How often should you get a sports massage?

One of the first questions I hear on the table is some version of “how often should I actually be doing this?” It’s a fair question — and the honest answer is that it depends on what you’re asking your body to do. Here’s how I think about it as a licensed therapist who works with everyone from competitive lifters to people who just got back into running.

If you’re training hard

If you’re in a heavy training block — lifting several days a week, marathon training, or playing a sport in season — your tissue is accumulating load faster than it can fully recover on its own. In that situation, every one to two weeks tends to be the sweet spot. The goal isn’t to feel “worked over.” It’s to keep restrictions from stacking up, help your nervous system downshift, and keep you moving well enough to train consistently. Consistency in training is where results come from, and bodywork is one of the levers that protects it.

If you’re a weekend warrior

If you exercise a few times a week but you’re not chasing a competition, you don’t need to be on the table constantly. Once every three to four weeks is plenty for most people in this group. Think of it as maintenance — catching the tight hip or cranky shoulder before it turns into something that sidelines you. A lot of my clients in this category come in monthly and use the session as both a tune-up and a reset.

If you’re working through a specific issue

This is different. If you’ve got a nagging problem — low back that locks up, a shoulder that won’t settle, recurring calf tightness — the early phase usually benefits from closer spacing, sometimes weekly for a few sessions, then backing off as things improve. The reason is simple: when we’re actively changing how an area moves, more frequent input helps the gains hold instead of sliding back between visits. Once you’ve turned the corner, we stretch the interval back out.

A few things that matter more than a fixed number

The “right” frequency is less about a rule and more about paying attention. A few signals I tell clients to watch for:

• Recovery quality — are you bouncing back between workouts, or always sore?
• The same spot, again and again — recurring tightness in one area usually means something upstream needs attention.
• Sleep and stress — both change how your tissue responds, and both are things bodywork can genuinely help with.

If you’re consistently checking the “not recovering well” boxes, that’s a sign to tighten the interval for a while.

The bottom line

There’s no universal number — but if I had to give a starting point: every two weeks if you’re training hard, monthly if you’re maintaining, and weekly for a short stretch if we’re working through something specific. From there, we adjust based on how your body actually responds. That’s the part a template can’t tell you, and it’s exactly what I’m paying attention to during your session.

If you’re not sure where you fall, that’s worth a conversation — book a session and we’ll figure out a rhythm that fits your body and your goals.