Massage services
Massage Services in Seattle
We offer many different massage styles and modalities for pain relief, injury recovery, stress, and everything in between. Whatever brings you in, our therapists will match the right approach to what your body needs.
Clinical care and injury recovery
Start here when the goal is a specific health or recovery problem rather than choosing a technique from a menu.
Medical Massage
Problem-focused massage for pain, injury recovery, and movement restrictions
Learn more →Persistent pain and muscle restriction
The largest group, and where most people start. These four overlap and are often combined in one session, which is why the differences between them are set out below.
Deep Tissue Massage
Focused pressure for chronic pain and muscle restriction
Learn more →Myofascial Release Therapy
Sustained fascial work for chronic pain and movement restriction
Learn more →Neuromuscular Therapy
Structured assessment and treatment for persistent pain patterns
Learn more →Trigger Point Therapy
Targeted relief for pain that radiates to other areas
Learn more →Nerve pain, headaches and jaw
For pain that refers, burns or radiates rather than sitting in one muscle, and for the headache and jaw patterns that usually travel with it.
Neurofascial Release
Nerve-focused fascial work for chronic pain, headaches, and neural tension
Learn more →Craniosacral Therapy
Gentle nervous system work, effective for headaches, TMJ, and burnout
Learn more →TMJ & Intra-Oral Massage
Treatment for jaw pain, headaches, and teeth grinding
Learn more →Mobility and athletic recovery
Training, recovering from a training injury, or simply trying to move with less restriction than you did last year.
Sports Massage & PNF Stretching
Deep tissue and PNF stretching for active recovery
Learn more →Thai-Inspired Stretching
Passive stretching on the table for flexibility and joint mobility
Learn more →Instrument-assisted work
Tools rather than hands, working on tissue from a different direction than pressure alone. Usually part of a session rather than the whole of one.
Cupping Therapy
Suction-based decompression that works on tissue from the opposite direction
Learn more →Gua Sha Instrument Massage
Instrument-assisted technique for stubborn tension
Learn more →Gentler and specialized work
Lighter pressure, which is not the same as less effective. Some tissue responds to slow and gentle where it will brace against deep work.
How to choose, and why you may not have to
The four techniques in the first group are the ones people most often try to choose between, and the names are not much help. In practice they answer different questions.
Deep tissue applies firm, focused pressure across a muscle to reach the layers underneath. Myofascial release holds slow, sustained pressure on the fascia, the connective sheet wrapping every muscle, until it gives. Deep tissue is the more intense; myofascial tends to work better when the restriction is broad rather than in one spot.
Trigger point therapy treats specific knots that refer pain somewhere else, pressing a point in your shoulder to settle pain in your arm. Neuromuscular therapy is the wider version: it works out what is producing those trigger points, posture, nerve compression, muscles compensating for each other, and treats the pattern rather than the symptom.
The honest answer is that you do not need to pick. Describe what hurts, how long it has been there and what makes it worse, and your therapist will choose. Every one of ours is trained in several of these and almost none of them uses only one technique in an hour.
If it helps to start from the problem instead, our conditions pages approach it from that direction, and each one names the techniques we use for it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between deep tissue and myofascial release?
Deep tissue applies firm, focused pressure across the muscle to reach the layers underneath. Myofascial release uses slow, sustained pressure that holds a stretch on the fascia, the connective tissue wrapping every muscle, until it releases. Deep tissue is generally the more intense of the two; myofascial is often more effective when the restriction is broad rather than in one spot.
What is the difference between trigger point therapy and neuromuscular therapy?
Trigger point therapy treats specific knots that refer pain elsewhere, pressing a point in your shoulder to relieve pain in your arm, for example. Neuromuscular therapy is broader: it assesses the pattern causing the trigger points in the first place, including posture, nerve compression and how muscles work together, and then treats it. Trigger point work is often one component of a neuromuscular session.
Which massage should I book?
You do not have to choose. Book a session, describe what hurts and how long it has been there, and your therapist will select and combine techniques for what they find. Our therapists are trained in multiple modalities and rarely use only one in an hour.
How long is a session?
Most clients book 60 or 90 minutes. Ninety is worth it if you have more than one area to address or if the problem has been there for months, because a good portion of the first half is assessment. Rates are on our pricing page.
Do you take insurance for these services?
Car accident (PIP), work injury (L&I) and VA Community Care are billed directly, so you pay nothing at the visit. For commercial health plans we are out of network: you pay at the visit and we give you a Superbill to claim reimbursement yourself. FSA and HSA cards are accepted.
Is deep tissue massage supposed to hurt?
It should feel like productive pressure, not pain you are enduring. Tell your therapist if it tips over into pain, because a muscle braced against you is not releasing and the session stops working. Pressure is adjusted throughout, and asking for less does not mean you get less benefit.
Not sure which service is right for you?
Call us at (206) 448-9407 and we'll point you to the right therapist.