MAXINE GORDON tries the high-tech massage that claims to reach parts other treatments can only dream of

IT ALL looks very high-tech. On the treatment couch are a range of sturdy blue ‘cushions’, some with patches of black, rubberised nodules, others with red lights that shine invitingly into the room.

Welcome to the cyclo-sagge, the latest gizmo at Bespoke Beauty on Tadcaster Road in York.

To the untrained eye, it’s like a space-age sun lounger – but to beauty therapist Marjorie Grice, this is the future of massage.

The ‘bed’ vibrates in waves, flowing from the neck and shoulders, through the lower back and down the legs. The vibration is multi-directional, and this, according to Marjorie, helps to increase blood and lymphatic circulation by stimulating the deep muscles. The red lights are actually the bed’s infrared heat sensors, and the warm pads are designed to work on trouble spots on the back, neck and shoulders.

From her salon (above hair stylists Studiojo), Marjorie is offering a session on the cyclo-sagge as a treatment in itself, or as a pre-treatment to combine with a traditional massage.

On its own, it is said to help alleviate many health problems, from arthritis and sciatica to stress, anxiety, MS, headaches and general aches and pains. Lying on the stomach, it can relieve digestive and abdominal complaints as well as period pains and colitis.

“It’s great for people who can’t have a massage, perhaps because of their condition, or because they are elderly,” says Marjorie.

She is an advocate of the system after her husband, Chris, used it to relieve symptoms of sciatica. “It won’t cure the problem, but helps him manage his pain. It has given him more mobility in his legs. He is cycling to work again and not having to rely on his really strong painkillers.”

Clients can also use the machine before a Swedish or sports massage. The benefit here, explains Marjorie, is that the cyclo-sagge warms up the muscles and allows the therapist to get deeper with the follow-up.

I was complaining about a touch of tennis elbow and a sore right shoulder when I turned up for my session. I reckoned my gripes were from a combination of over-use of my arm from playing racquet sports and from sitting hunched at a computer for hours on end.

I began with 30 minutes on the massage bed. You keep your clothes on, so it is perfectly possible to pop in for a treatment in your lunch hour.

As the machine buzzed into life, I giggled at the vibrating cushions gently pulsing against my body. But as the movements built and the heat from the infrared pads burrowed deep into my lower back and neck and shoulders, I visibly relaxed. After 30 minutes, I was immersed in a deep sense of wellbeing.

Next, Marjorie removed the ‘bed’ – which is completely portable – and I climbed back on to the couch for a sport massage, this time de-robed.

She began by probing the muscle at the top of my right shoulder, which felt very tender. She did the same up and down my arm, reassuring me that my problem wasn’t too serious. Next, she carried out a deep massage across my pecs and on the knots in my neck and back. This felt good; I was worried it would be painful, but I realised the muscles had been ‘warmed up’ by the pre-treatment.

Marjorie says prolonged benefits would come from a programme of regular massage sessions.

My hour up, it was time to get back to the office; back to the computer and a date with my tennis racquet.

• Bespoke Beauty (within Studiojo), 76 Tadcaster Road, York, YO24 1LR.

Tel: 07884 024 380.
Web: bespokebeautyyork.co.uk

• As an introductory offer, Cyclo-ssage treatments cost £8 for 15 minutes/£12 for 30 minutes (book six sessions for the price of five). If you also have a massage treatment there is a £2 discount on the cyclo-ssage session. Prices for a 30-minute massage start at £22.