The most common question before booking. Here's the honest difference, and how to pick the right one for what's actually going on.
It's the question people ask most before booking, and the honest answer is that the two overlap more than most websites admit. But there are real differences, and picking the right one means you get more out of the hour.
Sports massage is built around activity. The starting point is what you're doing — running mileage, training split, position you play, hours on your feet at work — and how your body is coping with it.
Because of that, treatment often includes stretching, movement during the session and work across muscle groups that are loaded together rather than just the one spot that hurts. Tight calves in a runner are frequently connected to what the hips and glutes are doing, and treating only the calf tends to mean the problem returns.
You don't need to be an athlete. Plenty of people who've never competed at anything benefit from sports massage, particularly if they have a physical job.
Deep tissue is defined by depth and pace rather than by sport. It's slower, more localised, and spends real time working through the layers of a specific tight area.
It suits tension that has built up over months or years — the shoulders that never quite drop, the lower back that's been stiff since a house move, the knot between the shoulder blades that keeps coming back. Often that tension has nothing to do with exercise and everything to do with sitting at a desk, driving, or carrying stress physically.
Considerably. A sports massage will use deep tissue techniques where an area needs it. A deep tissue session will use stretching if that's what's called for. The labels describe the emphasis of the session, not a rigid list of techniques.
In practice, most sessions here end up somewhere between the two, because they're built around what the person in front of me actually needs on the day.
Deep tissue usually involves more sustained pressure on a specific area, so it can feel more intense in the moment. Sports massage can be uncomfortable too, particularly over a genuinely tight area.
Neither should be something you brace against or hold your breath through. Discomfort you can breathe through is normal and productive. Sharp pain is not, and it means the pressure needs adjusting. Saying so isn't being difficult — it makes the treatment work better.
Book whichever sounds closest and mention your situation in the notes. The session gets adjusted to what your body actually needs. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the "wrong" one — the treatment adapts, not the other way round.
Same price across all treatments — you're paying for time and expertise, not a menu. Sessions run Monday to Saturday, 9:00am–11:00pm (subject to booking), with Sundays available on request, at Cornwallis Business Centre, Howard Chase, Basildon SS14 3BB. A 24-hour cancellation policy applies.
Message John, describe what's going on, and you'll get an honest answer — even if that means a different treatment to the one you had in mind.