Which massage is best for back pain?

Hot stone, most of the time. Heat gets into tissue that has been tight for a long while faster than hands can, so I spend the session releasing rather than warming up. If the back pain is recent or sharp, or if it came from a specific injury, see a GP or a physio first.

Are the stones actually hot?

Warm rather than hot. They sit in a heater at about the temperature of a bath you'd happily get into. I always rest one on your back before I start working with it so you feel the temperature before it moves anywhere.

Is aromatherapy massage just a normal massage with nice smells?

The strokes are similar. The difference is that the oils are blended for you after I've asked what sort of week you've had, and I use Neal's Yard products rather than something generic. I'll be honest that the ritual of it does as much as the chemistry, and that isn't nothing.

How long should I book?

Thirty minutes is a back, neck and shoulders. Forty gives room for the legs or the scalp too. The hour is a proper full body and it's the one I'd pick if you're only doing this once.

Can I ask for more pressure?

Yes, and please do, during rather than afterwards. I check in early and I'd much rather adjust at minute five than hear at the end that it was too light.

Three massages, one price, and how I decide which one you get

Three massages. Same price. Different jobs entirely.

Most people pick by the name, which I understand, because £45 is £45 and hot stone sounds more like a treat than Swedish does. But it means a lot of people book the wrong one, and the wrong one isn't bad, it's just less useful than the right one would have been.

So here's how I actually decide.

The question I ask

Before anything else, on the doorstep, I ask: is it your body or your head?

That sounds vague and it isn't. Almost everybody answers it instantly and accurately.

If the answer is a place, a shoulder, a lower back, the thing between the shoulder blades, then we're talking about tissue and I want heat and pressure. If the answer is a feeling, wired, flat, can't switch off, not sleeping, then we're talking about a nervous system and I want rhythm and scent and time.

Everything else is detail.

Swedish: the default, and there's nothing wrong with that

The couch, made up, and a folded towel waiting. Nothing exotic. It's the one most people mean when they say massage.

Long strokes, firm but not punishing, over the whole body. Effleurage, petrissage and the rest of it, but the names don't matter to you.

Pick it if you've no specific complaint and you want to be properly massaged. Pick it if you've never had a massage before, because it's the safest introduction and it will tell you what you actually like. Pick it if you want the whole body covered rather than half an hour on one problem area.

It's the one I recommend most and the one people are most sniffy about, because it sounds ordinary. It's ordinary in the way a good roast dinner is ordinary.

Aromatherapy: when the problem is above the neck

Same kind of strokes, generally a bit slower. The difference is the oils, which I blend after asking about your week rather than pulling a bottle off a shelf. I work with Neal's Yard products, so this isn't supermarket lavender in a base of something cheap.

Pick it if the honest problem is stress, sleep, or a fortnight where you haven't sat down. Pick it if your shoulders are tight but you know perfectly well why, and the why isn't physical.

The oils get blended for you, after I've asked how the week has gone. It sounds like a flourish. It changes what an hour does to you.

I'll be straight with you about the evidence. Some essential oils have decent research behind them for sleep and anxiety and some have very little. But the ritual of somebody choosing something specifically for you, and the smell of it in the room for an hour, does a job that's real whether or not the chemistry is doing anything. I'm not going to pretend otherwise in either direction.

Hot stone: for tension that has been there for months

Heated basalt stones, worked through the muscle alongside my hands. They're warm, not hot. I always rest one on your back first so you feel the temperature before it goes anywhere.

The heat isn't a luxury. Warm tissue lets go faster and further than cold tissue does, so with stones I spend the session actually releasing something instead of spending twenty minutes warming it up first.

Pick it if you've had the same tight shoulder since February. Pick it if you feel the cold. Pick it if you've had a regular massage and thought afterwards that you wanted it deeper without wanting it to hurt, which is the single most common thing anybody says to me.

Had an amazing massage by Sophie today and it was obvious she knew what she was doing and had a wealth of experience, as she knew how hard to be and how to really make sure the massage continued working afterwards.

Kingswood Aesthetics, on Facebook

The two that aren't interchangeable

There are two more on the list that don't belong in this comparison at all.

Indian head massage is thirty minutes on the head, neck, shoulders and jaw, sitting up and fully clothed. If you get headaches or you clench at night, this is the one, and no amount of Swedish will do the same job. £65.

Pregnancy massage is an hour, side lying, propped with cushions, and gentler throughout. If you're pregnant this is the one I'll do whatever else you asked for. Tell me when you book. £75.

What thirty, forty and sixty minutes actually buy

Thirty minutes is a back, neck and shoulders. Enough for one problem.
Forty minutes adds the legs or the scalp. This is the sweet spot for most regulars.
The hour is a genuine full body, and it's what I'd book if I were only doing this once this year.

Still not sure

Message me and describe the problem rather than naming a treatment. "My right shoulder has been tight since I started this job" is a sentence I can work with. "Which one is best" isn't, because the answer depends entirely on you.

There's also a treatment finder on the treatments page that does the same thing in four questions if you'd rather not type.