15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 min. treatments?
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that "half of the body" can be treated in half-an-hour. Choose a 30 minute treatment for straightforward issues of either upper or lower body. Go for a full-hour treatment when your issues are more complicated or you want both upper and lower body treated. If you are not sure, 45 minutes often can be the ideal session duration for your first visit.
15 minute treatments are useful as pre- or post-performance sessions or when you simply don't have time for a half-hour-session.
90 minutes may be necessary for extensive work on several issues, but it can often be more advisable to choose several sessions rather than trying to sort everything out in one.
Taking good care of your body also means taking good care of small injuries before they turn into more serious ones. If you don't feel that anything is wrong with your muscles and you feel generally fit and healthy, a regular massage session of 1 hour every 3-4 weeks will help you stay that way.
Where to park
While it takes only about 10 minutes walk from the tube station Temple or 5 minutes from the train station City Thameslink to the mittelmaier clinic at Topnotch Blackfriars in EC4 in Central London, some clients may be travelling by car. If you do, you will be delighted to hear that it usually is very easy to find an available pay-and-display bay literally around the corner from the clinic on John Carpenter Street.
The ticket machines accept credit and debit cards. Parking is usually free after 7.00pm.
Please note that the clinic is located with in the Congestion Charging Zone.
The RICE Method - Help for small muscle injuries
WARNING
The RICE tips (Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation) support the healing process of muscle injuries. All injuries should be seen by a medical practitioner, so if you are not 100% sure that it only is a minor muscle injury, you must consult one as soon as possible.
REST
When you injure a muscle, you should rest it immediately! Don’t move it, don’t put weight on it. This enables it to heal and you avoid further damage. Stop what you were doing and apply the 3 following tips.
ICE
Ice or any other cold medium will reduce swelling and bleeding. Use a damp cloth like a tea towel to protect the skin from direct contact with the ice.
Do not apply ice for too long, as the body will try to “rescue” the area by sending a lot of blood to it. This will increase swelling and bleeding, thus destryoing the good effects of the ice. The skin should look pale when the ice is taken off - if it is red, it has been over-iced.
COMPRESSION
Compression will also restrict the bleeding, but be careful to concentrate the pressure on the injured area - you don’t want to cut off the blood supply to the rest of the limb. A firm pad can be placed on the area of the injury and be held in place with strapping.
ELEVATION
When you injure a muscle in an arm or leg, elevating it above the level of the torso for as long as possible can do wonders for the healing process. Elevation lets gravity do the work of reducing the swelling. Putting your legs up against the wall with the knees slightly bent will make elevation even more effective. In this position, you will want to limit the elevation time to 5-10 minutes and you may need to put a small pillow under your lower back to avoid injury to your lower back.
DON'T CHECK!
Don’t check too soon whether an injury still hurts. Doing so is the easiest way to ruin the good work you have done by following the RICE technique. Give the injury at least 24 hours to enter fully into the healing process. As soon as inflammation subsides, mobilization work can be started to ensure that the muscle retains its range of movement.
Massage is particularly effective roughly 2 days after the injury occurred.