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As massage therapists, we spend our days helping other people feel better. We work on tight shoulders, aching backs, tired legs, stressed-out bodies, and everything in between. We remind our clients to listen to their bodies, make time for recovery, and not wait until they’re in pain to take care of themselves.

But sometimes, we need that same reminder.

Massage therapists need massage too.

Our Bodies Are Part of the Job

Massage therapy is physical work. Even with proper body mechanics, we’re constantly using our hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, backs, hips, legs, and core.

We’re leaning, reaching, applying pressure, holding positions, and moving around a massage table for hours at a time. And while our clients are relaxing on the table, our bodies are working.

Over time, that repetitive movement can create tension and fatigue of our own.

Knowing How to Fix It Doesn’t Mean We Can Reach It

One of the funny things about being a massage therapist is knowing exactly where you’re tight and still not being able to properly work on yourself.

We can stretch. We can use massage tools. We can foam roll. We can use heat and other recovery techniques.

But sometimes you need another therapist’s hands.

There’s a big difference between trying to release your own shoulder while you’re actively using that shoulder and being able to completely relax on a table while someone else does the work.

We Need the Mental Break, Too

Massage isn’t only about sore muscles.

As therapists, we’re constantly giving our attention and energy to another person. We’re thinking about pressure, positioning, areas of tension, client comfort, timing, draping, and what the body underneath our hands is telling us.

Receiving a massage gives us an opportunity to stop being the therapist for a moment.

No table to adjust. No muscles to assess. No timer to think about.

Just an opportunity to receive.

Receiving Massage Can Make Us Better Therapists

Getting regular massage can even teach us things that we bring back into our own practice.

Being on the other side of the table reminds us what different pressures feel like, how important positioning and draping are, how noticeable transitions can be, and how much the little details affect the overall experience.

Sometimes experiencing another therapist’s technique can even inspire us to improve our own.

We spend so much time learning through our hands that it’s easy to forget how much we can learn by simply being a client again.

Practicing What We Encourage

At RYE, I talk a lot about making massage part of your wellness routine instead of treating it as something you only need once your body is screaming for help.

That applies to massage therapists, too.

Taking care of other people’s bodies doesn’t make ours immune to tension, stress, fatigue, or overuse.

If anything, it makes taking care of ourselves even more important.

Because the hands taking care of everyone else deserve to be taken care of, too.

Restore Your Essence — and remember, your therapist probably needs a massage just as much as you do.