It takes about 15 muscles to smile, 50 to frown, and 148 to save a curbside couch from life in a landfill. Soothe sympathetic sinews with today's Groupon: for $30, you get a one-hour massage at Aqua Salon in Maple Grove (up to a $60 value).
At Aqua Salon, certified message therapist Melissa Redfield applies her more than six years of experience and 13 years of gymnastics coaching to pinpoint and pacify all manner of muscle aches. Clients toting in a maligned meat suit can choose from five different types of tissue tenderizing, performed––at the patient's discretion––at the relaxing spa or in the adjacent paintball facility. Opt for a Swedish massage to have the specialist apply a traditional combination of soothing strokes and stress-relieving kneads. Or choose a trigger-point or sports-specific massage to concentrate on specific areas of pain or to accelerate healing after athletic injury. A prenatal massage helps soothe expecting mothers’ minds and bodies, and a deep-tissue massage will leave participants loose, limber, and running to the grocery store for more Kleenex.
Each massage uses varying degrees of pressure to loosen knots and alleviate stress. The smooth, gliding strokes ease muscle tension and promote relaxation, easing overworked muscles and melting tension into a conveniently positioned bucket. An effective treatment for stress reduction and the improvement of blood circulation, massage can also help relieve anxiety, depression, and trauma resulting from having a quarter painfully extracted from your ear by a street magician.