Stone Therapy

Stone therapy is an exceptionally relaxing treatment, rooted in ancient therapy practices and used to create balance within the body. Hot basalt and cold marble stones are used by most therapists, with the positioning and temperature of the stones tailored to the individual client. A stone therapy treatment provides a deep massage to the whole body as well as concentrated areas.

Stone therapy is based upon geothermal therapy, which is the application of either heated or chilled stone to the body for the purpose of changing physiological responses.

A therapist will apply warm, oiled stones in several ways during the treatment. Stones will be placed on the body, delivering heat to concentrated areas and your therapist will massage other areas of the body with more heated stones in comfortable strokes.
Cold stones are also useful for muscle injuries as they have a soothing effect.

As with all treatments, a full consultation should be completed with your therapist to ensure that stone therapy is right for you.

Massage
There are over 80 types of massage therapy and in all of them, therapists press, rub, and otherwise manipulate the muscles and other soft tissues of the body, often varying pressure and movement.

Practitioners mostly use their hands and fingers, but may use their forearms, elbows, or feet. Typically, the intent is to relax the soft tissues, increase delivery of blood and oxygen to the massaged areas, warm them, and decrease pain." (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council - CNHC www.cnhc.org.uk)

Despite being used for many years, massage is only now building a body of clinical evidence to support its use in the healthcare arena. Guidelines recently published by the National Institute for Clinical Evidence (NICE) recommends that patients with persistent, non-specific low back pain have access to a choice of different treatments, including massage. The NICE guidelines state “The effect of massage on patients with chronic low back pain lasted at least a year after the end of treatment.”

As with all treatments, a full consultation should be completed with your therapist to ensure that massage is right for you.

*Savingy P, et al (May 2009). Low Back Pain: early management of persistent non-specific low back pain. London: National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care and Royal College of General Practioners. Available from the NICE website at: www.nice.org.uk