxury, it is about keeping the tissue quality high enough to sustain the training load without breakdown.

For desk workers with chronic upper trap, cervical, and lower back tension, the initial course of treatment is more intensive. 4–6 sessions over 6–8 weeks to restore baseline tissue quality, after which monthly maintenance is usually sufficient, provided the movement habits between sessions change.

Without addressing the loading pattern (movement frequency, thoracic extension work, hip flexor loading), monthly massage produces temporary relief and long-term repetition.

Frequency for acute injury depends entirely on the stage of tissue healing. In the first 72 hours post-strain, massage to the injured site is contraindicated. After the acute phase, treatment frequency increases to support tissue remodelling, often twice weekly for 2–3 weeks, then weekly.

The injured structure and the compensating structures often need different treatment on different timelines.

Cupping should not be applied to the same tissue within 5–7 days of the previous session. The tissue needs time to respond to the decompression, applying cups too frequently before the response has completed reduces effectiveness. This is different from sports massage, which can be applied more frequently.

Too little: restriction and tension return completely between sessions with no cumulative improvement. Too much: post-session soreness does not resolve before the next session, tissue becomes more sensitive rather than less. Right frequency: cumulative improvement between sessions, tissue responds faster each time, symptoms reduce progressively over 4–6 sessions.