Hot Stones Massage

What is it?

A hot stones sports massage is a deep tissue treatment using warm basalt stones to relax your muscles. The heat from the stones stones can help alleviate muscle tension. Basalt stones originate from volcanic regions and are used in therapy for healing and soothing.

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How can it help?

There are a range of benefits to a hot stones sports massage. Here are a few benefits:

• Relax the muscles

• Relieve stress

• Increase blood flow and bring oxygenated blood to the tissues

• Increase lympth flow to help rid the body of toxins

• Boost the immune system

• Relax the body

• Relax the mind

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What are the stones in a hot stone sports massage?

The stones in our hot stones sports massage are basalt stones. Basalt magma sleeps dormant deep within the earth for a thousand years or more before rising as a volcanic eruption. The lava that flows hardens into a fine matrix of crystal and thick, dark, dense black stone. This stone is able to retain even heat for a long period of time which makes it an ideal choice to use in therapy. Basalt stones are highly polished to become nice and smooth in order to glide over the body with ease.

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We use a variety of different size and shaped stones ranging from the familiar large oval stones you see used for back massages to medium flat stones for arms and legs, down to stones the size of a two pence piece which can be placed between the toes during a lower leg, ankle and foot treatment.

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Cold Stone Therapy

We also use cold stones! Cold stones placed on the skin triggers vasoconstriction which is the narrowing of blood vessels. When the cold stones are removed the blood vessels dilate again, supplying the affected areas with fresh blood and oxygen. There are many other benefits of cold stones including a decrease in muscle spasm, excellent pain relief, stimulation of the autonomic nervous system and mind stimulation. The cold stones we use are marble. They are naturally cool and are ideal for cooling treatments because they do not retain heat from the body.

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Hot and cold can be used simultaneously to aid swelling and inflammation. Hot and cold stones used together can be very relaxing and aids recovery of injured muscles.