10/22/2025
How Much Deep Tissue Massage Is Too Much?
Deep tissue massage, like Barefoot Massage can be incredibly effective when your body is craving relief, but more is not always better.
I wanted to talk about why I dont offer it in a two or more hour time block, since i get that question pretty frequently.
It’s not about my preferences.
I’ve been doing massage for most of my adult life and have the strength and stamina to massage you for hours on end.
But, I’m a trained healthcare professional and thinking about you and your health comes first over profit - every time.
Here’s the deal, There’s a point where your tissues and nervous system can no longer integrate the changes, and the work becomes less therapeutic.
The Nervous System Sets the Limit
Deep tissue massage is not only mechanical pressure; it is also BIG TIMe sensory input for the nervous system. When that input is too frequent or too intense, your body can shift from relaxation into protection.
This adverse effect may appear as lingering soreness for more than two or three days, fatigue, irritability, or feeling ungrounded.
Most people’s systems integrate deep tissue work best with five to ten days between sessions. This allows their body to adjust and restore balance before receiving another strong stimulus.
Muscles Need Recovery Time
Deep tissue massage can be compared to strength training for your fascia and muscles. You would not train the same muscle group hard every day.
Tissues need time to recover, rehydrate, and adapt. When sessions are layered too closely together, inflammation and protective tightness can develop, leading to fatigue rather than progress.
For most people, a 90 minute session every two weeks is ideal for maintenance. Shorter, targeted sessions of 45-60 minutes can be scheduled more frequently during acute flare-ups, then spaced out as symptoms improve.
When It Becomes Too Much
You may be receiving too much deep tissue massage if you notice that relief does not last as long as it used to, you need increasingly more pressure to feel results, or you experience more soreness or stiffness afterward.
These are signs that your body is not keeping up with recovery and may need gentler, nervous-system-focused work for a period of time.
Deep tissue massage should build resilience, not deplete it. The goal is not to force your body to let go, but to create conditions in which it feels safe enough to release.gere