Q. What is your cancellation policy?
A. It's quite simple, you need to give us 24 hours notice if you want to avoid paying for a session you can't make. Why do we do this? For two reasons, firstly there are others who may be desperate to get in to see us, this period allows us to get them in for a session. The second is our livelihood, when we can't fill a slot we still have overheads to pay, we lose money and other potential new clients. This notice period is an industry standard for doctors, physios and most other medical practices.
Q. How does sports and remedial massage differ from normal massage?
A. Sports and Remedial massage is applied with your goals in mind, meaning we look at what you need and then apply the relevant technique(s) to help you reach your goals. These techniques vary from: finding muscle imbalances which may be the cause of your current issue and offering remedial exercises to correct them; questions about your sports equipment or mechanism of injury; along with treating the tissues which are crying out for attention. Your goals may vary depending on whether you are carrying an injury or are just needing to bring your legs back to life for your next training session.
Q. When should I have a regular sports massage?
A. There is no "best" time to have a sports massage, everyone differs in their needs and responds differently to treatment. As a sports person my general rule of thumb is this: if you have an injury which needs treating, it is best to leave it a few days after your heavy sessions so we can drop into the tissue without you leaving the couch. Muscles are very lively after interval sessions or heavy training loads, because the tissue is over-sensitive at this point we can't sink into the muscles to relieve the injured tissue. If you are not injured and your muscles are sore post a hard session, then this isa good time to have a recovery treatment to keep you on track with your training plan. If you are treating yourself to a massage for the first time before an event, give yourself a few days for your muscles to settle after the treatment. Regular massage goers know how their bodies respond to a treatment, some bounce off the couch ready for the 100m, others take a few days to bounce back. Err on the side of caution and give yourself a few days to recover, it would be a shame to ruin all that good training.
Q. How often should I have Sports Massage?
A. If time and budget were not an issue, every week. But the reality is they are. So if you are on a budget and treating yourself to a massage, then (as a sports person) I would suggest having the treament prior to your event so you are ready to compete. If you receive regular massage, then keep your goals in mind, if you are unsure, read the answer above, if that doesn't help we can always tap into our experience as therapists and extreme sports nuts to offer some advice.
Q. I don't play sports - can I still have a Sports Massage?
A. Overuse injuries can occur in everyday life and are generally brought on by the things we do repetitively everyday. We will use remedial massage to treat you and look at what day to day activities could be the cause and will give you simple solutions to help with this. Generally making a few small changes can have a big effect.
Q. What happens during a treatment?
A. A brief history is taken prior to the massage including your sports goals or event deadlines. We may do some standing tests and no doubt will review your posture (this we do with your clothes on). The majority of our treatment is hands-on work, however we want to fix you, so may glean as much information from you so we can work out what's going on.
Q. What should I wear?
A. We use towels during the treatment and would require that you keep your underwear on, however if you feel more comfortable, you can bring a pair of shorts. Stretchy underwear is best, especially if we are treating legs.
Ŷ
Q. Should sports massage hurt?
A. Yes and no. If you are crawling off the couch trying to get out from under the therapists elbows, then NO it should not feel like that. When too much pressure is applied and causes undue pain, your natural response is to tense up, this means the therapist is now treating your voluntary muscle tension and not the problem area. Exit stage left and find someone who will care for your muscles as much as you do. So when should it hurt? Pain is a personal emotion, everyone tolerates pain differently, a therapist should be sensitive to this and regulate their techniques to get the tissue to respond to the treatment. In some instances to get that tissue to respond it may be a little sensitive but it should not be unbearable. However never feel wrong to shout if you are struggling to unclench your teeth - you know your pain tolerance better than we do and we are always happy to ease up a little.
Q. Where are you based?
A. Please review our location.
Q. Is there a governing body?
A. The Institute of Sports and Remedial Massage (ISRM) acts as a main governing body, in order that you may find a qualified, approved sports massage practitioner. The ISRM maintains the standards for sports massage practitioners and sports massage training organisations and has provided regulation and a National Register for sports massage practitioners.
Protecting your privacy
Sports Massage Zone
Q. Introduction
A.This Privacy Notice explains in detail the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it safe. We know that there’s a lot of information here but we want you to be fully informed about your rights, and how Sports Massage Zone uses your data. It’s likely that we’ll need to update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We’ll notify you of any significant changes, but you’re welcome to come back and check it whenever you wish.
Q. When do we collect your personal data?
A.We collect the following data:
• When you message us for a booking we will take your Full name, email and mobile number.
• When you contact us by any means with enquiries, questions, etc.
• When you book any kind of appointment with us.
• When you choose to complete any surveys we send you.
• When you fill in any forms.
Q. Explaining the legal bases we rely on
A. The law on data protection sets out a number of different reasons for which a company may collect and process your personal data, including consent. In specific situations, we can collect and process your data with your consent. For example, when you tick a box to receive email newsletters.
Q. When do we collect your personal data?
A.We collect data at the following times:
• When you text or email for a booking, we will ask for: Full name, email and mobile number, these are stored on a Touch ID protected device.
• The above details are captured into our online booking system, this a US based service with the required security levels to ensure your data remains safe and the service provider does not have access to any of your personal data.
• Emails confirming your booking and appointment reminders are sent from this service.
• We utilise MailChimp for our marketing campaigns, who are GDPR compliant.
• When you attend your first appointment we will collect your personal data as part of your treatment notes. These are paper-based forms, they are never captured into an electronic format and are stored under lock and key.
• By law we are required to keep your treatment notes for a period of 7 years, and for children under the age of 18 we are required to keep their records for a period of 7 years after they turn 18.
• When you contact us by any means.
• When you choose to complete any surveys we send you.
• When you comment on or review our services on a public forum. Any individual may access personal data related to them, including opinions.
• Any comments or reviews sent via email or text message, we will seek your consent to use these on our website and your full name and email will be redacted. When you fill in any forms. For example, if an accident happens in clinic, we may collect your personal data.
Q. What sort of personal data do we collect?
A.We collect the following data:
• If you make an enquiry or book an appointment: your name, email and mobile number.
• At the time of your appointment: name, email, phone number, address, date of birth, gender, contra-indications, the injury we are treating.
• Any cookies used by our website are utilised for performance of the site only, neither your personal information or IP address are collected and are no information gathered by our website used for targeted advertising purposes.
Q. How and why do we use your personal data?
A. We want to give you the best possible customer experience. One way to achieve that is to get the richest picture we can of who you are by combining the data we have about you. We then use this to offer you promotions of our services that are most likely to interest you. In the case of any loyalty schemes, we’ll also offer you relevant rewards. The data privacy law allows this as part of our legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing the highest levels of service. Of course, if you wish to change how we use your data, you’ll find details in the ‘What are my rights?’ section below. Remember, if you choose not to share your personal data with us, or refuse certain contact permissions, we might not be able to provide some services you’ve asked for. For example, if you’ve asked us to remove you from our mailing list, we can’t send booking confirmations or reminders.
Q. Here’s how we’ll use your personal data and why:
A.
• To book you into our online booking system. If we don’t collect your personal data we won’t be able to send you an appointment confirmation and appointment reminder.
• To respond to your enquiries. Handling the information you sent enables us to respond. We may also keep a record of these to inform any future communication with us and to demonstrate how we communicated with you throughout. We do this on the basis of our contractual obligations to you, our legal obligations or our legitimate interests in providing you with the best service and understanding how we can improve our service based on your experience.
Q. How we protect your personal data
A. We know how much data security matters to all our customers. With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it. We secure access to all transactional areas of our websites or booking systems using ‘https’ technology. Access to your personal electronic data is password- or Touch ID- protected, and sensitive personal data (such as your paper based treatment notes) is held under lock and key and is never captured electronically. We subscribe to a system provider who monitors for possible vulnerabilities and attacks.
Q. How long will we keep your personal data?
A. Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning. Some examples of customer data retention periods: Treatment notes We are obligated by law to keep your treatment notes for a period of 7 years, or in the case of a person under the age of 18, we are obliged to keep their records for a period of 7 years after they reach the age of 18. Email accounts for direct marketing If you’ve not used our services for more than seven years, you will be flagged as inactive and we’ll contact you to ask whether you want us to keep your contact details active. Unless you reply to say ‘yes’, we’ll delete the address and delete or anonymise the personal data associated with it.
Q. Who do we share your personal data with?
A. We do not share our data with any third parties.
Q. Where your personal data may be processed
A. Your data (name, email and phone number) is processed in our online booking system, this is a password protected system and access is granted to our staff and our remote PA for holiday cover bookings, Our staff are under contractual obligation to deal with data in line with GDPR and EU or UK law. Your name and email are added to our mailing list and you can “unsubscribe” from this list at any point.
Q. What are your rights over your personal data?
A. An overview of your different rights
You have the right to request:
• Access to the personal data we hold about you, an admin fee applies.
• The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
• That we stop using your personal data for direct marketing.
You can contact us to request to exercise these rights at any time as follows:
To ask for your information please contact The Data Protection Officer, Sports Massage Zone, 1 Throgmorton Avenue, London, EC2N 2JJ.
If we choose not to action your request we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal.
Your right to withdraw consent
Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.
Where we rely on our legitimate interest In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data.
Direct marketing
You have the right to stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing activity through all channels, or selected channels. We must always comply with your request.
Checking your identity
To protect the confidentiality of your information, we will ask you to verify your identity before proceeding with any request you make under this Privacy Notice. If you have authorised a third party to submit a request on your behalf, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act.
Q. How can you stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing?
A. There are two ways you can stop direct marketing communications from us:
• Click the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email communication that we send you. We will then stop any further emails.
• Write to Sports Massage Zone, 3rd Floor, 1 Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2JJ. Please note that you may continue to receive communications for a short period after changing your preferences while our systems are fully updated.
Q. Contacting the Regulator
A. If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
You can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113.
Or go online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns (opens in a new window; please note we can't be responsible for the content of external websites)
If you are based outside the UK, you have the right to lodge your complaint with the relevant data protection regulator in your country of residence.
