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How often should you get a massage?

Every 4 weeks is typical, and anywhere from 1 week to 2 months is common.

Studies of massage for back and neck pain used weekly sessions, or two to three a week for a few weeks. For keeping up how you feel, every four weeks is a common routine, though no study has tested a monthly schedule yet.

People often come sooner with

  • Working through a sore back or neck
  • Training hard, or a physical job

And later with

  • Feeling good between visits
  • Stretching and moving at home
  • A steady routine that works for you

Ask your massage therapist

This is a typical range, not advice for you. Your massage therapist will suggest what fits you, and it often changes as you do.

Where this comes from

  1. Sherman KJ, et al. Five-week outcomes from a dosing trial of therapeutic massage for chronic neck pain. Annals of Family Medicine, 2014. Over a 4-week course, 60-minute massages two or three times a week helped neck pain, three a week worked best, and 30-minute sessions did not beat a wait list.
  2. Cherkin DC, et al. A comparison of the effects of 2 types of massage and usual care on chronic low back pain. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2011. Ten weekly massages over 10 weeks improved function in chronic low back pain more than usual care, with benefits lasting at least 6 months.
  3. Cook AJ, et al. Whether additional massage treatments for chronic neck pain improve 12- and 26-week outcomes. The Spine Journal, 2015. Adding six weekly 60-minute booster massages after the first 4 weeks improved neck function at 12 weeks, but the extra benefit was gone by 26 weeks.

Checked October 24, 2026 · Each source was read before this page went up. Spotted something out of date? Write to us