What a deep tissue massage actually does to a desk-worker's shoulders

Nine out of ten people who book a deep tissue massage with us point at the same two spots: the tops of the shoulders and the base of the neck. It is almost always the same cause.

The mechanism

Hours at a screen hold your shoulders in slight elevation and your head slightly forward. The muscles are not injured — they are working continuously at low intensity without a rest, which is far more tiring than a short hard effort.

What massage does about it

Slow, sustained pressure lets the tissue release and restores blood flow to muscle that has been quietly starved. That is why the relief lasts days rather than minutes: you have changed the tissue state, not just masked the sensation.

What you must do between sessions

Raise your screen to eye height, and set an hourly reminder to drop your shoulders and roll them back five times. Massage every fortnight with no ergonomic change is a subscription, not a treatment.