Massage types
Filter by what matters to you, then compare up to three categories. Providers may use the same label differently, so always ask what a session actually includes.
A flexible table massage built around flowing strokes, kneading, and your preferred pressure.
Commonly chosen for: relaxation, first visit, general tension.
What to ask: Your preferred pressure, quiet or conversation, and areas to include or avoid.
A useful starting category, but the therapist's approach matters more than the label.
Slower, more focused work intended to reach deeper layers of soft tissue. It is a method, not a requirement to tolerate pain.
Commonly chosen for: focused tension, firm-pressure preference.
What to ask: A gradual start, a pressure ceiling, and regular check-ins.
More pressure is not automatically more effective. Vigorous work has been involved in rare reports of injury.
Goal-focused work adapted to training, an event, or ordinary post-activity soreness.
Commonly chosen for: active recovery, training, event preparation.
What to ask: Your activity, timing relative to training, and whether you want relaxation or focused work.
Massage should not be used to test or push through a suspected injury.
Massage adapted for pregnancy, including positioning, pressure, and pregnancy-specific precautions.
Commonly chosen for: pregnancy, relaxation, positioning support.
What to ask: Specific prenatal training, side-lying support, and communication with your care team when needed.
Discuss individual health concerns or pregnancy complications with your prenatal clinician first.
A massage that uses warmed stones as tools or places them on selected areas for comfort.
Commonly chosen for: warmth, relaxation, sensory preference.
What to ask: How temperature is monitored and how to speak up immediately if heat feels uncomfortable.
Heat can burn. Reduced sensation, circulation concerns, pregnancy, or other health factors may change whether it is appropriate.
A Thai healing practice that often combines compression, assisted movement, and stretches on a floor mat.
Context: Rooted in Thai traditional medicine and shaped by centuries of regional practice.
Commonly chosen for: movement, clothed session, stretch preference.
What to ask: The practitioner's training, the pace, and modifications for mobility or joint concerns.
The amount of movement may not suit an acute injury or limited range of motion.
A Japanese bodywork practice using rhythmic pressure, often through clothing and without oil.
Context: Developed in Japan from earlier forms of manual therapy.
Commonly chosen for: clothed session, rhythmic pressure, no oil.
What to ask: Pressure preferences and how the practitioner adapts the session to you.
Traditional explanatory frameworks are not the same as established medical evidence.
A broad label for sustained or movement-based work focused on fascia and soft tissue.
Commonly chosen for: focused work, slow pace, movement goals.
What to ask: What the practitioner means by myofascial work and what you should expect to feel.
The label covers many approaches. Avoid claims that fascia must be broken up or permanently released.
A shorter, clothed massage performed in a supported massage chair.
Commonly chosen for: first visit, short session, clothed session.
What to ask: Positioning adjustments if the face cradle, knees, or forward lean are uncomfortable.
A chair is not automatically accessible to everyone. Ask about alternate seated positioning.
A specialized, gentle clinical technique used in some lymphedema care plans. It is not a general detox massage.
Commonly chosen for: clinician-directed lymphedema care, specialized support.
What to ask: Appropriate clinical training and coordination with your healthcare team.
Unexplained swelling needs medical evaluation. Do not self-select this as a wellness cleanse.
Primarily describes the format or tradition. Health outcomes should not be assumed from the name.
Some research exists, but benefits may be short-term and certainty is often low.
Best considered with appropriately trained providers and healthcare coordination when relevant.