Massage in Manchester; Why Aftercare Matters
- 13 hours ago
- 8 min read
Massage doesn’t end when you leave the room.
What happens in the hours afterwards often determines whether the benefits settle, deepen, or quietly fade. This isn’t about rules or being “good” — it’s about giving your body and nervous system the conditions they need to integrate what’s already begun.
I offer some version of this aftercare guidance to all my clients at the end of a massage. Over time, I realised that a short verbal summary doesn’t always do justice to why these things matter — especially when massage is supporting people who are living with stress, burnout, or long-term nervous system strain.
This post is here to explain the thinking behind that advice, so you can return to it in your own time and make sense of what your body may be experiencing in the hours and days after treatment.
Massage works on muscles, fascia, circulation, the lymphatic system, and the nervous system all at once. That’s a lot of information for the body to process. Aftercare supports that natural rebalancing.
MASSAGE AFTERCARE ADVICE FOR BODY MASSAGE
FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS
To gain the greatest benefit from your massage.
Hydration and Nervous System Recovery
After massage, your circulatory and lymphatic systems are more active. Tissues that may have been tight or under-perfused are receiving fresh blood flow, and metabolic by-products are being mobilised. The kidneys and liver will want to process these and remove the by-products that are no longer useful to the body (without any conscious control from you!)
Drinking water or herbal teas helps support this process. It doesn’t “flush toxins” in a dramatic way — your liver and kidneys already do that — but it does support efficient circulation, lymphatic movement, and tissue hydration.
Warm or room-temperature drinks are often better tolerated by the nervous system than iced ones, particularly if you’re already feeling relaxed, open, or slightly spaced out after a session.
Cold water can slow down your digestion and metabolic rate, where as warm or room temperature drinks can support this process well - sipping rather than downing 0.5 liters!
Avoid drinks over 65 degrees celcius, not only do you run the risk of burning your mouth, lips or throat, these are very sensitive and delicate tissues. This can damange the tissue and create an increased risk of oesophageal (throat) cancer. You are best to let your warm drink cool down before enjoying it.
Avoiding Stimulants and Alcohol After Massage
Massage often shifts the nervous system toward parasympathetic dominance — the “rest and digest” state. Caffeine and alcohol can interrupt this settling process.
Caffeine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, potentially pulling you back into alertness, tension, or mental speed just as your body is learning how to soften.
Alcohol, while it can feel relaxing initially, disrupts sleep quality, hydration, and tissue repair — all things massage is actively supporting.
Avoiding stimulants and suppressants for 24 hours isn’t about restriction. It simply gives your nervous system the chance to recalibrate rather than rebound.
A note on alcohol to consider; It is becoming increasingly known through science that alcohol offers absolutely no benefit to the body. The stated claims of 1 glass of wine per day being good for you, doesn't consider other lifestyle factors, social economic factors or the negative impacts on the body and mind. Relaxation, improved thought patterns, and having fewer inhibitions, lower cholesterol can be much better achieved through a holistic yoga practice rather than alcohol, with lower risks and more consistent benefits.
Eating Lightly: Supporting Integration
A heavy meal demands a lot of digestive energy and blood flow. After massage, many people are better supported by lighter, nourishing food — soups, vegetables, simple proteins, whole grains. Check out some of the recipes I use to help support integration, nourish the body and mind to enable me to participate fully in life
This isn’t a prescription. It’s an invitation to listen. Appetite often shifts after bodywork — sometimes there’s less hunger, sometimes a craving for warmth or simplicity.
Honouring that response helps the effects of massage land more fully.
Rest, Stillness, and Burnout Recovery
Massage initiates change; rest allows it to integrate.
This doesn’t mean doing nothing all day, but it does mean pushing back to tomorrow things such as intense exercise, heavy workloads, or emotionally demanding situations if you can. A gentle walk, an early night, or even ten minutes of quiet can make a noticeable difference.
From a nervous-system perspective, this is when learning happens. The body updates its sense of safety, ease, and possibility. Many people find it. very beneficial in the days after a massage to take a bath in warm (not very hot) water, perhaps with epsom salts for around 20-30 minutes - being mindful of water consumption- or a warm shower of 5 minutes. This can give you a chance to practice body awareness and observe the body changing as the warm water relaxes the muscles. 5 - 10 minute sauna can be an alternative to this too.
Many people experiencing burnout are rarely given permission to rest after something supportive. This is often where the deeper benefit lies.
Postural Awareness and Stretching, without Correction
After massage, people often notice how they sit, stand, or move more clearly. This isn’t a cue to “fix” posture or hold yourself rigidly.
Instead, it’s an invitation to notice habits gently. Are you gripping somewhere? Collapsing somewhere else? Holding your breath? We also know that particular postures and movements can activate certain neurotransmitters and hormones which change how we feel and create positive feedback loops that also lead to our posture creating less tension in the body over time.
Awareness without force allows the body to reorganise itself over time — particularly when supported by regular bodywork or movement and stretching practices. Many clients find that coming to the yoga classes I offer in person or accessing my online library greatly helps them release tension, and start to form new habits which lead to great movement, ease and wellbeing.
Breathing and Regulation After Massage
Simple breathing practices can help maintain the openness created during massage.
Slow nasal breathing, slightly longer exhales, or resting a hand on the belly and chest for a few minutes can reinforce parasympathetic activity and reduce muscular guarding.
Because breathing plays such a central role in nervous system regulation, I also offer a free, short breathing programme for people who want to support the effects of massage at home. It focuses on simple, accessible practices that help breathing feel easier and less effortful, rather than something to control or perform.
For those who want more personalised support, I offer 1:1 breath coaching, working gently with your existing breathing patterns to increase capacity, reduce stress reactivity, and support a more resilient baseline — particularly helpful for people recovering from burnout or chronic tension.
Self-Massage and Familiar Safety
Gentle self-massage — hands, feet, neck, jaw — can help maintain circulation and body awareness between sessions.
More importantly, it reinforces a sense of familiarity and safety. The body learns that touch isn’t only something received from outside; it’s something you can offer yourself.
This can be especially supportive if massage brings up emotional or reflective material, which isn’t uncommon when the nervous system settles. I have put together this short programme to give you a few starting points and simple self-massage techniques you can use anywhere anytime.
Next day check-in and insight development
The day after your massage, I'll check in with you, usually by text to see how you are feeling. This is so that if you have any unexpected effects of the massage you can share them with me and I can offer further advice and support.
Most people report that they slept so deeply, they feel great and that they feel more able to take on the challenges of the day and be more present for living. This is wonderful and a big part of what massage is all about. I also offer people the chance reflect a little. It's not uncommon that insight arises during massage. The wisdom that comes from being with your body for some time just starts to become clear... ah my breath helps my body ease, I wonder if i could notice when I am tense and try exhaling? ah when I push too hard the body tightens, what might it be like to be more aware of my body and breath when training and give time to stretch, do i get better results than push and pain? ah... better thinking comes when there is both concentration, and awareness, and a compass to guide my decisions, maybe I'll strengthen those and see how my leadership/family life improve.
Perhaps you implemented many of the suggestions in this blog after and are feeling the benefit... so why not try them just for today too?
A small number of people experience stiffness the next day or as if they have been to the gym. If this is the case its often the case that perhaps you didn't follow the suggestions in this blog, or an indication that for your next massage, we may want to adjust the scale we use for pressure or the techniques used. The stiffness and 'gym' DOMS feeling comes from the muscles not being used to being worked in that way. So we have options: either ease off on depth and slow down, or try out some more of the suggestions in this blog or look at the more targetted stretching/self massage route to support your nervous system and muscle lengthening.
The check in, is all about making sure that the massage is working for you, not against you.
Massage in Manchester: Ongoing Support for Stress, Burnout and Training recovery
Many of the people I work with here in Manchester come to massage because they’re tired in a way that rest alone doesn’t seem to touch. Burnout often isn’t just about workload — it’s about prolonged nervous system activation, reduced recovery, and losing a sense of ease in the body.
Massage can help interrupt that pattern. Its effects tend to deepen when sessions are part of a rhythm rather than a one-off — allowing the body to learn that ease is something it can return to. It also gives you an opportunity to develop your inner awareness of sensation and develop more equanimity (ability to treat equally) rather than reacting to sensations - saving potentially hours or days of worry or enabling you to take action.
This is also where massage integrates naturally with yoga, breathwork, or combined 1:1 sessions that work with body and mind together.
LGBT-Inclusive, Body Positive, Trauma-Aware Massage
All of this work is offered in an LGBT-inclusive, trauma-aware context.
That means understanding that bodies hold history — personal, cultural, and relational — and that safety, consent, and pacing matter just as much as technique. Breathing, posture, and touch are approached with care rather than correction, allowing change to happen without force.
A Closing Thought
Aftercare isn’t a checklist. It’s a way of saying to your body: I’m listening.
If massage, breathing support, or integrated 1:1 work feels like it might be helpful for you, you’re welcome to explore what’s offered at Space to Thrive — or simply take what’s useful here and begin where you are.
Not to fix yourself.
Just to keep creating the conditions where ease can arise.
Not sure where to go from here, start a conversation with me in the chat, on whatsapp or book a call below.
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