Sore From Sitting At A Desk All Day? There's A Massage For That.

Now if only there were a way to expense it.

What is it like to have a massage specialized to your daily routine — sitting in a desk? (Photo: Getty Images)

We all know that sitting is bad for you, but for most of us, abandoning the desk chair and decamping to a tropical location with a laptop and cell phone to work isn’t really an option. Inspired by the damaging desk habits of urban cubicle dwellers, Haven Spa in New York City created the Geek Massage, a treatment that focuses on the areas most affected by long hours in front of a computer (back, shoulders, neck, chest, head, and arms). The 60-minute massage promises to relieve muscle aches, headaches, and tightness.

As someone who both A) spends more time than I’d like to admit hunched over a keyboard (a likely source of a lingering shoulder pain) and B) has never had a professional massage, I was intrigued to see what the Geek Massage could do for me, which is how I found myself at Haven’s Soho location. My masseuse assured me I was in good hands (especially after she learned that I was a massage virgin), even though she warned me that this massage was developed as a therapeutic body treatment, so those more interested in relaxing “should just have a cocktail.”

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The next half hour was spent in a deep tissue pummel zone, moving through each part of my body affected by my work posture (from shoulders to spine to fingers). As she worked and kneaded, I could feel the corresponding office gesture, including keyboard hunch, screen slouch, and typing posture, fade away. It wasn’t painful, but it was intense and engaging—you’ve got to do some work to melt the work away, apparently. But it was relaxing, even sans-cocktail (though my masseuse did suggest several of them for after the treatment was finished).

After my back and shoulders were sufficiently relieved, the deep tissue work continued on my upper chest and neck, while my arms and legs were stretched out to undo some of that desk chair sitting damage. When the hour was up, I felt taller, looser, and remarkably like I hadn’t just spent all day in an office. As a bonus, the massage ends with a set of lavender scented reflexology balls to take home—because even though you can bliss out in a spa for an evening, the office beckons again in the morning. While I was sore the next day (in an “I just had an awesome workout” kind of way, which was to be expected) the unknotted feeling remained even when I was back at my desk.

By Laura Bolt

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