Why I Might Work Somewhere Completely Different From Where You Feel Tension

Your painful area isn't always the only place that needs attention.

One of the biggest differences between the way I work and a more traditional deep tissue massage is that I don't necessarily spend the whole treatment working directly on the area that hurts.

If you've come to me with lower-back tension, you might expect me to spend an hour working on your lower back.

Sometimes I will.

But sometimes I'll spend time working through your legs, feet, hips or other areas of the body before returning to the lower back.

This is a big part of the way I approach Advanced Raynor Massage.

Looking at the body as a whole

I don't see the body as a collection of completely separate muscles.

We move as a whole, and the way we use our bodies every day can create patterns of tension that extend beyond the area where we actually notice discomfort.

That's why, during a treatment, I'm interested in looking at the bigger picture.

I'll listen to what you're experiencing and then use hands-on assessment to explore how you're holding tension and whether there are connected areas worth working with.

For example, lower-back tension might lead me to explore:

Lower back → hips → legs → feet

Or shoulder tension might lead me towards:

Shoulders → arms → hands → neck → jaw

The exact route will be different for every person.

What are the bands of tension?

One of the concepts I work with in Raynor Massage is the idea of bands of tension.

Rather than viewing tension as something that only exists within one muscle, I can follow how that tension presents through different areas of the body.

This gives me another way of exploring the body during a deep tissue massage.

It doesn't mean that every problem has one single cause, or that working on a particular area will automatically resolve tension somewhere else.

It's simply about being willing to look beyond the obvious area and see what else the body is telling me.

This is why I don't follow a massage routine

There isn't a fixed sequence that I need to complete during every treatment.

Your body might need something completely different from the person who came in before you.

That's why my deep tissue massage in Pershore is based around what I find on the day rather than a checklist of techniques.

I assess. I explore. I follow the tension. And I adapt the treatment as I go.

Sometimes that means working directly on the painful area.

Sometimes it means taking a completely different route.

The important thing is having the time and experience to explore both.

Your body. Your tension. Your treatment.

That's the principle behind my approach to Advanced Raynor bodywork