Hot Stone Massage

The use of hot stones for heat therapy in massage has an ancient history that dates back 5,000 years as part of the practice of Ayurvedic medicine in India. Hot stones massage therapy has been recorded 2,000 years ago in China. The ancient Greeks and Romans also used hot stones. More recently, they were used in Hawaii by native healers who prefer a volcanic rock, much like the basalt rocks that are used today.

When Wellspring Acupuncture‘s talented hot stone massage therapist, Danika Weber CMP, uses hot stones and moist heat on a client’s adhesions or tight muscles, it melts the myofascial layer and creates circulation, which leads to immediate relaxation. Whether a client enjoys deep tissue massage or therapeutic massage, Danika’s use of hot stones achieves the same results in the muscle layer, helping the muscles to heal. Without the use of hot stone heat, muscles typically take three times longer to relax, resulting in less resolution for the client.

Moist heat is the quickest and best method for delivery of heat therapy to the body and muscles in order to release tension. Muscles that are dehydrated are well known to become chronically tight. Hot stones, which deliver heat and moisture, are a massage therapy tool that can quickly treat tension in the muscle, whether the client prefers deep or light pressure. This massage therapy style is uniquely essential to clients who want a more relaxing massage, which also resolves tension.

One of the issues facing clients that seek massage to resolve chronic pain is post-massage soreness. Hot stones have also proven to be a therapy that results in at least half the amount of soreness the next day compared to what a client would experience with manual therapy alone. Basalt stones also have the unique ability to ground a client and remove energies that do not serve the client, inducing a more relaxed state.